Gem Club – Polly

Father and son bonding (?)

"Son, we need to talk." He couldn't go back now, the most important piece of his plan has been set in motion, all he had to do for the next moments, was to carefully sentence his intentions, he couldn't give Adrien any chance to refuse.

It was clear to him that his son had been crying, despite all his efforts to hide his emotions, his red-rimmed eyes were a clear giveaway, the teen was just like his mother, too emotional for his own good, and Gabriel knew he could play with that against his son.

"Have you been crying?" The designer asked with fake curiosity.

"I heard you talking to my friends, why are you so set on not letting me go to school?" Adrien asked, his voice quivering at the end.

Gabriel sighed, trying to contain his smile, his son, had given him the perfect opportunity. "Well, the Akuma attacks are not the only reason I'm keeping you here, my son. Follow me." He ordered, waiting for Adrien to come out of his shock and move.

Father and son walked side by side to the office room, not uttering a single along the way. When they got there, Gabriel didn't waste a single second as he paused in front of Emilie's portrait. "Stand right next to me."

Always obedient, Adrien walked to his side eyeing him apprehensively. Gabriel pushed the secret buttons on the painting, and the floor beneath them opened like an elevator.

The younger Agreste could only stare at his father with wide eyes and mouth agape "Wha – What was that?" He whispered, scared of the dark secrets that surrounded his only parent.

Gabriel didn't answer, they descended to a massive room. Adrien could only stare shockingly at his surroundings. He had never seen this room before if he could call, whatever that was, a room. The place he stood reminded him of some abandoned church. There were bridges on the sides, with cables passing beneath them. The high ceilings made a giant arch, the only source of natural light came from the very far end of the room, pointing towards a garden with some kind of altar in the middle. In fact, everything in that room pointed towards that spot, as if it was the central key to the existence of that mysterious place.

Millions of questions swirled on Adrien's head. Was this room always here? What was the meaning of that thing on the other side? Why has this been kept a secret? What else was his father hiding from him? "Adrien, I need you to remain calm after what I'm going to show you, I promise I'll explain everything to you, you have to trust me," Gabriel asked, walking in the direction of the garden.

Adrien shook his head to shake all his doubts away and followed his father once again. Once he got a better view of the altar, a wave of nausea hit him suddenly. His heart was racing, as he placed a hand on the glass that separated him from his long-estranged mother. He paled, losing all his forces at once. He couldn't hold back anymore and ran to the plants right next to the chamber his mother was in and threw up all his stomach contents. He felt his father's hand on his back as if it was attempting to comfort him. "Wh – Why?" He whispered weakly.

Gabriel kept stroking his back gently and looked at his wife's sleeping form. "She got sick." He paused. "She – She got so sick, we went to several doctors, but no one could tell what she had. She didn't want to worry you, so we tried to hide it from you. When you were with her, it was as if you gave her all the strength she needed to get through the days, but eventually… Not even you were enough to keep her going. One night she, she was in bed sleeping with her normal clothes, I tried to wake her up, but, but she didn't open her eyes. I started building this when we concluded that she was not going to make it." Gabriel looked at his son who was shaking madly, tears pooling from his eyes. "She was still alive, so I put her inside this chamber. It's what has been keeping her alive since then. I didn't have the courage to tell you what had really happened, I told you she disappeared, so when I could save her, it would look like she had simply come back."

"Save her?" Adrien interrupted, his voice strained from the millions of emotions that were flowing through him. Gabriel could feel them all, anguish… betrayal… despair… sadness… and… hope…

"Yes." He answered simply. "You see, there is a way to save her. When all the scientific knowledge was not enough, I – I turned to alternative ways. I travelled the world in search of answers."

"So, when you had to go abroad on work, you were trying to find a solution for mum?"

"I was. I found out a book in Tibet, that book you stole from my safe. It contains quite a few secrets. There was a man who had studied the book for many years. He tried to decipher the codes written there. He didn't discover much, but he found out that, there are two pieces of jewellery that when combined are so powerful that they can reshape all the four dimensions at the wielder's will…"

"Wha- What does that mean?" Adrien whispered, suddenly very afraid of what his father was planning.

"It basically grants you a wish, anything you want at the snap of your fingers." He paused. "I, I already have one of the pieces, the ring of destruction." Adrien gasped at those words. "Adrien, I know who you really are, and it's time for you to know who I really am, why I do the things I do."

All of the blond's forces had seemed to abandon him once again as he fell to the floor gasping for air. Realization hit him at once, everything suddenly made so sense, this sick nightmare was his reality, his father was the villain behind all the events that had happened in Paris since he got his ring, he had been fighting his father all this time.

Gabriel hugged his son, who was gasping for air that didn't seem to enter his lungs, he petted his blond, soft hair, and rocked back and forward holding his only child.

"Whe – Where is he?" Adrien asked between gasps.

"Who?"

"MY KWAMI, WHERE IS HE?" The teen asked again, his voice full of rage.

"I locked him, but he was feisty, he wouldn't bow to my demands so, I put on the ring and renounced him, sending him back to limbo."

"You what?" Adrien questioned, crawling his way out of his father's embrace.

"I had to, my son."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT! YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO CALL ME THAT! YOU HAVE BEEN LYING TO ME ALL THIS TIME!" Adrien yelled, sobbing once again.

"Please, Adrien, you have to understand! All of this is for her! We both know she was the only one who could bring joy to our house! You were miserable after that day! I was miserable ever since then! Adrien, the reason I'm telling you all this is because I'm desperate! None of my plans had worked! When I found out about you when you transformed to save yourself from falling when Gorizilla dropped you… I knew… I knew what I had to do!"

"YOU WERE THE ONE THAT TRIED TO KILL ME! YOU KNEW I WAS FALLING TO MY DEATH BECAUSE OF YOU, AND YOU WOULD DO NOTHING TO SAVE ME!"

"THAT IS A LIE! I WOULD HAVE TOLD GORIZILLA TO DROP LADYBUG SO SHE COULD HAVE SAVED YOU!" Gabriel shouted, he closed his eyes and took a breath, he couldn't attack his son, he had to make him see what he would gain if he joined him. "I know how much you love your mother, Adrien. You can help me." He took an octagonal box from his jacket. "I trust you, son. This is the peacock miraculous, it grants the ability to turn someone's emotions and despair to life in the form of a protector. I want you to use it, and together, side by side, we will get Ladybug's miraculous and save your mother. You will protect my akumas so that they have a chance to get the miraculous. You will stand next to me during the battles, so I can keep an eye on you."

"You want me to do what?" Adrien asked wearily.

"I want you to join me."

Adrien stared at his father, who seemed like a maniac speaking, how could he? His father had put him on a crossroad. Of course, he loved his mother, he would do anything to save her, but betray Paris? Betray his lady? He would never do such a thing. "No, I won't do it. You may have taken my ring away, but you will never get her miraculous, I won't let you!" He cried.

Gabriel sighed, his son really was innocent if he thought he could refuse, he had such a pure heart, always willing to put everyone ahead of his own wills, the designer could play with that. "You leave me no other choice then. I wish I didn't have to make this Adrien, but, if you refuse to help me, I'm going to make sure your friends suffer the consequences of your actions. When I'm finished with them, you won't be able to live with yourself, knowing you were the cause of their misery." He explained slowly.

Adrien was shocked to hear his father's cold words. A great sense of fear and despair washed all his body, he felt like he was suffocating, as if his father's words were squeezing his neck, as if they were ripping his chest, and shredding his heart to pieces. "You wouldn't…" He gasped.

"We both know, that for your mother, I would do anything." Gabriel threatened dangerously.

Bile rose to the young Agreste mouth, as he retched all the contents that still remained on his guts to the floor. He felt trapped, despite being locked from the world for all his short life, Adrien had never felt as much trapped as he felt now. He didn't have a choice, if he refused, who knows what his father could do to his friends. The Agreste name carried great power, the influence they had, the money they had could bend everyone to their wills. His father could destroy his friends future, he could blacklist Marinette from the Fashion world forever, shattering all her dreams, he could end both Nino and Alya's careers before they started. God knows what his father was capable of. He was Hawkmoth for fuck sake! He could even end them if he wanted, and Adrien would be the reason for it. The teen would not be able to live with the guilt, if anything were to happen to his friends because of him, he would die, he was certain of that.

"Ok…" He muttered dejectedly.

"I'm sorry?"

"Ok, I'll do it. But you have to promise me, that you won't hurt any of my friends, you won't akumatize them, all the attacks will be far from the school. And Ladybug has to survive all of this."

"I promise." Gabriel paused "I'm so proud of you, my son. Let's put your alliance in practice now." Gabriel said, handing the Peacock miraculous to his son. Adrien took it slowly, looking down in defeat, not uttering a single word to his father.

And now you know what Gabriel really wants *laughs evilly*.

So, in this story, the peacock miraculous works exactly like the canon one with all its pros and cons (winks). We only had a glimpse of its abilities, so I'm going to try and not deviate much from that. Next chapter, there will be an Akuma (finally), so let's see how that works.

Next Chapter: Ladybug peeked inside his room, knocking lightly at the large window "Chaton, are you there?"

Thank you so much for the reviews and all the new followers, I hope you liked this chapter, and see you on the next one.