Chapter 29: Resolve(Gabriel's POV)

Gabriel stares at the young women in front of him. "Lila, do you know why I've called you here?"

"Not really, no. But I assume it has something to do with being Volphina again like I was on Heroes day."

"No, this is something different."

He sighs, Adrien. How dare they take you away from me, my son. My perfect, golden son. Donning his mask of indifference he says, "Lila they took Adrien away from me. I know how much you care for him and if you help me in this task I guarantee that you will be a part of my perfect fairytale family as my daughter-in-law. You have already helped me so much…"

Mademoiselle Rossli puts her hands on her hips, a disbelieving look on her face, "And so? What is this task?"

"To rid one Keith Kognae from his life. He has been a bad influence and I'm sure was the one behind me never being able to see my son again. And since I need a new model for the Agreste brand, well…."

"You're saying that if I do this task, I will be with Adrien and be a part of your famous fashion brand?"

He nods, "Yes."

Sparkles appear in Mademoiselle Rossli's eyes as she contemplates the offer. Gabriel smirks, she will agree. I can tell she wants to be more than a nobody with the way she carries herself, and that delight in her eyes, of course she would never back down from an opportunity like this.

"Of course I will help. I will have Keith expelled from school, once I get the right opportunity." And just like that, he is proven correct.

"Good, now go along, I have some…more preparations to begin."

Once Mademoiselle Rossli leaves the room, he opens up his big screen tablet and looks at his designs. He sighs, if only he could spend every second on being Hawkmoth to get his perfect family back. Emile, Adrien I promise that once I get a hold of the Black Cat and Ladybug miraculous we will be a family again and nothing will come between us ever again. Not some stupid heroes or broken miraculous or even death.

Adrien's POV

His breath comes out in puffs of air as he stands on the road opposite from the huge gates of the Agreste Mansion. He had run all the way to get here, and yet he can't bring himself to go inside. It seems his fear of facing father's outweighs his fear of being caught for running away a second time.

If only Master Fu had woken him up earlier than maybe his second time running away wouldn't have been noticed. But it's now twelve o'clock in the afternoon and Keith and his Father are sure to be up around this hour. After all Keith has never been one to sleep in and his Father has a fashion company to run, despite it being the holidays.

But that still doesn't change the fact that he just doesn't want to go in. His arms move forwards and his leg, but then he relapses back.

"Kid, are you okay?" Plagg asks.

"No. I just, I don't…"

Adrien shivers, remembering last night, the words that came out of his father's mouth. He quickly suppresses it, as he does not want to have a meltdown in the middle of the street. Taking in a deep breath, Adrien continues, "I just can't face father right now. I don't know why, I expected to be punished so why am I so hesitant now?"

"Perhaps because you've finally realised that your father is a bad person? Or maybe the thought of your father possibly going more harsh on you is causing you to freeze up?" Plagg asks him.

"Like I said I'm not….."

"Adrien?! Are you really…."

A woman, with a brown Goldbergh winter coat, from one of their older lines but looks well taken care of, runs towards him. Her brown hair bobs in the wind, her brown eyes look relieved.

He's startled, a bit. But he is used to crazy fans trying to mob him whenever he just wants some freedom, so again it doesn't startle him too much. Instead he puts on a very big smile, like he was taught to do whenever he is in public.

But instead of gushing, the woman instead looks relieved.

"It is you. God I thought we might never find you, but Ceceil had hope. And thank God she did, I was almost ready to go home and give up and just accept that you had run away for the second time ..."

"What are you talking about?" He asks, utterly confused.

"Oh sorry, how impolite of me. I am Nina Tremblay, my occupation is that I work for Child Services."

"Child Services?"

"Yes, we got a hot tip that you and that Kogane kid were being hurt by Monsieur Agreste so we decided to check it out. Our best experts confirmed the evidence submitted to us and apparently the Dupain-Chengs were also notified so we saw it best to immediately let them take custody of you two for the time being. Since you both have no other relatives to take care of you…."

"What about Aunt Amelie?"

"She is already a single mother, with her husband recently passing away sometime this year so two more kids added to her plate wouldn't help…." Madame Tremblay sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, clearly not wanting to talk about it at the moment.

But Adrien was still confused. What did this all mean and the Dupain-Chengs already know….

"Look, Adrien. I clearly understand you are still confused about the situation but I am not the best person to explain this to and…. And with your emotions still possibly being high from all this…."

Adrien looks down at his shoes, not knowing what to think. On the one hand if Child Services is involved than he might not have to see his father ever again or here any harsh words and no more stupid punihsments, but on the other hand Gabriel is still his father but….

He looks back at the mansion. Perhaps this is for the best, since his nerves keep acting up and whenever he thinks…He shudders again remembering those awful words and the way Gabriel had looked at him, with the most disappointment he had ever seen with lots of anger. Tears ran down his cheeks, conflicting emotions in his heart and the poor Child Services woman could only watch.

Nina's POV

All she could do was watch as Adrien Agreste cried. But it didn't seem to be in a sobbing way, somehow it seemed like an almost perfect way to cry, as it seemed like those anime cryings where the character never looked ugly but instead looked beautiful. Which is what it is.

Though she sighs. She's seen so many of this before, so many children who ran away but went back to their parents because their parents had made them solely dependable on them. Didn't matter if the kid had enough, eventually they went back despite dreading it.

It makes her sick, to think the world is filled with those parents, those who make their children slaves so that they can benefit.

Nina carefully walks closer and takes Adrien's hand. She smiles, hoping it will be reassuring and leads him back to her car. After getting him settled, which wasn't difficult even though he clearly is upset, by the crying.

Her car isn't that luxurious, just an old Megane E-Tech from her parents era of living. The seats are a little stained, same with the carpeted roof. Proof that little kids had once been in the car.

Shaking her head, she focuses on getting her seatbelt on and driving to the Dupen-Cheng's bakery. Hopefully they can give the comfort Adrien clearly needs. And no wonder, that video was horrendous. The way Gabriel had harshly said those words, it sent a shiver down her spine.

In fact she's pretty sure it sent a shiver down everyone's spine once they saw it.

It's a good thing they had acted immediately, otherwise Adrien would be isolated and one of his only friends(his distant cousin at that!), based on his file they had to scrounge up, would be kicked out and on Christmas Day too!

They were just lucky that their staff notified the team to reuse these poor boys.

Then she pinches herself while at a red light. It's dangerous for the mind to wander on the road since it could lead to an accident, since you know, she was thinking instead of focusing on the road.

She then reaches a parking space close to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. Nina looks back at Adrien, his crying seeming to have stopped. She's got to hand it to this kid, most teengers(whatever their age) when having learnt of their situation break down for hours on end.

That and his crying seems more anime-like, or he has more control over his crying(which doesn't make sense, as you can't really control how much you cry or how ugly it makes you).

"You okay?" She tentatively asks, afraid to hurt him somehow.

"Yeah…" Is his answer, with a sombre tone.

"Well, then are you ready to go inside? I know it's a shock, but…"

"Yeah I'm ready… I think." His tone sounds more optimistic and Nina hopes it's genuine. She can't count how many young children had become more troubled because of the way their parents taught them and just couldn't let go of their ways or just couldn't accept the fact that the way their parents were to them was bad or move on to the fact that how they were treated wasn't normal at all. There were a few who would accept and move on…..

Her car door opens and she hears Adrien getting out. She looks over to him and he has his face inside the car but the rest of his body is out.

"Thank you Madame Tremblay, I think I'll be fine."

Nina nods back and once she hears the back passenger side door close. She hopes to God that he will be alright. It just saddens her to hear that young people waste their potential, whether it be because they think they can't escape their circumstances or habits and think that who they have become is all they ever will be.

Which is why she joined Child Services, to put a stop to it, and hopefully find good people who can gently help these people on their way to break out from their chains.

But, she sighs, not everyone will want to choose that path.

Then she drives away, still hoping that those two boys, Keith and Adrien, will be alright and that they can overcome this hurt. Because everyone has potential whether they realise it or not.

Adrien's POV

Adrien stands in front of the bakery. He notices there is less fear bubbling inside of him standing in front of the Bakery instead of when he is standing outside his Mansion Gate. And after crying for a bit, he feels a lot better and since he learned that father isn't the one in charge of him, a weight he didn't know he was carrying seemed to be lifted.

Taking a deep breath he walks inside. Immediately the warmth of the Bakery hits him. It smells of home baked bread and pastries. The room bursts with light making the cold winter seem far away. It gives Adrien the sense of home, of safety, rather than what awaited him at home all those times. Cold walls and floors, empty hallways, large paintings, a sense of dread every time he returned home.

Yeah, the Bakery wasn't like that at all.

He sees Monsieur Dupain-Cheng exit the baking area, he assumes. Since a fresh tray filled with crosstaints is in his hands, his hands are covered by big red oven mitts. Then Dupain-Cheng's brown eyes stray over the counter to see Adrien and he drops the tray.

He immediately feels guilty and rushes over to help but is stopped by Monsieur Dupain-Cheng wrapping his beefy arms around him into a tight hug. The hug brings a feeling of safety, like nothing could ever harm him and it's so warm, unlike his fathers hugs which were stiff and cold-like.

The hug stops and Monsieur Dupain-Cheng is looking straight at him.

"You're okay. You're okay, and no one is going to hurt you again or they are going to have to go through me. Got it? Because what Gabriel did to you and Keith last night was inexcusable! And still is!"

Adrien looks up at him, awe filling through him.

"Because you are your own person. You can make your own decisions and be friends with whoever you want. We parents only worry because we don't want you to get hurt, but you are still your own person and we have to accept that we can't really do much about what you choose to do."

"Thank you." Adrien says. Meaning it with all his heart. No one, not even his own father, has ever said that he is own person before. Well, except maybe his friends. But no adult has ever really said it. And it makes Adrien feel happy. Like he finally has people around him who like him for him who are okay with decisions and who he is as a person.

Author's Note: I am really sorry for not posting on this story for a while, I just had a bit of depression for not getting a job to finally getting one. And a job is hard work. Also I didn't know how I really wanted to write Adrien's reaction to his father, since he is the 'prefect' child and his reactions to most things are pretty chill in cannon and in this fic. There will be a time skip when I get back to the Miraculous side of things so look out for the next chapter which is Voltron eccentric and again I will try to update when I can but I will try extra hard to write on every Sunday and update the fic as well. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a good night:)