Chapter 15
After Gabriel left her room, Nathalie pulled out one of the unused notebooks from her nightstand. She tore off a page and put the date of that day and wrote on it. She lasted a while because she had a lot to tell, in case she didn't come back. Sighing she left her room and went to her office, leaving the notebook hidden among the things on her desk, so that Gabriel could find it. So, if something happened to her, that would be her last wish.
Nathalie really didn't have a choice. She would have to enlist the help of Lila Rossi. She was the only person in those moments that would be willing to help.
She took out her phone and texted Lila to go to the place she indicated. Just as she planned. Nathalie called her with some disgust.
"Mayura, how long" Lila said in her annoying voice.
"I'll get to the point, girl. I have a plan to get the Miraculouses and you are involved."
"And where is Hawkmoth? Did he cowered?" Lila asked mockingly.
Nathalie frowned upon hearing that. She felt like she was challenging them. But when she got the Miraculous she would get rid of her like the cockroach she was.
"He had… other business to attend to. You must pretend that you need help and when I arrive I will give you a sentimonster that you will order to capture Ladybug and Chat Noir. I will see you at night."
"I'll be there Mayura."
Before the sun went down, Nathalie went to find the peacock Miraculous. Gabriel had gone out to find out how to dispose of Emilie's body in the most appropriate way, so it was the perfect opportunity.
She didn't find it behind Emilie's painting. From what she assumed, Gabriel had kept it in his bedroom. She went back upstairs to find the Miraculous. She crept into Gabriel's bedroom, meticulously observing every corner of the room. There was no clear indication that the Miraculous was hidden there.
Going through one of the dressers, she found a small safe, one she had never seen before. After a long time trying to guess the correct combination, in her desperation, Nathalie was finally able to open the box. The Miraculous was inside.
She took it and the Kwami inside came out. Duusu looked quite confused.
"Miss Nathalie. What is you doing?" Duusu panicked. Mr. Gabriel had told her that for no reason Nathalie should use the Miraculous again.
"I don't have time to explain, forgive me Duusu."
"No wait!" Duusu tried to stop her, but Nathalie had already put the Miraculous on her pajamas.
"Duusu, transform me."
Mayura went to Lila's house. She helped her out of there as best she could and led her to a fairly wide roof.
"Come on, what are you waiting for, start your act."
Lila took a breath and started screaming.
"Help! Mayura is holding me prisoner!" Chat Noir and Ladybug must have been on their way in those moments. Mayura took a feather out of her fan and let it slide into one of Lila Rossi's earrings.
A sentimonster in the shape of a three-tailed fox emerged from the earring. But after turning for a second to see if she could see the superhero duo, she saw the shadow of the creature approaching her.
"I don't think I need you anymore" Lila was grinning wickedly.
Seeing her intentions, Mayura tried to snap her fingers to make that amok disappear, but it was too late. It hit her with her muzzle, which made her hit the wall facing the void. She couldn't help but fall and lose consciousness.
In those moments she wished she had listened to her own advice about not to trusting Lila Rossi.
Gabriel was just returned to the mansion, after going to speak with one of the most exclusive funeral homes in Paris in the most discreet way possible. That gave him a better idea of what he should do.
Upon entering the mansion, Gabriel's cell phone rang. And that was the akuma alarm. Scared, he quickly pulled it out and saw the notification. He opened it and the first image that appeared was a giant fox with several tails, Lila Rossi also appeared in the images.
Nathalie had disobeyed him again, and not only that, but she had put herself in danger, just for fulfilling his stupid wish.
He had to bring her back.
Nooroo came out of his pocket.
"Master…"
"I must stop her, before anything else happens" He pulled the Miraculous out of his pocket. Gabriel had just kept it there to avoid being tempted to use it.
"But Master, you promised not to use the Miraculous again" Nooroo began to panic.
"I know, Nooroo" he replied, irritated of the reminder. "But this time it will be the last time, at least I hope so. Nooroo, dark wings rise!"
He went out the window of the Atelier. He ran in the direction of the battle hoping to arrive in time.
As he climbed the rooftops, he could see Lila in the distance next to the three-tailed fox with glowing eyes that was behind her. He ran, sneaking out to avoid to be seen and when he saw his chance, he threw his cane and managed to make the amok recoil. He drew his cane back to him and leaped to the roof where they stood.
"Where is Mayura?"
The girl laughed.
"I think your birdie already kicked the bucket."
Enraged he went against her to get more information from her, but the sentimonster threw him to the ground and put a paw on her chest to restrain him.
Lila snatched the Miraculous from his suit behind that roof structure they were on. She made a surprised face, a look that turned into a mischievous one. Lila placed the Miraculous on her clothes, and looked at Nooroo, who flew to her side fearful of what was going to happen.
"I'm sorry, master" Nooroo was very scared, just like when he had started terrorizing Paris.
After Lila forced Nooroo to tell her how to transform, she proceeded.
"Nooroo, dark wings rise."
An elegant suit covered her. She took out the cane from her waist.
Lila was laughing maniacally.
"Now that I have Hawkmoth's Miraculous, I can finally get revenge on Ladybug and Chat Noir for what they did to me."
After the fox released him, the only thing Gabriel could think of to do was hide. He feared for Nathalie, but he couldn't get caught up in this either. It was precisely what he wanted to avoid. He couldn't leave now that Lila knew his identity.
Just then Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived.
Lila went out to meet the superheroes.
"Well, look who we have here, the annoying ladybug and the stray cat"
They were both puzzled. This Hawkmoth was different from the one they had always faced. She was a girl and quite young, maybe the same age as them.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Ladybug was very upset.
Gabriel listened to everything. That girl was very troublesome and he admitted at the time that it was a bad idea to include her in their plans. But he couldn't intervene at the moment without his Miraculous, that would make things worse. He would stay there while the superhero duo found a solution to this matter.
Lila ran as far as possible from the heroes hiding behind a fireplace and took a butterfly from her staff, demonizing it in the act of her sending her to look for the first person with negative feelings it found.
Nathalie was still in the alley unconscious. But she suddenly she heard a voice in her mind
"Nathalie"
He recognized it as Emilie's voice.
"You have to wake up"
With all the willpower she possessed, she made an unsuccessful attempt to wake up.
"Help my son ... Help him"
She opened her eyes slowly, getting up looking at the sky.
Duusu floated in front of her.
"Miss Nathalie!"
Duusu cradled her on her cheek and hugged her. She welcomed the affections that her Kwami gave her.
"I thought you wouldn't wake up, just like Miss Emilie did." Duusu was crying heartily at that point.
"Easy Duusu" She patted his head. "We must fix this mistake right now. You must recharge."
Nathalie took the bracelet Adrien had given her a few months ago from her pocket.
"I already did. I ate one of the candies you had in your pocket" The kwami floated in front of her "Just say the words."
"Duusu, spread my feathers!"
Nathalie was Mayura, again. Just as she finished her transformation, the symptoms caused by the damaged Miraculous hit her. She doubled over in pain and she had to hold onto the wall. A fit of coughing invaded her and a considerable amount of blood fell to the ground. She could feel the metallic taste of it on her palate. When everything passed, she went up to go find Lila.
She could feel the sentimonster she had created.
Lila was about to attack Ladybug and Chat Noir, when Mayura came between them. She snapped her fingers to destroy the sentimonster. She saw that Lila now had the Butterfly Miraculous in her possession. She managed to see Gabriel in the distance, hidden.
"Not so fast, Lila" Mayura spread her fan to cover her face.
"Ah, Mayura, nice to have you here. We could come together and rule the whole world" Lila reached out her hand as if waiting for her to take her side.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not joining your side" Mayura looked back for a moment to see the heroes and turned her gaze from her to Lila.
"Then I'll have to destroy you too!" The girl yelled full of rage.
"You'll need luck with that."
Mayura took out a feather from her fan and, using the bracelet she had brought, she inserted it into the bracelet. She thought about in what she wanted and smiled.
A giant peacock appeared in front of her eyes. It had claws and a beak of gold. Its feathers were a very bright blue and the tips of his feathers were decorated in a shade of green. A roar came from him, but instead of being monstrous, it was a beautiful song.
"Protect Ladybug and Chat Noir from danger, my beautiful amok."
The akuma arrived on the scene and did not hesitate to attack. The sentimonster spread the wings of his tail, with which it formed a shield that deflected the fire that the akuma directed at them.
"Time to use my, Lucky Charm!" screamed Ladybug. A video camera fell into her hands. Not knowing what else to do with it, Ladybug pressed the button and began to record everything that happened.
The peacock covered them with its wings, giving them time to sneak away to face Lila hand-to-hand. They had in her favor the fact that it was the first time that Lila was using a Miraculous, so she would have no idea what its full functioning was like.
The peacock made sure the superhero duo didn't take any hits from the akuma while they sneaked out to tried and take the Miraculous from Lila. Mayura only watched everything from a safe distance, dodging attacks aimed at her when necessary.
Ladybug with her yoyo and Chat Noir with her staff attacked without resting all their attacks. They soon managed to capture the akumatized object by releasing the butterfly. Lila's inexperience got the better of her and taking a wrong step, she fell into the void trying to escape, waiting for the hit that she would give herself when she fell. But that did not happen, as she continued to be held in the air. Ladybug's yo-yo was at her waist and her arms imprisoning her. She cursed under her breath and she felt being lifted off until she was left on top of the roof.
"We got you." Ladybug left her tied to her yo-yo. "It's time to find out who you are."
Ladybug removed the Miraculous from the butterfly. He was soon face to face with Lila.
"So, it's you." Ladybug shook her head.
Lila laughed.
"You think they'll believe you; I'll go free and you'll just be a pair of cheap pathetic heroes. I am much more important than you. I know Hawkmoth's true identity, and just as I stole the Miraculous book from the poor innocent Adrien Agreste, I'll get away with it."
Chat Noir was very upset. Lila was the cause of his father almost forbidding him to go to school.
"I'll destroy your lives, even if it's the only thing I do. And you will not be able to do anything."
"We don't, but he does" Ladybug pointed to the other side.
The sentimonster saw her and began to corner her. It let out a very loud scream in Lila's face and with its beak, the peacock took her from her clothes.
"Say hi to the camera" Ladybug pressed a button on her Lucky Charm and a copy of the video was sent to everyone in Paris. Luckily, she left it at a good angle, so everything that happened regarding Lila was saved.
Soon the sentimonster took her to the police patrol that was already around the corner. It left her there and the policemen handcuffed Lila Rossi.
"No wait, this is a misunderstanding. I am not Hawkmoth."
"I'm sorry miss, but the evidence against you says otherwise."
The policeman showed her the video that she just received on his phone. Now she had no escape. She tried to struggle, to no avail. The policemen took her to the police station to carry out the respective process.
Ladybug and Chat Noir saw Mayura call her sentimonster. It returned to her side, instantly, flapping her wings.
"You did very well" The peackcock lowered his head and let himself be caressed between his feathers and on his beak. "You deserve a break" Mayura snaped her fingers, causing the creature to disappear. Her Miraculous began to flicker, indicating that her transformation would soon disappear. She had to go fast before that happened.
Her heart was beating fast. Her hands were sweating. She could barely breathe. She clutched her chest, feeling a lot of pain in it, as if it burned inside.
"Hey, are you okay?" Ladybug said approaching her.
Mayura covered her mouth with her hand, coughing into it. A line of blood ran down her chin. She soon felt how her all her forces left her and everything began to turn completely black.
Two arms encircled her preventing her from falling sharply to the ground and lowering her so that she was in a better position. Her Miraculous beeped again, signaling that her transformation would be over in a few seconds.
Mayura lost her transformation. Nathalie Sancoeur lay on the ground. Duusu rose and was horrified to see the state in which her wearer was, bringing her little paws to her mouth.
"No, Miss Nathalie..."
Gabriel, who had seen everything from a distance, not caring about anything, came out to help Nathalie.
"Nathalie!" The two men exclaimed in the middle of the terrace. Ladybug and Chat Noir sighed in surprise. The wearer of the black cat Miraculous stared in horror at the scene.
Chat Noir panicked. If Nathalie was Mayura, then most likely...
"My father is Hawkmoth, it's been him all this time."
Chat Noir got defensive. From Ladybug's exclamation, he guessed that she already knew who Hawkmoth was. He tried to get closer to Nathalie to help her, but Gabriel got between them.
"Get away from her, don't hurt her anymore."
"You stay away from her, father." Chat Noir was holding his staff quite tightly.
Gabriel's eyes widened.
Chat Noir was about to confront his father, until Ladybug's voice stopped him.
"Chat, wait! Calm down, this doesn't help us at all" Ladybug raising her voice. Although she was also shocked by what had happened, she needed a cool head to be able to help the woman in her arms.
Ladybug turned her head to Gabriel.
"What are you doing here, Mr. Agreste?"
Gabriel decided to tell them the truth.
"I came to save Mayura. She left home without my permission. I forbade her to use that damaged Miraculous, but she didn't want to listen to me. At this point, I was already planning to hand them over to you. But then Lila Rossi came and she took it from me.
"But why until now? Why wait?" Ladybug just wanted answers right now.
"It is a long story. I would rather not discuss it now" Gabriel looked very concerned "I know you don't trust me, Ladybug, but this time I'm telling the truth. I will hand over the Miraculous, but please help her."
Ladybug sighed. The only thing she could do is to was that she had to take Nathalie to Master Fu, since she really didn't know what to do. With the butterfly Miraculous, she stood in front of Gabriel.
"Gabriel Agreste, I'll give you the Miraculous one more time. I hope you use it for good and return it once we have completed the mission." She reached out with the Miraculous in hand. He took it and put it on. Nooroo came out of the Miraculous again.
"I'll explain it to you later. Nooroo, dark wings rise!"
Ladybug looked at Gabriel and motioned for him to come closer. He took Nathalie in his arms slowly and delicately, as if he feared he would do her more harm. He rested her head carefully on his shoulder. Duusu settled on her chest.
Gabriel noticed a thin line of blood coming out of Nathalie's mouth, which was dripping a little. He cleaned it carefully.
Ladybug approached the edge of the roof.
"Master Fu will know what to do. We have to take her with him, quickly" she took the yo-yo string with both hands "Both of you follow me."