When Alya's parents arrived, they glared at Marinette and went to another room.
A little later, Félix and Amelie arrived at the hospital, followed by the bodyguard Adrien called the Gorilla.
Spotting Marinette, they went over to her.
"Your are Marinette, one of Adrien's friends, are you not?" asked Félix. "We are his cousin and his aunt, Félix and Amelie Graham de Vanily. We need to persuade the hospital to release Adrien into our custody. As family, we know better how to help him. They want to talk to you first since you brought him in."
Marinette looked at Félix suspiciously.
"I know you. You made a prank call that made three of my friends upset, and got them akumatized. I don't think you like Adrien very much. Why should I trust you with him?"
"Do you know what he is?" asked Félix. "If you did, you would stop crushing on him."
"I do know. Adrien's a sentimonster. I guess his parents either couldn't have children, or replaced a son who died. It doesn't make a difference to me if he was born by magic. He's still a human being and I care about him as... as a friend."
Amelie laughed harshly.
"They couldn't have children, or they wished to replace a boy who died?" Amelie asked. "So they searched the world for dangerous magic items in order to create one? Don't be absurd. The rich can afford to adopt. It was for power, pure power."
"What do you mean?" asked Marinette.
"Gabriel Agreste has always been a power-hungry man, and he pulled my sister Emilie into his schemes. We heard on the news that Shadow Moth died today. From various clues we had already pieced together that he was Gabriel."
"Yes," said Marinette.
"You knew," said Félix. "Interesting."
"I only found out today," said Marinette.
"My sister dropped hints to me while she was dating Gabriel that he had learned of a powerful magic item in Shanghai, the Prodigious. He had sent his assistant Nathalie there to look for for it and learn all she could about its lore."
Marinette remembered from when she was in Shanghai visiting her great uncle, but she said nothing.
"It has the power of a box full of Miraculouses, at least. But it seems only a person of very pure character can wield it," said Amelie. "Which Gabriel and Emilie definitely were not."
"They needed a perfect child under their control, so you know what they did?" asked Félix.
"Don't interrupt, Félix. We think that Nathalie talked to students of the Guardian of the Prodigious, greedy fools who were bribed to leave his Kung Fu school. She heard legends of a ruined temple in Tibet, where Miraculouses were kept. By digging around there, she found the lost Peacock and Butterfly Miraculous," said Amelie.
"Gabriel and Nathalie used them to become Hawk Moth and Mayura," said Marinette. "I see."
"Not yet," said Amelie. "There's more to the story. Emile and Gabriel got married, and they asked to borrow the Graham de Vanily rings. It was supposed to be temporarily for the ceremony, since the ones they ordered had not arrived, but they never returned them. They're supposed to remain in our family."
Marinette remembered what Duusu said about the use of a pair of enchanted rings in creating a child. The rings would enhance other magic items for a shared purpose of two loving people.
"I had just had a baby," said Amelie. "Félix. My sister visited and there was an incident. She was holding him and he suddenly started to cry. When I looked later there was a bleeding spot on his little arm!"
Félix said, "They used my blood in their sentimonster somehow. I think they wanted to be sure he grew up looking like he was related to them. And that's why he looks identical to me. He's my clone!"
"Identical cousins are not really possible," said Amelie. "In spite of that silly thing that used to be on American TV, the 'Patty Duke Show'."
"But something went wrong," said Félix. "My aunt Emilie must have been the one using the Peacock, and it got damaged from doing such a powerful spell. She must have used it after that to make sure the sentimonster was growing properly. She disappeared, maybe died, over a year ago."
"With her gone, my husband was putting pressure on Gabriel to get back the lost family rings. Gabriel resisted. Then my husband was shot in the street, supposedly by a robber who got away. Now we think it was a hit job hired by Gabriel."
"Eventually, we'll get both rings back," said Félix. "Right now, I want to try something."
Félix raised a hand, which had a ring on it. He raised his voice. "Adrien, if you can hear me, come to me!"
There was a crashing sound. Adrien pushed open the door into the waiting room and stumbled toward them.
"Do everything in your power to come with my mother and me, even if others try to stop you," commanded Félix.
"Plagg, claws out!" said Adrien in a slurred voice.
Plagg, who had been napping in Marinette's purse, was pulled into Adrien's ring. Adrien transformed.
"I wasn't expecting that," said Félix. "Very nice."
"Cataclysm," said Chat Noir.
