I Don't Own Miraculous or Avatar.

Chapter Fourteen. Guāng Papillon.

Gabriel was tired of Nooroo. He really was. The Kwami was encouraging, to be honest, but sometimes Gabriel just wanted silence. That was one thing he missed from Paris. The complete, amazingness of silence. The Agreste mansion had always been quiet. The Misty Palms Oasis? Not so much. For a place located at the edge of the desert, it was actually quite busy at all hours of the day. Gabriel learned quickly that it was due to the various sandbender tribes and various mercanarcies that came to that area. Apparently the people in place, though located in the middle of the Earth Kingdom, didn't really care what nation you were from. As long as you didn't have any bounties on your head, Misty Palms Oasis was a good place for someone like Gabriel to not only hide, but to learn more about the ongoing war that raged around them.

The problem with the war was the constant feelings of negative emotions that gave Gabriel nightmare and headaches constantly. He sensed every cry of distress, every vow for revenge, every declaration of hatred, every mummer of pain, and every utterance of blame. In Paris he'd grown accustomed to feeling for negative emotions. They were everywhere in the city. Je would pick and choose the best candidates to face his foes according to how passionate they were about that thing they were angry about. Here, it was different. Everyone was passonitae. Everyone was certain their side was good. Everyone thought they needed justice or victory. Everyone quiarraled. Everyone mourned. Everyone hated. It was overwhelming. It was terrible. He regretted ever wanting people to get angry.

If this was Cat Noir's twisted idea of teaching him a lesson, it was working. He was never going to make a person purposely mad for the sake of his Akuma again. Also, he was beyond angry at Cat Noir. Of the duo, he had always expected Ladybug to be the one that stopped him if any of the hero's managed to take him down. He was prepared to handle Ladybug. Never had he expected the boy to be the one to defeat him. Never had he expected the boy to be just as powerful as his partner. It made sense that he was, but Gabriel had foolishly underestimated Cat Noir due to his normal misfortunes and his lack of seriousness in many matters. In a way, this had been partially his fault for overlooking the boy, but he still wished revenge against Cat Noir.

Originally, it had been simple. Draw out the heroes. Take the Miraculous. Save Emilie. He hadn't meant for things to go so wrong. Stoneheart was supposed to be the perfect weapon. The heroes wouldn't be able to attack him without risking Stoneheart getting stronger. Stoneheart would capture the heroes or their Miraculous. And then he would be done. The memory of the Stoneheart incident would fade from memory or be recalled as a bizarre phenomenon and mystery. No one would be harmed but Gabriel himself. Adrien would have the mother he deserved, not a father like him. But then Ladybug proved resilient. What once had been simple morphed into a war. A war that destroyed him and drove him mad. At first he tried so hard to make Akuma's that wouldn't permanently hurt the heroes. They were children after all. When they overcame the easy ones, he grew frustrated. Slowly the Akumas became more dangerous. The heroes nearly lost their lives on a weekly basis. Still, they stubbornly overcame every trial. Every battle in the war of Hawkmoth unbreakable wrath. Finally, he was tired of fighting. Tired of losing every single time. He snapped. He tried Ladybug and went after Cat Noir personally, knowing that he relied on her as much as she relied on him. And he almost… no… Gabriel refused to think it.

Perhaps the revenge on Cat Noir was unwarranted. Compared to what Gabriel had felt the moment he had caught the boy. He had gone too far. Perhaps this was all for the best. Any more of that war, and Gabriel would have become the monster Paris imagined he was.

He asked Nooroo what to do about the headaches and constant painful reminders stirring in his head that a war was raging around him. The Kwami had responded in a way that Gabriel had really not expected. He needed to relearn how to use his powers.

"What exactly does that mean Nooroo?" Gabriel asked, frowning.

"It means, when you first put on the Moth Miraculous, you wanted to use it for something that could be considered an ill intent. Because of that, you created Akuma. Your empathic abilities as Hawkmoth tuned themselves to seek out only negative emotions, not positive ones like hope, happiness, and so forth. Your Akuma's could only affect a person who was upset. However, if you truly want to rid yourself of these nightmare and the constant pain of the war, you must accept that Adrien, Emilie, and Nathlie are gone. You must decide completely that you want to use your powers for the good of others. Since you've used your powers incorrectly for so long, if you even once consider using your powers for selfish reasons, you will get the headaches again until you realise that you used them incorrectly and once more attempt to use them right. If you use your powers for good reasons, you'll create a Guāng Butterfly, which flocks to a person who wants to do something righteous." Nooroo explained. Gabriel growled internally. Again with the acceptance thing. Why did all of his new found problems come back to accepting he wouldn't see the people he cared about again. Was it really so wrong for a man to want to remember his family? Nooroo noticed Gabriel's frustration immediately.

"Kwamis live for a very, very long time." Nooroo said suddenly, much to Gabriel's confusion.

"What are you…"

"We are very emotional creatures and become insanely attached to whomever our Chosen is. Only, our Chosen is always human. And while Kwamis live very long lives, humans do not." Nooroo continued, "I have had to say goodbye to a thousand Hawkmoths, each goodbye harder than the first. Each one will forever have a place in my memories. You, Gabriel, might be the hardest one to say goodbye to. You were so different than the rest. Yet, somehow, you will become the greatest Hawkmoth yet. I can feel it. I get that saying goodbye is hard. Accepting that the ones you love is difficult. But you can do it without forgetting who they were you know. Saying goodbye never meant forgetting or abandoning them. It means you are ready to take a new step in a world that they once helped you create, but holding on… destroying yourself over what could have been? That just offends the memory of who they were. It makes the sacrifice and/or losing them utterly pointless. I doubt any of them would like to know that you still tear yourself apart about what was done in the past. Let the past teach you, not hurt you." Gabriel looked at his hands. It had never occurred to him that Nooroo would understand loss. He never thought about the other Hawkmoths. The ones before.

"Nooroo, how do you do it?" He asked softly, "Live knowing there was nothing you could have done to save them?"

"I… I just do. The other Hawkmoths wouldn't have want me to be sad. So I am not sad."

"That isn't easy to do."

"Sometimes the simplest tasks are the hardest to complete." Nooroo reminded him. Gabriel sighed closing his eyes.

A woman with emerald green eyes. Hair like the sun a smile to match it. The kindest heart in all the world.

The boy with his mothers features, quiet and a mystery to him. One he could never solve.

A woman with midnight black hair and blue eyes. Always there for his family. Always caring even when she didn't show it.

All gone. His headache faded.

Gone, but he wouldn't forget them.

He opened his eyes. Gabriel wasn't a man to cry. He didn't now, but the expression on his face said all.

"Light Wings. Rise." He said softly. A thousand pure white butterflies appeared, darting through the room before landing softly on him. His Kimono became more like a rich man's clothing in the ancient world, with silver accents that drew an elegant butterfly pattern. Up the folds of his robes. The dark purple he wore became softer and lighter in color and a familiar staff appeared on his lap. The top of his robes went black and grey with a huge butterfly on the front. His boots under his clothes became more for fighting, firm, leather boots. A silver conical hat appeared on his head and a purple butterfly domino mask in contrast to his normal full mask. Right under his neck was the Moth Miraculous in it's true form.

Gabriel focused his power; carefully trying to work past all of the negative emotions the war threw at him. He searched diligently for any hope left in a world that only knew war. Then he saw that even in a world of hate and darkness, there was still a little hope left.

A prince who believed he'd one day find his home again, but had come to realise there was more to the world than he thought.

A wise man who lost everything, even the ones he loved, yet he still strove to choose good over evil.

A waterbender who found the impossible and believed that it could be the key to saving the world.

An earthbender who has never seen, but sees all, finally given the chance to chose her own path.

A water tribe man who, despite being placed the burden of his family on his shoulders, still aspired to make his father proud.

An airbender who was alone in the world, yet somehow created a family in the midst of the chaos.

A warrior who led her sisters to war, hopeful at the return of the Avatar and secretly longing to find the one she loved again.

A freedom fighter, a mere boy who had strayed from the noble path, relying on his friends to bring him to a city of secrets.

Yes. Hope had not left that world after all. It was stunning, how even in the midst of turmoil, sorrow, and pain… all was still not lost. Each had learned to live with their pasts and move towards a future, learning from their mistakes. Each had to struggle. Each had to fight. Yet something told Gabriel these people would soon be his teachers. They would show him how to hope again. Then, Gabriel sensed something else, something that made him cry out in surprise.

A boy.

A boy, who had everything, but lost it.

A boy that was unlucky, but he pushed through it.

A boy who was kind but lonely.

A boy who loved, but didn't know what it meant to receive love in return.

A boy who could have anything he wanted, but he still refused it.

A boy who longed to be free, but was afraid to say a word.

There was something strangely familiar to this boy. The pain and courage that pulsed through the boy like a burning fire.

Gabriel Agreste knew he felt his son. The mystery Gabriel never solved. The person that Gabriel regretted hurting the most. Only now, as the realisation that he could sense his son settled in, a new, even worse, realisation coursed through him.

Adrien Agreste was Cat Noir, and Gabriel had tried to kill him. Gabriel doubled over as the migraine suddenly returned with his new conflicted feelings. He wasn't sure what he wanted. Not anymore. He spent moments, processing the news in his mind. He closed his eyes again.

No! He couldn't let the past haunt him. Nooroo had warned him that if he tried using the Hawkmoth Miraculous for selfish reasons in this world, then he would surely suffer for it. This world was too broken by the war. There was too much conflict. He took a steady breath.

So Adrien was Cat Noir.

Last he saw Cat Noir, he was hurt. Hurt by Gabriel's own hands. Nothing could ever make up for what Gabriel had done. He was starting to realise that now. So, if he couldn't use the Miraculous selfishly, he wouldn't. He would keep watch over his sons emotions. He would protect his son from afar. He had to.

That's when a thought occurred to Gabriel. He reached out again, stretching his power to a limit.

And he felt a girl who longed to be home and was terrified for her missing friend's life. She was confused. She was scared, but she wasn't alone. She pushed forwards, searching for her friend. Desperate, she wanted nothing but to protect him. She was torn. She loved her friend deeply, but she loved another as well. She wanted to return her friend's love, but couldn't, because she feared she would be lying. She knew he was out there, alone. She knew he needed her, and despite her fear, she would stop at nothing to find him. Gabriel smiled. He felt Ladybug's emotions.

"Well then." He said with a soft chuckle, "Let's see if the Lady is worthy of being called my son's partner, shall we Nooroo?" He summoned a white butterfly, which he promptly turned a shade of soft purple. A Guāng Papillon.

"Follow her, will you?" He ordered the butterfly. It fluttered away. There was a knock on Gabriel's door. Yung was needing his help. Promptly, Gabriel dropped his transformation and left to aid his friend.

Note: Guāng means Light in Chinese... and most Miraculous fans already know that Papillon is French for Butterfly.

Anyways! Thanks for reading this chapter. This week has been crazy, and again, I apologies for not uploading as much. Remember to review and provide constructive criticism.