Ch 12 Twisted Hope

In the original timeline when Plagg died, Hawkmoth and Mayura became obsessed with the search for Ladybug's lost Miraculous. Ironically, the villains were more proactive about it than the heroes were. As 'Lady Luck' herself, Ladybug assumed the earring would turn up when the time was right. She didn't seriously look for it more than twice.

By contrast, Hawkmoth and Mayura were out every night. Their obsessive hunt blinded them to everything else (such as the drastic changes in Adrien and Chat Noir). Hoping that Adrien wouldn't notice his Fathers absences or odd behavior, Gabriel freely encouraged his son to spend more time with his friends (something Adrien desperately needed after losing Plagg).

But when Bunnix saved Plagg, everything changed.

Hawkmoth's blinding obsession was erased, and the city's villains were left to other dangerous musings…

The day after Plagg DIDN'T die…

As a fashion designer, Gabriel didn't waste time obsessing over failure. In such a cutthroat industry, he had to look forward or be left behind.

He applied the same mentality to supervilliany. Instead of wasting his time working the kinks out of a known failure, he pressed forward to the "next big thing."

This was no exception.

Yes, Chat Blanc was his most powerful weapon. Yes, Blanc and Tangler were each a hairbreadth from getting him to his goal, but as far as Gabriel was concerned, they were old news.

But when two masterpieces fail, where do you go next?

Sketching always helped him problem-solve, so he deliberated while working on his fall line. For the record, it wasn't going any better than his plans as Hawkmoth. Gabriel shaded a section on a dress, before scowling, and tapping the trashcan icon to delete the whole thing.

He started again, this time with an A-line silhouette. Adding details, he started with a low v-cut, but winced and raised the neckline. Casually, he noted that it was the sort of dress that would work well for a model with short hair or at least an up-do.

The sketch was supposed to be a wedding dress, but sick of white, Gabriel impulsively changed the color to a stunning royal blue.

Taking a look at his creation, Gabriel could not imagine what bride would ever wear it.

It was too practical to be a "princess dress," but too bold for a traditionalist…

As Gabriel scrutinized the design, his office door opened, and Nathalie stepped in. With the dress still firmly on his mind, Gabriel could almost see her in it. Perhaps a splash of indigo… a few feathers there and an elaborate brimmed hat… A bit 1940s maybe, but it'd certainly suit her…

Then, it occurred to him that he was fantasizing about his assistant in one of his wedding dresses, and he composed himself. With another scowl, he looked back to his tablet and deleted the whole thing.

"I assume there is a reason you are interrupting me as I work," he demanded, his tone harsh and cold.

"Sir, there is something you must see." Nathalie handed him her tablet. Her screen was cued up to a segment of security footage from the mansion grounds.

Gabriel eyes went wide as the video played. "It appears my son has been keeping quite the secret from me…"

Ten years in the future…

Everything was white. The ruins of former buildings. The streets. The trees and grass. The only color to be seen was the shock of electric blue sky. (For some reason, Bunnix always envisioned the end of the world with blacked-out skies darkened by smoke)

She stood there taking it in, until Rena spoke. "So, let me guess. We took a wrong turn at the Cretaceous Period and wound up a million years in the future?"

"Not exactly…"

"Hmm, then, I wonder what caused all this." Rena rolled her eyes. "Oh, I know I'm doing Rena," she mimicked bitterly. "I KNOW time travel. Girl, who in their right mind ever gave you a Miraculous?"

"Hey!"

"You heard me." Rena turned on her. "You think you're helping and instead you cause the end of the world. Girl, FIX this."

"I…"

"You know what? No." Rena put her palm out expectantly. "Hand over your Miraculous, and I'LL do it."

"It's not that simple."

"No? You changed the past and triggered the end of humanity. I'll un-change it and un-trigger it. What's so complicated about that?"

"Rena, we don't have a clue how saving Plagg led to this. Don't you think we should find out so we can prevent the same thing from ever happening in OUR timeline?"

"No, girl, I do not. I want to go back and fix things before it's too late."

Bunnix pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to stave off a headache. "Fine." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her handful of buttons. If ever there was a time to use the purple, this was it.

"Burrow!" She called, and a white circle of light appeared in midair. "Let's go."

But just as they were about to cross the event horizon, a massive clawed hand slashed through the circle of light turning it to gray static. The portal blinked out, revealing a fanged creature dressed in all white.

"Leaving so soon?" The being growled, "But you just got here…" As if the beast's appearance wasn't creepy enough, his voice was strikingly familiar. Who was this? One of their friends akumatized? One of their team?

Rena saw through the savage mane of platinum hair and blood-shot eyes faster than Bunnix could. "Chat Noir?"

Bunnix did a double-take. If you looked past the wild hair and blood-stained clothes… "Adrien?"

The Past…

Gabriel replayed the security footage.

The cameras caught Ladybug slipping through a window into Adrien's bedroom and emerging seconds later. She arrived with something small, but left empty-handed.

Gabriel rewound the video and paused the second Ladybug entered frame. Magnifying the image, the object in her hand pixelated before enhancing. She held a pink, heart-shaped card

Now, besides the obvious, Gabriel could think of multiple reasons why Ladybug might drop off a romantic card to his son. Perhaps, she was delivering it for a friend. Perhaps, it was even a decoy to hide something else.

But most likely…

"It appears the city's favorite heroine has a crush on my son." Sometimes the universe IS on your side.

"Sir," Nathalie said, "this could make Adrien a powerful ally if we brought him in on our work. This could change everything. If Ladybug is so in love she's leaving him romantic notes, then…"

"Then, her Miraculous may be as good as ours." Gabriel almost smiled. He leaned back comfortably in his seat. Suddenly, his mirth disappeared. "Nathalie, how do you suppose Adrien will react when he learns his father is a supervillain?"

"He will understand," she said confidently. "I did. It has been an honor to work at your side." She reached out as if to touch his arm, but stopped herself. In fact, she took a half step back. "Adrien deeply misses his mother," she said, her own tone somber. "Once he knows how far you've gone to save her, he will be on our side. I'm sure of it."

There was a certain sadness when his assistant mentioned Emilie, but Gabriel dismissed it. Nathalie was his greatest supporter. Why would she be upset if they succeeded in their goal?

Instead he plotted how he would break the news to Adrien, convinced that with the universe was on his side, nothing could go wrong.

In the future…

"What happened to you?" Rena asked the savage before them. Bunnix, on the other hand, wasn't quite convinced it WAS Adrien.

"Oh, you talk!" The beast's lips pulled back into a fanged smile. "It's been so long since I've heard anyone talk." Then, he added, "You two will make excellent sacrifices for the altar."

"Sacrifices?" Alix asked

At the same time Rena said, "Excuse me, 'altar'?"

"Yes, and you two will be perfect to bring them back…" Without warning, the man lunged, and the women dove in different directions.

"Bunnix," Rena called. "Get that portal open!" Alix didn't need to be told twice. While Bunnix called for her burrow, Rena tackled Chat Blanc (or whatever he was called. The man didn't say, but it seemed to fit considering he was dressed in white leather. Even his hair was a silvery blonde instead of Adrien's usual shade of sunshine).

A new portal formed, but like the first, they didn't get to use it. Chat threw Rena aside, before bounding to the portal with claws outstretched. "Cataclysm!"

With a single swipe, he destroyed the second portal.

Bunnix was undeterred. She summoned a new portal, just as Rena jumped on Chat's back, putting him in a choke hold. "You have to CALM down!" She grunted as he bucked and clawed, trying to throw her off. "Chat, it's US! We're you're FRIENDS!"

"Friends? Friends?" Chat sneered. "Friends wouldn't have left us alone!"

That gave Bunnix pause, "Who is 'us'?" Was an akumatized Marinette running around somewhere too?

"It's YOUR fault my son is gone!" Chat hurled Rena to the ground. "But with your sacrifice, I'll finally get him back."

"Chat, let us go back in time, and we'll fix it," Rena pleaded. "We'll save Emil! It will be like it never happened. We promise."

Chat hesitated. It looked like Rena got through to him.

Then, he cocked his head to the side, as his mind fit the pieces together before theirs did. "If you were really the friends of my son, you would've stood by him the first time," he said, his voice cold. "But now, it's up to me to save Adrien. But don't you worry. I won't fail him the way YOU did."

It took Bunnix and Rena a beat to catch up.

"Mr. Agreste?!"

Author's Note: In my first draft, Chapters 11- 13 were all one chapter. But it had some really wonky pacing, so it's now broken into three which seem to flow better. Let me know what you think.

ALSO… what do you think about Gabriel triggering the end of the world? Hey, in the realm of Miraculous, are any of us really surprised? Next, we'll find out what exactly went wrong, how it was prevented with Plagg dying, and if we're lucky we might even get to fix it…

Got to say, in my first draft, it WAS Adrien they encountered in the post-apocalyptic future. But then it hit me to switch it to Gabriel (we already saw this with Adrien in the show), and it took a while to figure out how that would work. Hence why these chapters have been a bit slow.

Sorry.