Chapter 14: It Gets Worse

Ladybug and Chat Noir followed Stilt Stalker in silence, watching how they shuffled as they walked. Even when slumped over, they towered over Ladybug and Chat. Each waited for Stilt Stalker to suddenly turn around and attack, but they never did so. After a fair distance, the three arrived at what looked like an abandoned warehouse, similar to the one Chat and Ladybug trained in.

"This is the place, he should be in there," Stilt Stalker sighed, turning around to them and looking even more exhausted.

"Are you okay?" Ladybug asked in genuine concern.

"I feel sick," Stilt Stalker mumbled, holding their hands over their stomach.

"Do you-"

"Just go in," they snapped, stopping Ladybug from trying to help.

Ladybug and Chat Noir entered the building with Stilt Stalker following after them; it was barely lit and eerie. They looked around and found a pair of legs standing at the top of some metal stairs. Windows were covered and what little light that came through wasn't strong enough to reach their face, but Chat was sure it was Papillon.

"You best purify that akuma Ladybug, they look about ready to be sick," Came Papillon's voice from the direction on the legs, Chat moved into a defensive position from where he stood, "Don't worry I'll wait."

Ladybug gave a look to Chat to watch her back, he nodded in agreement and she turned to Stilt Stalker.

"It's their leg, the fake one," Papillon offered.

The Stilt Stalker looked between Ladybug and Papillon in worry, but reluctantly held up their leg for Ladybug to remove, she did so and flung it around to smash the item into the ground.

Stilt Stalker audibly gasped, "My prosthetic."

Ladybug made quick work of purifying the akuma and calling for the mysterious disappearing light to fix everything. An exhausted person in shorts and a t-shirt collapsed in Stilt Stalker's place, a blue and green prosthetic replacing the vacant place of their leg.

"You served me well, you better get going now," Papillon said.

Ladybug helped them up and out of the building. When she re-entered, the covers on the windows were removed dramatically and the room became brighter, revealing Papillon's full form, Ladybug gasped. The man stood straight in his purple suit, a cane in hand and his face covered in…

Chat Noir almost pissed himself laughing.

"WHAT THE FUUUCK!? AHHAhahahahaaaa, hang on, hang on, okay, wait, before we start, WHAT is all that goin' on with your face?" Chat yelled out between laughs, "You look like you belong in a go-go cage of someone's sex dungeon!"

Ladybug, despite her fear before, let out a small chuckle next to Chat. Papillon did nothing but narrow his eyes.

"No, he's got a suit it's a fancy sex dungeon," Ladybug added. Chat burst out laughing even louder.

"You-haha-you look like your trying to avoid a restraining order!" Chat continued, he couldn't help it, all this worry for some big bad guy and he looked like THAT? Ladybug was laughing harder next to him, but still holding it back as much as she could, "There's just so much leather going on around the facial region, I can't tell if you're angry with me or just uncomfortable with the layer of sweat that mask must be generating from underneath. You must have a serious case of acne to try to cover your face like that!"

Papillon waited a few second's for their laughing to calm before speaking.

"That's certainly no way to talk to an adult," Was all he said.

"You know, Paps, I kind of see us more as co-workers, what with how we've been "working together" over the years," Chat looked at his nails in a performance-like manner, not holding back the sneer in his voice. "And you know, stabbing your co-worker is certainly no way to interact with them."

Chat could have sworn that he saw regret on Papillon's face when he peered up at him, but it could have just been an illusion of his mask. Why would a psychotic man who goes about causing havoc and destruction to Paris on a near daily basis for several years actually have regrets about hurting someone? Much less his own worst enemy.

"That was certainly no way for him to act," Papillon said in reference to the man who actually stabbed Chat, pushing the blame off of himself, "I never wanted you to get hurt Adrien."

"Well that's some tough shit Pa-" Chat stopped, feeling a cold sweat climb his back when he realized that Papillon had called him by his name and not his alias. The use of his name put a horrible sense of familiarity between them that didn't belong, Papillon sounded almost like his father.

"I can promise that I will never hurt anyone again," Papillon continued without missing a beat, as if knowing that Chat would react this way, "I will never make another akuma or hurt you or anyone else if you just give me your Miraculous. What do you say Ladybug, Adrien?"

There it was again, his name, what the hell was he doing?

"What do you need our Miraculous for?" Ladybug asked, picking up on Chat's hesitation. He shook his head, he needed to focus.

"I will never attack you again," Was the only answer Papillon gave.

"Try again," Chat growled, "What the fuck are you going to do with our Miraculous?"

"You needn't concern yourself with that," Papillon responded, narrowing his eyes.

"Then you needn't concern yourself with them," Ladybug said, imitating his words.

"And you can fuck right off," Chat added for good measure.

"Again, Adrien, that's no way to speak to an adult."

"Shut up," Chat said in a low voice, feeling his blood beginning to boil.

"I don't want to hurt you, Adrien, I just need your Miraculous," Papillon continued.

"Shut up," Chat growled, louder.

"We have no reason to give them to you," Ladybug said, trying to keep Papillon from saying Chat's name again and trying to diffuse his growing anger, "No reason to believe that you would actually stop the akuma attacks."

"I promise," Papillon put his hand over his heart but the gesture felt mocking, "I don't want to hurt you."

"Well it's a little too late for that!" Chat shouted, "Why don't you come down from your pedestal and fight me yourself instead of hiding behind your shitty, off-brand, 90's villains?!"

"Chat, calm down," Ladybug hissed between her clenched teeth giving him a look to stop antagonizing Papillon.

"I think you'll find it best to listen to her, Adrien," Papillon said with a grimace.

"Don't call me that," Chat growled.

"What, your name? Why shouldn't I? It's the one your father gave you-"

"If you so much as fucking touch my father I will absolutely slaughter you!" Chat screamed out, pulling out his baton and gripping it hard.

Papillon seemed startled by the statement, as if he had been watching Chat and had seen their last conversation and knew that the threat, while true, was said at a bit of an odd time. The thought of being watched made Chat's skin crawl.

"Adrien… I-"

"Shut up!" Chat screeched again, launching himself at Papillon despite Ladybug's protests, "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

Papillon was quick to guard himself and blocked the swing of Chat's staff with his cane, the weapons making contact with a resounding clang. Chat took one hand off his staff to make a jab at Papillon up close, but he grabbed Chat's hand before it could make contact and twisted them around, pinning Chat's hand to his back.

"I don't want to hurt you Adrien," He insisted from behind Adrien.

And by all the stars above, again, he swore that Papillon sounded like his father.

"Shut up!" Chat yelled, bending forwards and flipping Papillon over his back.

The man, rather impressively, landed on his feet while still holding onto Chat, causing him to bend over and hold up Papillon's weight. Ladybug's yo-yo suddenly wrapped around his legs and pulled so that he released Chat and fell flat on the floor. Chat quickly took the moment to get his arms back and line them up, punching Papillon square in the face.

The punch was hard, and Chat hoped that his nose would be broken and bruised from the hit. He would have continued but Ladybug came running up and stopped Chat before he could.

"Chat! Calm down!" She shouted, grabbing his arm.

He let her stop him and watched Papillon for his reaction, clearly seeing the fear stretched across the man's face. Chat felt a sick sort of satisfaction flow through him and he grinned manically down at the man.

"Oh Adrien," Papillon mumbled out from where he was on the floor, barely enough for anyone to hear but Chat did and tightened his fist, "My little boy…"

Chat almost hadn't heard the words. But he did, and his blood froze. It had been years since he had heard those words, and even then only from his mother, who used them fleetingly. But Papillon, who was sounding more and more like his father in Chat's mind, surely it was an illusion. No, his father never used those words, despite Adrien always imagining him doing so in his youth; they were mumbled so weakly they surely couldn't be the words of his father. Papillon was sick, he had been watching Adrien, surely he had. Following Adrien's home life without his knowing, learning what words would get the biggest emotional response, his words were false. This man was a liar!

Without thinking Chat broke away from Ladybug's grip and punched Papillon in the face once again. How dare he use his own words against him? How dare he try and play with Chat's emoti-

Chat was quickly stopped when Ladybug pulled him back again, Papillon weakly pulling himself onto his hands and knees and putting some distance between the three of them before he was suddenly consumed by a bright light. Ladybug and Chat Noir watched in fascinated horror as the light traveled over Papillon not unlike the way light would travel over them when releasing their transformations.

Gabriel was left in his place.

Gabriel… that was his name right? Didn't Chat know him somehow? He wasn't sure, his mind, his mind was going blank. He couldn't think for the life of him how he knew this man, surely he knew him.

Chat heard an intake of breath next to him, Ladybug, Ladybug was here beside him and she was seeing everything that he was seeing too, did she know the man before them? His eyes refocused and he caught sight of the little bug thing, floating in front of him, it was small, and purple, had butterfly wings, and looked an awful lot like…

…an awful lot like a kwami.

It couldn't be. Papillon had a kwami? But that would mean he was like them, but, he wasn't. Could kwami's be evil? Chat had never thought to ask.

The little purple kwami glared at them from where they floated in front of Papillon-no his name was Gabriel.

Chat's tail flicked from behind him.

Gabriel Agreste. That was his name. He was, he was, Adrien Agreste's father, the poor kid.

"Wha-"

Ladybug began to speak from where she and Chat were frozen, but she was quickly cut off by Gabriel, Adrien's father, lunging towards them. No, towards Chat, towards his Miraculous. Instinct took over and Chat rolled out of the way, Ladybug having let go of him, just as quickly Gabriel turned to Ladybug. His hand shot out at lightning speed as he seemed to pass by Ladybug and grabbed her nearest earring, he pulled as he continued to surge past her and ripped the earring out of her ear. He didn't stop moving until he crashed through the window.

Chat couldn't hear anything as he watched Gabriel go flying out the window in what seemed almost to be slow motion, a flash of light coming from his side, but he could only focus on Gabriel. Gabriel, Papillon, he was running. Gabriel was running, Adrien's father was running, where to? To his home? Was Gabriel going to Adrien? Adrien, his son… Adrien…

His figure disappeared from Chat's view and Chat suddenly could hear Ladybug's swearing from next to him, the tinkling of glass, and his own heavy breathing. He couldn't seem to get a breath in no matter how much he inhaled, Adrien was, Adrien was him. Gabriel was his father! Papillon was his father.

His heavy breathing increased in a phenomenal level, Papillon was his father, he had, they had been fighting and-

"Chat!" Someone's voice echoed from nearby.

He turned owlishly and saw Marinette sitting next to him, still in her pajamas from earlier, her hair wild and loose, and holding her sleeve to her bloody ear. She was hurt, Papillon hurt her, Gabriel, his father hurt her.

"Are you okay?" He managed to croak.

"A-", She stopped, words at the tip of her mouth as it opened and closed and her eyebrows dancing with her narrowing and widening eyes, "Are you okay?"

Chat opened his mouth to answer her, but nothing came out, he really wasn't sure what to say. The immediate question of "why wouldn't I be okay?" came forward but his foolish question was quickly answered. His father was Papillon, there was nothing okay about that.

"We need to make sure he doesn't run off," Was what ended up coming out.

"What? No, Chat, we're in no condition to chase after him right now" Marinette quickly replied.

"She's right," He turned down to Marinette's lap, where Tikki lay with exhaustion covering her face.

"T-Tikki, are you okay?" Marinette asked, as if she had only just realized the kwami was there, Adrien had.

"I'm fine Marinette," She responded, dragging her words out, "It was just a shock to suddenly be pulled in half like that. I'll be better with some food and rest, you two need it as well."

Chat's mind went into over drive as his thoughts suddenly came back to him in droves, everything previous lost to the onslaught of things going through his head at the moment. They needed to get out of there, Marinette probably needed to go to a clinic to get stitches but he couldn't go with her without everyone seeing him and becoming suspicious, they needed to go home and rest. But where? They couldn't go to Marinette's, his presence with Marinette would tip of her parents off as to who she was, and bringing her home with a bloody ear wouldn't be favorable. They couldn't go to his house for obvious reasons.

They could go to Nino or Alya, but they were likely at school. He pulled out his baton and checked the school, there was a high possibility that it wasn't even open, this has been the first akuma attack in well over a month. He was right, the school was closed for the attack, which meant everyone was home. Chat relayed this information to Marinette, who gave him a confused look in return, and used his baton to call Nino.

The seconds that passed while waiting for Nino to pick up were heavy, finally there was a click.

"Hello?" Nino asked

"Hey Nino's it's Chat," He greeted back, not giving a moment's hesitation, "Listen can Marinette had her earring ripped out and I can't take her to a clinic after an akuma attack without everyone figuring out who she is, can you take her?"

"Chat I can take mysel-"

"No," Chat responded flatly, barely catching the sound of Alya's voice on the other side of the line asking Nino who called, "I don't want you going on your own, he could be waiting for you, knowing you'd need stitches, it's dangerous."

Marinette pursed her lips, but nodded in agreement, he didn't specify as to "who" was, unwilling to say any name that he had, but she knew who he was talking about.

"Woah, woah, wait, what? What happened? Are you two okay?" Nino frantically asked.

"We're fine," Chat reassured, "Listen, we're coming over, we can explain more then. Are you home?"

"I-uh, oh-okay," Nino sighed knowing the questions could wait, "And yes, Alya's with me."

"We'll be there soon," Chat responded and promptly hung up before Nino could say anything else, "We're heading to Nino's, Alya is there, one of them can take you to a clinic for your ear."

"…Alright," Marinette stood up, offering her hand to him, he got up on his own.

"I'll carry you," Chat said while squatting down to give her a piggy-back, "No one will recognize you in your pajamas and with your hair down, but you should try to hide your face as much as you can."

Marinette hesitated.

"Are you sure you're okay?" She ended up asking.

"I… Yes. Do I-Do I not seem okay?"

"You, well you seem a little cold," She explained.

"I'll… I'll be fine, we just, we need to do this, and then," He swallowed, worried about sounding too cold, "Then we'll have a moment to actually rest."

Marinette was still hesitant but agreed and climbed onto his back, one arm holding him and the other still holding her ear.

They left the building and jumped onto its roof, Chat saw no one in the area, he was relieved but disappointed at the same time. They set out for Alya and Nino.

He was quick and careful, and showed up to Nino's window in relatively good time. Alya and Nino waited for them inside and both perked up when he knocked. They opened the window and Chat climbed inside, sliding Marinette off his back and onto Nino's bed. Nino and Alya fluttered around them in worry.

"What happened you two? Alya caught part of the fight but then you ran off with the akuma, we saw the Eiffel Tower got fixed, but I just, are you two okay? Marinette's bleeding, what happened?" Nino asked frantically.

"Clinic," Was all Chat managed to say pointing to Marinette.

"…Come on Marinette, I'll take you to the clinic," Alya said holding her arm and pulling her up, she looked over in Nino and Chat's direction, "We'll be right back."

Alya and Marinette left, closing the door behind them to give Nino and Chat more privacy. Chat ended up flopping down on Nino's bed with a sigh, hunching over and releasing the tension that he hadn't even realized he had been holding. He finally let his transformation fall and felt a sudden weariness fall over him.

Nino kneeled before Adrien, who was still clad in his pajamas from this morning, and put his hands on his shoulders, "What happened?" He asked more forcefully, bringing Adrien's attention back and looking him in the eye.

Adrien was suddenly very aware of how much of a mess everything had been just previous, he was a bit nervous to tell Nino anything. It sounded bad.

"There-uh, there was an akuma attack," Adrien weakly answered.

"I know, I saw, but what happened after that? When you left with the akuma."

"We…" His voice was soft, barely more than a whisper as he recalled what happened, "We met Papillon.

Nino said nothing but squeezed Adrien's shoulder tightly, still looking him straight in the eye.

"…" Nino waited for him to continue, but he didn't, "…And?"

"And, uh we fought him," Nino quipped an eyebrow at the vague answer, "And, he, he wouldn't call me "Chat"."

Nino narrowed his eyes at the information.

"He kept calling me "Adrien". And you know, it was horrible, and I kept telling him to shut up, but he wouldn't, and star's, Nino, he sounded like my dad," Chat explained, letting the words suddenly pour out of him, "And-hah-it was so crazy you know, he kept calling me A-adrien and he sounded so much like my dad and I just, I just snapped and I hit him, and I hit him again, and I guess it was hard enough that he- well he released his transformation. And what do you know, it-it was my dad."

His voice was barely audible when he finished, tears having begun to pour out of his eyes without his realizing it. He couldn't see Nino before him.

"I… I hit him, I hit my father. I punched him, fuck, I punched my father, what the fuck what the fuck?!" The words kept tumbling out of him, he couldn't stop, he just couldn't stop, "He's my father, I-I just, what the fuck, my father, he just-"

"Hey, hey, Adrien calm down, it's okay," Nino said with a soft voice, moving his hands to Adrien's face to get him to look up, "Adrien calm down, it's okay, it's okay, I'm right here, take a deep breath."

He tried, but all that came out was a choked sob, Nino pulled Adrien into a hug.

He wrapped his arms around Nino and cried harder. Stars above what was happening? He felt a whirlwind of pain and exhaustion flow through his body, it was horrible and Adrien thought he might throw up. Instead he just kept crying and crying, barely able to breathe through his sobs. Hiccups and tears wracked his body as he held even tighter onto Nino, afraid that he would somehow disappear if he loosened his hold.

They were like that for what seemed like forever before Adrien finally calmed down enough to loosen his grip, small hiccups still jerking him and a quiet rumble coming from deep within his chest. Nino pulled Adrien back to look at him again.

"Better?" Nino asked

"A little bit," Adrien answered, wiping his pajama sleeve over his eye in a weak attempt to clean his face.

Nino was at a loss for words at first, "Do you…" His eyes flashed to the side, unsure of what to say, "Do you… want some cheese?"

Adrien let out a weak laugh at that, he remembered, it was such an obscure thing, how Adrien always had cheese on him for Plagg. But Nino remembered, stars Adrien loved him for that. It was probably best that Plagg do get some cheese, they had been out for most of the morning.

"Yeah, that, heh, that would be nice," He nodded.

Nino brushed his hair back in a comforting gesture before heading to the kitchen, telling Adrien that he'd be right back before mumbling about what cheese he had. When the door closed, Adrien collapsed onto the bed, exhaustion overcoming his body as he sunk into the mattress. He was tired, so, so very tired. He wanted to just lie there forever. His eyes closed and he tried to focus on his breathing to calm himself, he was safe, Nino was with him, and Marinette was at the clinic. It was okay, he was okay.

The words felt false but he didn't dwell on them too long as Nino came back in the room with a small piece of cheese and glass of water. Adrien sat up as Nino handed him the cheese, he awkwardly looked at Nino before putting the cheese in the little pocket on his pajama shirt for Plagg. Nino made no comment about it and handed the water to Adrien as he sat beside him.

"I brought you some water too, in case you needed it," Nino said.

"Thank you," Adrien took the water and took a drink, it felt good letting the water cool him down. A few more drinks and he sighed, setting the glass down next to Nino's bed.

"How are you feeling?" Nino finally asked.

"Tired," Adrien sighed, running a hand over his face, "Like I could sleep for years."

"You look like you could use some rest," Nino said, pulling back the covers, "Come on."

Adrien crawled in, Nino lying next to him and pulling the covers over them. Adrien curled up next to Nino and wrapped his arms around him once again, taking a deep breath, Nino did the same running his fingers through Adrien's hair. It felt nice, the rumble in his chest came back and relaxed Adrien as he closed his eyes.

After some time, Alya and Marinette returned. They sat behind Adrien making a divot in the bed and spoke softly to Nino.

"I just had to get a couple of stitches, I won't be able to wear an earring in this ear but it will be fine, my powers work with just one earring," Adrien heard Marinette say, he didn't know that her miraculous would work with have the jewelry, maybe had she encountered this problem before, "I also made sure to call my parents so that they knew I was here."

"Good, good," Nino mumbled back, his chin bumping against Adrien's head.

They all were quiet for a moment before Alya spoke.

"Is he okay? Marinette told me what happened."

"He had a bit of a panic when you two left, but he's calmed down now," Nino answered.

"Oh Adrien," Marinette sighed as she reached her hand out and ran it through his hair, he felt the rumble in his chest return at her touch.

"…Is he, is he purring?" Alya asked.

"He does that sometimes," Marinette commented offhandedly, knowing of the many a time that he would purr as Chat.

"He was doing it earlier too," Nino added.

"Cat's tend to purr either as a sign that they're comfortable, or as a way to comfort themselves when stressed," Marinette informed the other two, still running her hands through Adrien's hair.

"He's not a cat Marinette, he's a human boy," Alya deadpanned.

Adrien let out a small laugh at that, alerting everyone that he was awake.

"I've been subconsciously doing this ever since I got my miraculous, I think it's louder when I'm Chat Noir," Adrien informed them.

"It is," Marinette confirmed.

"So, you get odd animalistic qualities from your miraculous," Alya said, "Tell me Marinette, do you sometimes crave aphids?"

"Shut up," Marinette laughed.

They were quiet for a moment, legitimately pondering the question and Adrien's purring appearing to become louder in their silence.

"The purring, it's a rhythm," Nino mumbled, "It feels nice, like having a giant cat curled up next to you."

Adrien chuckled, feeling a small pressure on his ribs as Alya mumbled "I can feel it."

Again silence, Marinette was the first to speak up.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better, definitely," Adrien answered.

"Are you sure?" Marinette asked.

Nino pulled back just enough so he could see Adrien's face, Adrien turned to partially look at Marinette and Alya

"Yeah, I really needed to rest," Adrien confirmed, "I'm still rather tired."

"I could go for that as well," Marinette agreed with a sigh.

"Get some rest you two, we won't stop you," Alya said.

The covers were pulled back from behind Adrien, he leaned back into Nino for warmth, before Marinette and Alya climbed in. The bed was quite tight with the four of them, Marinette pressed into Adrien's back, but the close proximity was welcome. Adrien allowed himself to relax completely.

Adrien awoke, unaware of when he fell asleep or what time it was now, but very aware of the lack of people in the bed with him. He opened his eyes to find a pillow wrapped in his arms and a note in front of his face, the distant sound of glass and silverware coming from the cracked open door.

Didn't want to wake you, down at dinner with Nino's parents. We'll bring you something to eat after. Read the note. A growl came through Adrien's stomach as he realized he hadn't eaten anything today. However the opportunity of being alone brought something else to the forefront of his thoughts.

"Plagg?" He asked quietly.

"Here," Plagg responded, floating around Adrien to sit in front of his face, still pushed into the pillow.

"Can…" Adrien looked to the side, suddenly unsure if wanted to say anything, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," Plagg said, but the way he didn't quite look Adrien in the eyes made Adrien unsure if he would actually get a straight answer.

"You mentioned knowing Ladybug's identity well before we did," Adrien began, referencing one of the many conversations they had when the miraculous had finally been returned to him, "Did… did you know my father-" Adrien paused, not sure if he wanted to know the answer to his question, "Did you know my father was Papillon?"

His ears lowered as he looked away from Adrien and down at the sheets.

"At first no," Adrien took a sharp breath, "But as time went along, I found out."

"And you didn't tell me?!" Adrien tried to keep his voice down but couldn't hide his shriek, "Wh-why didn't you tell me?"

Plagg glance up at him from the side, his expression hard but his eyes soft.

"You know why," He said. Adrien didn't want to, but he did, he knew exactly why. Telling someone that their family was evil, that they had to fight them, was hard. And would have greatly influence how Adrien would have acted, he could have stopped being Chat Noir even, "But that doesn't matter, because you know who he is now."

Adrien wanted to fight it, to say why it did matter, he was fighting his father, that was important. His mouth opened and closed, but he couldn't find anything to say.

"And now, you need to decide what we do with him."

A/N: Done! Reminder that the first part of Papillon's encounter was written before I saw any of season 2, I wanted to make sure it didn't influence how I wrote this chapter. I finally realized that this story should be called "It Gets Better and It Gets Worse". With the "it gets better" title applying to the first part of the story, Marinette's half, and the "it gets worse" title applying to the second part of the story, Adrien's half. I like giving Adrien panic attacks for some reason, he has one in my other fic too.

This part of the story was originally supposed to be broken up into two different parts, with Chat and Ladybug encountering Papillon a second time and Adrien finding out his identity then. But it didn't really flow well or make much sense. I ended up rearranging and rewriting how the whole ending happened, but I have a more concise idea of how this story will end thankfully.

Please drop a review and tell me what you thought!