AN: Sorry it's been so long! I just got a job and the hours are long. Here's the next chapter!
Sabine took a deep breath, then slowly sat up. She pushed the quilted covers back and stifled her long yawn with her right hand. Her short hair was stringy and all lumped onto one side from her sleeping position, but now she couldn't sleep. The dimly lit room was quiet, and the only sound she heard was the soft hum of Tom's gentle breathing as he slept peacefully beside her.
Marinette needed to know. And she needed to know tonight.
Sabine slipped her slippers onto her cold feet, and wrapped her red robe around herself. Taking her phone in her hand, she checked the time. 2:45 am. Well, maybe she'll be up? She thought to herself, and quickly texted Marinette as she went and prepared herself a nice warm cup of tea.
All of the cards lay about Marinette on her bed. She sat in the calm and familiar bedroom, more relaxed now that she was home. It was late, but after napping all day her body was off of her normal schedule. Even Tikki lay sleeping on her usual perch - a small pillow that Marinette had hand-stitched personally for her. The golden light from the lamp next to Marinette's elbow was a nice gentle light, and the soft sound of the mournful wind outside was the only thing to be heard.
Marinette was holding the green card in her hand, the black ink sparkling a little in the light. She ran her thumb over the name at the end, almost feeling tangibly the words and what they meant to her.
I had no idea he even noticed the little things. Even the bakery smell was something he loved about me! She thought, still almost unable to believe it. She laid the card next to her and smoothed it against the covers.
She had always loved Adrien with a dedicated love. Always wanting to be noticed and loved in return. But after a while she had begun to accept his kind distance. She had thought that he simply was too far out of reach.
He's like a diamond, she thought, gazing at the card. Always shining like a star, beautiful and close, but kept away by a glass case. He's out of my league, and always will be. But if this card was any indication of Adrien's feelings towards her, maybe even for her -
Maybe I have a chance?
Suddenly her phone buzzed softly. She reached over and found a text from her mother.
"You awake?"
She texted back, and in a moment her mother was opening the door to her room, a cup of tea in her hand.
"Hi sweetheart," she said, a sleepy smile on her round face. "Couldn't sleep?"
"I've been resting a little too well," said Marinette with a smile. "My sleep schedule is all off. Why are you up, Mama?"
Sabine shuffled over in her slippers and sat on her bed. "There is a little more news that I need to tell you," she said, eyes kind. "And it's another life changing...thing."
Marinette moaned. "There's more?!
Sabine smiled and patted her daughter's hand tenderly. "My darling, remember how I told you about Chat Noir's time with me?"
"Yes," said Marinette, eyeing her mother. "You told me that you showed him who you were. I still can't believe that Tikki let you!"
"I am an older Ladybug," she said with a grin. "Mama is still boss, even over kwamis." They both laughed, and Sabine added gently, "I also allowed Chat Noir to tell me who he is."
"Mama!" gasped Marinette, shocked. "Mama, WHY - "
"Marinette, not knowing who my partner was hurt our mission," said Sabine, regret in her eyes. "Someday I'll tell you about it. But you need to know that I invited him over for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow- "
"MOM!" screamed Marinette, and seizing her blankets threw them over her head. Her words were not quite intelligible but her frantic mumbling was still audible from below the blankets.
"Oh Mari," said Sabine with a smile, petting the lumpy covers with a calming hand. "Honey, I know this is a big step for you guys as partners but I wanted to let you know that he's a lonely lonely boy, and he needs a home for thanksgiving." She looked down at her slippered-feet, a sad smile on her face. "I feel like he's stolen my mothering heart. He needs us, Mari. And I think that it's time."
Marinette came up from below the covers. "Are you sure?" she asked. "We've not known each other's identity for four years…how can we just burst in on each other's lives like this?"
"Life is sometimes a mysterious thing," said Sabine softly. "We can never be ready enough. And we always feel like it's unfair. Marinette, you will be stronger together than apart."
Sabine knew that there was much, much more that she could say about this Chat Noir in particular, but also wanted to respect the intimate surprise that Marinette was going to have in just about 12 hours. Let them see for themselves, she thought to herself. Let them see with their own eyes.
Marinette looked at her mother, large blue eyes gazing at her mother's face with a look that Sabine couldn't translate. "Mama," she said. "Were you the Ladybug before me?"
Sabine smiled. "I was. And you are doing amazing."
"Really?" asked Marinette, hope rising her in eyes.
"Yes really," said Sabine. "I actually suspected you of being Ladybug this summer, because you said some things now and again that made me remember my days as Ladybug."
"Being Ladybug is something that changes you," remarked Marinette.
"And yet," said Sabine, hugging her daughter, "It helps you see who you are capable of being."
Nathalie obediently filed the last of the new winter collection for the fashion show in December. She was multitasking, thinking over what had been going on the other day with Adrien. She was doing her best to monitor him, but Adrien had learned her ways long ago and easily avoided her.
"Nathalie," called Gabriel. "I need you to file the spring collection as well."
"I'm coming sir," she said, and turned to enter his office. Her slacks swished as she walked, and her heels clacked on the shiny marble floors. She sighed as she entered, quietly begging Gabriel to stop working and go to bed. That won't happen until he simply can't go on. He has to distract himself from his problems.
"Sir," said Nathalie softly, submissive to her boss's authority and condescending manner, "I have noticed something strange about Adrien."
Gabriel had been standing at his three screens at his work space, but he paused and looked directly at her. His kwami, Nooroo, hovered at his shoulder, his eternal pained expression now mixed with fear.
"What, exactly, have you noticed?" asked Gabriel, his tone dangerous.
"He is obsessed with adoption videos lately," she said. "And he is always happy - almost cheerful. And then he gave me this." She handed him the paper with the information about the Dupain-Chengs. "These people invited him to have Thanksgiving dinner with them; a rather familiar gesture, don't you think?"
Gabriel opened his mouth to speak when suddenly a scream ripped through the air vents and echoed in the room. Nathalie started, then hid her face in her hands with a moan.
Oh how she hated this time of night. The time when she was forced to remember what Gabriel had done. She was tempted to leave, but also knew that if the voice accidentally said something important that Gabriel would want her to hear it too.
Nooroo hated the entire thing, and with a sob hid behind Gabriel, covering his ears.
Gabriel stood, stone faced, hardening himself to the words that he knew he deserved. Even so, Nathalie could hear his sudden change in breathing, and the tears that wanted to come as the angry words tore through the room, cutting to the core of each person there -
"I hate you!"
The voice was a wailing scream, and it was filled with rage and bitter sorrow as it shrieked out "I will always hate you! You monster! You think you will escape your coming doom?! I saw it - and you took me away from my son!" The cry fell in pitch a little, and a sob was heard, echoing up the vents and into the room. Nathalie shuddered - the emotions were so strong, after all these years.
The voice regained emotion and with it strength as it belted out "You took everything I loved! I hate you!"
Gabriel's breathing was steady, but like the steady breathing of a man in a gym holding up weights above his head. The voice screamed the same thing over and over again, as if stabbing at him with her words.
The voice cried every night, like a ghost from their past that defied their desire to forget. They had tried to silence her, dragging her into the basement that Adrien and the Gorilla didn't even know existed. There, entrapped in prison glass orb of amber, banging day and night and screaming out the injustice against her, was the peacock miraculous holder.
The screams stopped, and the voice was silent. Nooroo was crying softly; he was so tender and sensitive to conflict and sorrow. He knew the whole story behind his master, and the knowledge burned him inside his soul.
Nathalie simply stood, uncomfortable and uneasy. She almost hated the silence after the voice more than the actual screams.
And then there was Gabriel, cold and masked. He gazed past them all, thinking deeply. He turned and pressed a hidden button on the painting of Emilie, his missing wife. A hidden door opened.
"Sir?" asked Nathalie quickly. "You are going to see her?"
Gabriel turned. "I try not to too often," he said curtly. "But I'm not Adrien, so stop being a micromanager. I want you to ruin that Thanksgiving celebration he wants to go to. Remind him that he is under my roof and my orders, and I don't appreciate being pushed to the side. Do it, or I find a new secretary that can handle my orders."
Nathalie know that the words had gotten to him. He was hiding his anger well, but it came out in his treatment of those around him. He is going to regret treating his son like this, she thought. But I've no choice. I can't shield Adrien from his own father.
As Gabriel and Nooroo left, the secret door sliding shut behind them, she suddenly had the most interesting thought in her life.
But what if I didn't shield him anymore? What if I let him see…everything?
She'd get fired. Oh so fired.
But…what else was at stake?
With a sudden rebellious streak that reminded her much more of Adrien than herself, she decided to do it. Perhaps Adrien had influenced her a little, or perhaps this was the final straw. After all, Adrien was so innocent. And Gabriel was so guilty. Why let injustice continue?
If this worked - maybe she had a chance. She could change this.
Gabriel walked down the metal steps, silent and angry. Nooroo hovered next to him, quiet and observing. The steps led down in a spiral, then onto a grate floor suspended above the city sewer system. In the middle, nicely lit with yellow and orange, was a prison made of amber glass in a sphere-like shape. Gabriel, without losing stride, marched up to it and slammed his fist against the strong glass.
"I've kept you because I love you," he snarled. "But cross me wrong one more time and I'll do something we'll both regret."
She lifted her head, and her eyes pierced his soul again. He saw those eyes in Adrien, in that clear, honest look. But never had he seen such rage and bitterness in Adrien's eyes. And so that was the one difference between them - she knew what he had done. Dressed in an elaborate gown made by himself, he had taken good care of his future queen. But her anger and unrelenting thirst for justice cut him to the core of his selfish heart.
"If I cross you," she said softly, hands clenching in her lap, "it's because I still want to do what is right, and you what is wrong. Don't you see?" she asked, her voice soft and gentle, but mocking nonetheless. "Unless you stop, I shall not. We are at an impasse. You want to destroy everything, to be king over everything. I disagreed with you once, and now look at what you have created."
She stopped talking, apparently done with her thought. He sighed and said, "And what, exactly, did I create?"
She stood and turned away, her back to him. "A terrible chasm. It stands between us, and the wrong you wish to use to close it only makes it wider."
Gabriel turned away from her as well, angry and at a loss. "I've been trying to get the one wish," he said, voice low and angry, "to change your mind. Are you sure you won't change it? You are causing a lot of pain out in that world by refusing me."
"Don't you dare turn this on me!" she roared, slamming both fists on the glass, eyes terrible in their anger. "YOU are Hawkmoth, and I am your prisoner! You think I am choosing this myself? I would die to see Adrien again - "
"What if I'd let you?" asked Gabriel suddenly, turning to face her. "What if for this Thanksgiving, you suddenly came back. We could be a family again, and you would be free. Just give it to me. The peacock miraculous would be used only for good, I promise - "
"And you promised to love me, no matter what," she said, pointing a finger accusingly at him, tapping the glass in emphasis. "How are you fulfilling those promises, Gabriel? How are you being a good husband to me?"
Gabriel was silent. He had no answer for her.
"No, Gabriel. Make your choices, but until they start changing my place is here. The only way that I will change my mind is against my will, and even then you will hate me." She sighed, and laid a hand on the glass. "I wouldn't be Emilie without my will and love, now would I?"
Gabriel looked at her, tears in his eyes, but mouth set in a straight line. "No," he said. "But if you give me your miraculous, Adrien won't be hurt in all of this."
Emilie smiled. "He is a man now, isn't he?" she asked, her face suddenly looking tired, and worn from her captivity. "Such a grown man. I have used the miraculous to see him," she added. "And I have seen how he tries to elude you and your controlling hand. He was raised well. And he will continue to elude you." She grinned at Gabriel, and sat down in her prison. "You will never have the Peacock Miraculous," she said. "I have hidden it well. You have the box, but not the jewel. I have it still, and yet it is farther from your grasp than it has ever been."
"We'll see just how long you can keep this up, Emilie," he said, voice gentle but firm. "One of these days, you'll break and give me the miraculous that would let me see the future."
"I have seen it," she said, tears brimming suddenly and spilling over her cheeks. "I have seen what will happen next, and I have seen what you become." She looked at him earnestly, green eyes pained. "And that is why I have not given it to you."
Gabriel went to a computer near her cell. "Well I'm tired of hearing it," he said, and hit a button.
The prison filled with sleeping gas, and with a sigh Emilie fell to her knees and into a deep sleep, cradled against the amber glass. Gabriel walked over and squatted next to her, laying a hand against the glass near where her sleeping form rested. Tears now freely fell, now that she couldn't see just how strong she really was. She always got to him, like it or not. He'd fallen in love with this woman because she would have fought that hard for him. Now however, he'd made her into his enemy, and she would not relent. Not even for old times' sake.
"I still love you, Emilie," he whispered. "In my own way." He stroked the glass that separated him, and gazed at her tired face. He fed her well, but he knew that she worried. He sighed and walked away. "But I know a gem when I see one, and I won't let you go for anything," he said, walking up the steps that led out of the basement. "Not even for yourself."
Adrien sat, a blanket wrapped around him snuggly, as closely to his window as he could be. The stars were bright and shining, and as he reached out and touched the cold glass it fogged up slightly from his warm hand.
Somewhere out there, Mari was recuperating from her illness. Somewhere out there she was sleeping, snuggled up in a warm bed with her parents watching over her with tender attention.
Are you Ladybug? he wanted to broadcast across the sky. If only I could move the stars so that no matter where she was, I could spell it out and ask.
It makes strange sense, he thought to himself. She is always late, and she is usually gone when I am. When we have rescued the class, she's usually not there or ALWAYS been a victim of the akuma holder's power. Her excuses have been strangely similar to mine…
The time his fencing teacher had been akumatized, she had said that she'd been transformed into a knight. The time Alya was captured to be given as an Egyptian sacrifice by "Pharaoh", they both had said that they had been mummified.
It explains why Ladybug can't stand Chloe, he suddenly realized. And why Ladybug has always seemed so familiar.
"Oh my gosh," said an exasperated voice. "I can practically tell you are thinking about Ladybug just by the rate of how fast your eyebrows are twitching."
"Shut up Plagg," said Adrien, snorting at his kwami. The small cat-like being was snuggled in a week-old sock laying on Adrien's dresser. His green eyes gleamed in the darkness of the room, and he snorted back, saying, "Just go to sleep already, Romeo. Juliet is in for the night and isn't receiving any calls right now."
"What did you mean that day," began Adrien, not allowing Plagg to distract him. "What did you mean when you said 'what if Marinette is Ladybug'? What have you been hiding?"
"Adrien," sighed Plagg. "I've never hidden anything from you. There are some things I've just never told you."
"What?!" protested Adrien, dropping his blanket corner in surprise. "That basically means the same thing!"
"No," said Plagg cooly. "If you had asked me plainly, I would have answered you. But you don't even know what to ask. Adrien, I may act like a cool kitty, but I have been around longer than France has. I know things that you couldn't possibly understand, and I have had many Chat Noirs in the past. One thing that experience has taught me is that being sincere is always right, but some information is not necessary."
"What do you mean?" demanded Adrien. He always felt a little competitive when Plagg mentioned other Chat Noirs, wondering if the kwami ever missed them.
"I mean," said Plagg, "that there are things you need to know, like the fact that I need camembert to function well. But, there are other powers that I have that only with experience could you handle. And so I wait until time deems it necessary."
"You don't wait until I am ready?" asked Adrien.
"Adrien," said Plagg softly, more gently, "were you ready for your mother to leave you?"
Adrien was surprised. Plagg had asked about his mother only once, and that was in the beginning when they were getting to know each other. After that, he hadn't said anything. It was out of a tenderness that Plagg had towards his holders that Adrien had yet to discover.
Plagg would never act as though Adrien's loss wasn't real: he just never reminded Adrien that it was.
"Of course not," said Adrien, voice barely above a whisper, remembering the strange shock when he'd woken up without a mother.
"There are things that I will tell you," said Plagg gently, "But only if fate demands it. Your power is darker than you realize, and others have used it for more terrible things than you can imagine. And so I shield you from that information, only hinting when I can see that it is necessary."
"So why did you hint about Marinette?" demanded Adrien.
"The conversation prepared you for Sabine, didn't it?" replied Plagg cooly. "You weren't as shocked at knowing that Marinette couldn't come - and so your initial shock was diminished."
"So all this time you've known it was Marinette?" asked Adrien.
"No," said Plagg, and turned over in the sock, terminating the conversation.
What a dork," muttered Adrien, and turned back to the window. His green eyes were filled with the stars again, and he sighed, whispering, "Oh Mari, let it be you."
Ladybug has always been like a diamond, he thought, taking his blanket and climbing into bed. Always shining like a star, beautiful and close, but kept away by a glass case. She's out of my league, and always will be. But maybe now that she could be Marinette…could I have a chance?