While Ladybug comforted him, Cat Noir's ring sounded its last beep. Standing there together, Cat Noir's transformation dropped, leaving Adrien wrapped up in Ladybug's embrace. It doesn't matter anymore, Ladybug told herself, aware of Gabriel's presence, It's over now. Finally, Adrien pulled away from her, his tears stopped for now.

"Now what?" he asked, looking to Ladybug for guidance, as he often had.

"We can't do anything for your mother, Adrien," Ladybug told him sorrowfully, "but if her sickness was caused by the miraculous, then maybe…" she paused, glancing back at Gabriel, who was staring at the two of them with a sorrowful expression, "maybe there's someone who can."

"Yeah," Adrien nodded, understanding, his tone soft now, "Why don't you get him? I'm… going to stay here."

"You mean the guardian?" Gabriel asked suddenly, getting to his feet and looking to Ladybug with a glimmer of hope, "You think he can help Emilie?"

How does he know about Master Fu? Ladybug wondered. "Maybe, I don't know," she said, "You wait here." Before she left, she turned to Plagg, hovering beside his owner with an uncharacteristic, compassionate look on his face. "Take care of Adrien for me, Plagg," she added.

"I will," Plagg called after her, the normal humor gone from his voice.

Adrien watched Ladybug run back down the walkway, leaving him alone with his father… and his mother. Plagg was there as well, offering a comforting paw on Adrien's shoulder, but saying nothing. He continued to stand there, just staring into space, long after the door shut behind Ladybug.

"Adrien," a shaky voice spoke up from beside him. Shaking himself to, Adrien looked up at his father, standing now, looking at him with as much pain as Adrien felt. He wasn't ready to talk to him though, not yet. He looked away, saying nothing.

"Son," the voice spoke up again, "I'm… sorry… for everything."

Adrien looked to his father again, seeing not the man, but the mask of Hawk Moth. He saw again the villains that ran rampant across the city, the people who were nearly killed, the times he nearly died, all by the hand of his own father. He couldn't feel anything but disgust and contempt.

"And that just fixes everything?" Adrien scowled at him, "After everything you've done?"

"I did it all for your mother, Adrien!" Gabriel nearly shouted back, gesturing toward the coffin, "I just wanted to bring her back."

"You tried to kill me!" Adrien shouted at him, "A lot!"

"I didn't know it was you!" Gabriel retorted, visibly upset by the notion of his son dying by his own hand.

"You tried killing other people!" Adrien wouldn't relent, "You've terrorized this city! Is this really what mother would have wanted?!"

"Nothing is permanent," his father defended himself, "I was going to use the Ladybug earrings to restore everything."

"Right, sure," Adrien crossed his arms, "That doesn't make it okay." He turned away from his father, looking back to the serene image of his mother's face, silently observing their argument. Looking at it seemed to soften him, as though he couldn't be angry knowing she was there.

"I didn't know what else to do!" his father still trying to justify his actions, yet there was the slightest hint of regret, "I had no way of getting the miraculous without using my own to force them into use, so I could seize them. I had no way of finding them otherwise."

"There has to have been a better way," Adrien said softly, the anger gone from his voice, replaced instead by disappointment.

"If I had known it was you," Gabriel's expression was downcast as he said this, "I never would have… I never wanted you to get hurt. I love you, son. I wanted you to be safe and happy."

Adrien regarded his father. He looked genuinely remorseful for how things turned out. Adrien wasn't ready to accept his apology, not after all he had done. He wasn't sure if he would ever be ready. Even knowing his motives, somehow that only made it worse. Becoming a mass murderer and terrorist to get mom back? Adrien wanted to be with his mother again, more than almost anything else in the world, but he would never have considered going that far to do it. Motives aside, his father's actions were inexcusable. The ends do not justify the means.

"If you wanted me to be happy," he said finally, "then maybe you should've been paying attention to someone besides yourself." With that, Adrien turned and walked back up the walkway, leaving his father behind.