Ephemeral (extended edition)

Summary

Extended Scenes and Bonus Scenes from the 100th Episode Ephemeral (Éphémère). How does Luka feel about keeping his friends' identities a secret, even from themselves? How does Alya react to Marinette and Adrien dating? How did Gabriel know his son was Chat Noir from only one word? How does Adrien feel being Akumatized? What is Bunnix up to while all this is going on?

I absolutely loved this episode, and so much happened in only 20 minutes! I wanted to write this fic to expand on the scenes we saw, go into some internal monologues of the characters, and add a couple scenes that I think would have happened in between.

Canon-compliant with all of Season 4.


Notes:

Fair warning: I do not fundamentally change any of the major plot points of the episode in this fic! This is just a reinterpretation and expansion of the existing plot. If you are looking for a total Ephemeral re-write, this story is not for you.

Each chapter is one scene from the episode. Some scenes I do a lot of expanding on and some not so much, so they vary in length. The fic follows the episode shot-for-shot, so if you've seen the episode you should be able to skip around chapters and know what's going on, or you can read it straight through as a complete story.

Scenes I added that were not in the episode will be marked with a * in the chapter title


Scene 1 - Gabriel in the Mausoleum

"Emilie, everything I have done, I have done for you"

Gabriel stood in the cold, echoing chamber, staring into the soft face of an angel. After all this time, after all his efforts, she still lay there, lifeless.

Gabriel's fist tightened with anger. He must try harder, push farther. He had let too many things distract him from his mission. How could he betray Emilie like that? The fashion line, the business venture with the Tsurugis, the constant distractions Adrien's misbehaviour had caused…

He must put all of his efforts into obtaining the miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Everything he had done - he was doing - was for Emilie.

"And if I must, I will do it 100 times more," he whispered, imagining that Emilie were merely sleeping. That she would wake up any minute now, and relieve him of this pain.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. He answered the call, putting the phone up to his ear, and heard the voice of Nathile Sancoeur.

"It's time, sir"