He stared at the capsule, frozen. For a moment, he forgot how to breathe.

His arms shaking, he reached out to touch it, to touch- to touch his mother.

"I should've known you'd find a way down here."

Adrien jumped, turning around hastily. "F-fath-"

"Don't attempt to trick me, Felix," Gabriel told him contemptuously. "Adrien's out of the city by now, with Nathalie. You haven't even bothered changing clothes. I am not deceived as easily as I once was. I know my own son."

No, you don't, you never have… and apparently, I never knew you either. "We swapped so he could tell you-" he shook his head. "That's not important right now. Why's mother down here? What- what is this?"

"Still committing to the bit?" Gabriel snorted. "Really now, I thought you were smarter than that. Adrien was compelled to obey the order Nathalie gave via his amok - you would not have been."

"My WHAT?!" his heart seized up, then started pounding, faster and faster, until he thought he would pass out.

"I may not have your amok," his father said, staring at him coldly, as if he meant nothing to him. "But I still have power beyond what you'll ever possess. You should have known better than to cross me, Felix. But don't worry. Your mother will never know what happened down here - she'll just think that her poor son got into some terrible accident that caused him to lose all his memories. I'm sure that once she gets over the shock, she'll like your replacement more anyways - a quieter, more obedient son, like my own."

No- Father couldn't be saying- accident- replacement?!

Pieces of Father's words swirled around, beginning to settle into a horrifying picture.

"Nooroo, Duusu, Dual Metamorphosis!"

Adrien scrambled backwards as his father transformed into an even more menacing figure - Shadowmoth.

"You should've taken the fake Miraculous and gone home, Felix," Shadowmoth said, reaching out a hand.

Adrien's chest constricted. It felt like someone had put a phantom hand around his soul, squeezing it tighter and tighter. He fell to his knees, not having the strength to stand.

This- this must've been what Sentibug had felt, those months ago, when Mayura murdered her. Just like Father's about to…

He grimaced up at the man as his fingers moved closer together, preparing to snap.

"No…" Adrien gritted out. He wasn't going to die. Not like this. Not to his father. Not under his control. "Plagg, Claws Out!"

He had no idea whether it'd work. It was more of a desperation attempt than anything else. But as Plagg's magic surrounded him, the tug faded into a whisper of what it was, before cutting off completely.

"WHAT?!" Shadowmoth gasped.

Adrien wasn't going to stick around for him to get over his shock. Plagg may have been protecting him, but even the suit was only going to do so much once Fa- Shadowmoth, got over his shock and started going after him.

Placing his staff against the ground, he accelerated towards the cavern roof. "CATACLYSM!"

A fifty-foot diameter circle of land ceased to exist as he vaporized it. Distantly, he wondered how the city was going to react to a giant sinkhole opening up in the wealthiest part of town.

With another pole vault, he sailed over the city, running and leaping on autopilot, trying to get the HELL away from everything he'd just seen and heard. He didn't realize where he was until Marinette stared back at him from her balcony. "Chat Noir, what're you-?!"

He collapsed into her arms, ugly sobbing, unable to hold it in anymore. She hugged him tightly, not understanding what was going on, but knowing he needed comfort, to know someone was there for him.

After a moment, his ring beeped its final warning.

"Chat, you need to hide," Marinette murmured. She didn't loosen her embrace.

"There's no point," he said dismally. "Shadowmoth already knows."

That DID get her to let go, flailing wildly as she looked up at him with wide eyes. "How?!"

He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as his transformation released, sending Plagg spiraling out of the ring. "Marinette, I-"

"FELIX?!"

He blinked, glancing down at his suit.

Oh right. He was still dressed as his cousin.

Well this was awkward.

He scratched the back of his neck. "My cousin and I switched places, he was going to talk to Father for me about- about the trip. Since I couldn't." His throat closed up. Gabriel had mentioned an amok - ADRIEN'S amok. And with the feeling he'd had of his soul being squeezed…

When his cousin had said that he could disobey Gabriel while Adrien couldn't, he'd meant it literally.

"Then- on the train with Nathalie- that was Felix?!"

Adrien frowned. "I told him to abort," he muttered.

He glanced up at Marinette. She was weirdly slack-jawed, staring off into space. "Marinette?" He asked cautiously.

She shook herself. "It's nothing!" she said. Her voice sounded a half-octave higher than usual. "What's going on with you is more important, let's talk about that instead!"

He frowned, but let it go. "Gabriel is Shadowmoth, he just tried to murder me while under the impression I was my cousin, and he's been exerting control over me for- for I don't know how long, because my cousin and I are both sentimonsters." Saying it out loud, he almost had to laugh at the absurdity of it all. It didn't feel real.

"You- how- huh?!" Marinette blurted out. That pushed it over the line. He started to laugh, at first because of Marinette's reaction, and then because he just couldn't stop. Sobs infiltrated, until he wasn't sure whether he was laughing or crying.

"It's okay," he heard Marinette say distantly, "We'll work things out. You'll be fine. Everything's fine!"

He didn't think she believed it, anymore than he did.