Author's note: I am so sorry it's taken me so long! I moved back to the United States, and so was going through a lot. Here it is. As you can read I have changed some things. Enjoy!
Gabriel sat in the closed wagon, chained. He could hear Chloe yelling to the people and inspiring them to search even harder for Adrien, and trying to tell them to follow her.
He paid little heed. Again, he was a prisoner, and his fate was in the hands of others. His son was gone. His honor and high-esteem were stolen. And now his future was going to be in Chloe's cruel hands.
His lonely thoughts wandered to his wife, long dead, and his son. Such happier times lay behind him. His broken spirit wondered if he himself was partly to blame. His self-pity argued that it could not be so. And yet...
The beast's words echoed in his mind. Death would be easier on you, would it not?
Would his sacrifice be selfish?
Suddenly the wagon started moving. Gabriel began breathing a little harder, wondering where he was going and what was going to happen to him. In the darkness he could not see, and aside from the horses hooves on the road he heard no sound from outside the wagon.
And then, just as suddenly as it had started, the wagon stopped. Gabriel heard the sound of the driver getting our of the driver seat, and come around to the back of the wagon. The doors swung open, and Gabriel saw two silhouettes in the pure moonlight.
"Gabriel," said a voice. He recognized it immediately as Chloe's. "It's your moment to shine!"
Gabriel spit at her. "I'll have nothing to do with you!" he snarled.
"Dark Wings Rise!" cried Chloe, and suddenly a violet light shown about her and transformed her. He stared in shock as Chloe, previously wearing a light yellow dress, was suddenly transformed into wearing a dark purple ball gown and a lacy black mask over her eyes. In her hand she held an interesting black baton, and she smiled wickedly at him.
"My father bought this brooch from the black market," she said. "It is imbued with magical powers that a cruel sorcerer used against the famous Red Lady." She laughed. "It was a gift for me, and now I shall use it on you. We are going to find Adrien, and you will help me."
"I'll never help you!" repeated Gabriel.
"Aw," she crooned. "A poor man, only trying to get by in life, and constantly caught in circumstances he cannot control. Poor poor man - he only wants his son back and sail far away from painful memories that haunt him day and night! Fly, evil akuma!"
A glowing purple moth suddenly fluttered before his face, and landed on his chains.
Gabriel gasped in surprise. Suddenly his world was dark, and the only thing he could hear was Chloe's soft voice whispering "You have been at the mercy of fate for too long - I bestow upon you the power to chain anyone you desire. You shall be called The Master - and you have the power to take back everything that matters to you." She paused. "And I will help you. Obey me, and you will maintain your powers. What do you say, Master?"
"It's about time I had control," smirked Gabriel, and felt the dreamy-like effect of evil coursing up his body as he himself transformed.
"You look lovely," said Chloe, grinning at the monster before her. "Let me show you the way to Adrien."
()
Adrien woke to the sound of Alya entering the beast's chamber. He sat up and realized that his head had been laying on the beast's soft, furry forearm, where they had fallen asleep after last night's events. The beast, recovering from her wounds, didn't stir. Adrien gazed at her furry and intimidating shape, and felt pity and love for her, knowing that his princess was trapped inside.
"Good morning, Adrien," said Alya softly. She gave him a cup of tea and a breakfast of biscuits and jam. It seemed simpler of a breakfast than normal, but he didn't complain. He was used to small breakfasts, and assumed that Alya had been too occupied to make an elaborate breakfast. They had all stayed up late with the beast, tending her wounds.
"Good morning Alya," said Adrien. "Where are Nino and Damacles?"
"They felt too stiff to come up," said Alya. "If I didn't have my tea cart, I wouldn't be able to either. Speaking of certain doom," she added, "have you finished that journal?"
"Not yet," said Adrien, distractedly and not quite hearing her. "I have only four chapters left though." He paused and glanced at the beast, who was breathing deeply in peaceful sleep. "I have yet to reach the part about the betrayal."
"Do hurry," said Alya. She took a shuddering breath. "We all think our time is much closer than we thought."
Adrien looked at her quickly, eyes brimming with tears as he realized what she had been alluding to earlier. With trembling hands he reached for the book and lifted it. "I'll tell you the moment I'm done," he said, voice tight as though his tears had taken it away.
Alya smiled at him, tears spilling over. "Whatever happens," she said gratefully, "you are the kindest, noblest young man I have ever met."
"It's not over yet," said Adrien, and opened the journal.
()
Adrien could not focus right next to the beast, and so went into the garden to read. In the chilly morning air, snow crunching under his feet, he finally made it to his stone bench that he loved so much.
Trembling a little, he opened the pages and began reading again.
"Dear Journal,
Felix behaved strangely yesterday. When we fought the akuma, he didn't want to feast as we often do after a victory. He expressed that he needed a break for a while, and that he felt a change in the air.
I asked him what he meant. He did not want to explain further, and begged me to leave him be.
I do not pretend to understand him. Those powers of destruction he uses at the mere words of "Claws out!" are valuable against evil. But if turned against me...I don't like to think this way. Surely he would never.
Would he?"
"Oh Princess," sighed Adrien. Suddenly he glanced at the ring on his finger.
"I wonder..." he said softly. Standing up, he said uncertainly, "Claws out?"
Suddenly he was engulfed in darkness and energy that coursed up and down his body. He cried out in fear, then suddenly felt an unexplainable calm settle over him. It was as if the lonely uncertainties he was able to hide disappeared. He wondered if he was still the same Adrien - he still loved Marionette. But at the same time a new inner strength and intensity had been bestowed upon him. It was as if he now had power to match his desire to free his love.
He opened his eyes and blinked in the cold air around him, his warm breath making steam in front of his face. The colors and textures seemed sharper and clearer, and his senses of hearing and smell had been amplified.
"Goodness," he murmured. "This is so strange..."
He glanced down and started. His clothing had changed from his normal brown trousers to a slim and sleek black leggings with shiny black boots and a black tunic. His belt had an extension like a tail, and a black cape swirled about his shoulders. His black tunic was tucked into the belt, and though it was thin he felt perfectly warm and insulated. He felt his face and felt a mask there, just covering his eyes.
"I am…the Black Death," he murmured. The fabled protector of the Red Life. The two heroes that saved the world from the evil Hawkmoth.
He didn't know what to think. Felix was the last person to wear this and use this terrible power, but couldn't he use it for the benefit of everyone?
He glanced back at the red journal, lying open to the page he had been reading. "I'll finish this and then go see if with the powers of the Black Death I could help my princess."
The last chapter did not describe what had happened to Princess Marionette, or give a detailed description of Felix's betrayal. The last entry was written by someone else, with stern and straight handwriting. Adrien immediately felt suspicious - the change was harsh compared to Marionette's round, flowing letters.
My Dearest Marionette,
I know you must hate me. I know what you think of me now. While your mind does not remember, your heart was not cursed, and it remembers well.
The fact of it is, I do have a reason for stealing this and writing to you after my betrayal.
"You FILTH!" Screeched Adrien, the dark powers only amplifying his anger, disgust, and hate towards Felix. The next line however caught him by surprise.
I'm sorry.
I was wrong. I was deceived. I believed that Hawkmoth was going to give me what I wanted most in life - my mother back. He swore that if I gave him my miraculous and yours, it could be done. He promised me that you would not be hurt, and that no one would suffer.
I was a fool. And I see what he has done to you. I understand why your heart would hate me so, and I am glad that you hid your miraculous where he could not find it.
And so let me give you my last gift before Hawkmoth finds me and kills me.
Adrian stared, and with a trembling hand, lest his eyes should deceive him, he followed the next lettering that formed the secret he had been searching for all this time.
Take your rose, your last lucky charm, while wearing your earrings, and cry out "Red Life!"
Then you shall be free of the curse. And then you will remember me, and what I did, and I hope that you learn of what I did afterward.
I love you. Please read this, and free yourself.
With selfish, unworthy love -
Prince Felix
