"Sit down son, we're overdue for a talk."
Adrien stood in the doorway of his room, mouth agape and frozen in shock at the sight in front of him. He blinked his eyes a few times, not believing they were showing him the truth. But there she was. His mother was really there, in his room, sitting on the couch with his father.
"Adrien, dear. Please come sit."
His mother's voice, light and clear as a bell, broke through his haze. That was something he hadn't heard in a long time, but remembered perfectly as though he heard it yesterday.
Slowly his feet moved toward the sofa where they say.
"M- mother?" he said, still not completely coherent.
What happened while I was gone?! Of all the things he imagined his father wanted to talk to him about, this was not on the list. Any hostility Adrien felt toward his father over this past week had ebbed into curiosity and wonder at the lady sitting there on his sofa.
"H-how? What?" Adrien looked to his father for an explanation.
His response was a hand patting the cushion beside him, between him and his wife.
Adrien sat down beside his parents, his eyes glued to his mother. Her lips were painted into a loving smile, and she took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. The touch sent warmth up through his arm, further confirming that she was real. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and hug her and never let her go, but the emotions that were building up in his chest since he laid eyes on her were threatening to incapacitate him, and he knew a gesture like that would render him incapable of listening to the explanation his father wanted to give him. The explanation that he seriously wanted to hear in that moment.
He reluctantly tore his eyes away from his mother and gave his attention to his father, not letting go of his mother's hand.
"Son, I've done things that I'm not proud of, but neither do I regret them. Everything I've done was for you and your mother." Gabriel began.
He looked to his wife and smiled in a way that Adrien hadn't seen him smile in a long, long time. He looked back to his son and continued,
"I'll start at the beginning, and maybe you'll understand the choices that I've had to make. I hope one day you can forgive me for all that I've done."
Adrien nodded for his father to continue.
"A few years ago your mother and I took a trip overseas. During that trip, I stumbled upon a pair of jewels, beautifully crafted and unique. Two broaches, one of a peacock and one of a butterfly. Your mother had a love for birds; they were beautiful, graceful, wild and bold, just like her, and I saw these jewels as the perfect gift.
He put his thumb and forefinger on his eyes and rubbed at the sore memory.
"Had I known what would happen, I never would've touched them."
He shook his head and continued the story.
"I presented them to your mother and she immediately fell in love with the peacock, as I knew she would. We discovered that it was no ordinary piece of jewelry when I put it on her and we were met with a glowing ball of light. Out of the light came a creature. It told us that it was called a kwami, and the jewel that I gave your mother was a miraculous.
It was very intriguing, this creature. It told us that the miraculous granted powers to the person who wore it. What it didn't tell us was that it was damaged."
Adrien saw his father grit his teeth as his eyes began to water.
"It's okay." Emilie whispered from across the couch to soothe him.
Gabriel closed his eyes and went on,
"The miraculous granted your mother power over emotion, but using it took a toll on her body. However, she refused to take it off." he choked at the memory, and a tear fell onto his cheek.
Adrien didn't know what to say. He'd never seen his father cry before. He looked to his mother who wore a sad expression on her face.
"You know I couldn't do that." She said quietly.
"It made her weaker and weaker until—We didn't know the reason she became ill from the miraculous was because it was damaged. We just believed that was the price of wearing it. It wasn't until…after… in an attempt to save her, that I decided to wear the butterfly and learned her miraculous was damaged. My kwami, Nooroo, explained to me how my miraculous worked and that by obtaining two other miraculous, the Ladybug and the Black Cat, that I could grant any wish I desired. My wish of course, was for your mother's life."
"But that means…"
"Yes, son. I became Hawkmoth."
Gabriel paused to give Adrien some time to take in the news he was pretending to not already know.
"Your mother was sick, and it wasn't something that could be cured by medicine. So I kept her close, encased in glass. Everything I've done, as Hawkmoth, my attempts to capture Ladybug and Cat Noir's miraculous, have been to bring your mother back. I'm not proud of what I've done, but I wouldn't change my decision."
"But how…Ladybug and Cat Noir weren't…" Adrien trailed off and looked at his mother beside him. He knew Ladybug and Cat Noir hadn't been defeated and that it was the other way around. So how did his father make his wish anyway?
Gabriel's hung his head slightly,
"They…found me…and defeated me and took my miraculous." He brought his hand to his neck, where his miraculous used to sit, remembering his defeat.
"Without Nooroo, I'd lost all hope to regain your mother, and I'd failed to keep my promise to her." A sob broke through.
"I sat by her side each night after that, believing I'd never see her again— Until tonight, when Ladybug and Cat Noir's kwamis visited me. She healed your mother. I never even knew it was possible for a kwami to use its powers on its own. I don't know why, after everything I've done, they still helped me."
Gabriel looked to his wife and son with tears in his eyes and a hint of a smile on his mouth.
"Us.
Adrien was speechless for so many reasons.
"I…" he began, but nothing came out. So many thoughts were racing through Adrien's mind. He'd hoped his father would tell him the truth, and he was glad that he had. He had many questions about where he found the miraculous and what his mother was doing with it. His father said the kwamis visited him tonight? Of course. He was with Marinette all night and they believed Plagg and Tikki were in the kitchen; that must've been when they left.
His heart warmed even more towards the kwami hidden in his shirt. This was the best thing his little friend had ever done for him, and Adrien was going to make sure to thank him properly.
He leaned back in the couch, suddenly feeling exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster that had been that entire week.
Gabriel and Emilie looked to each other. It was late, and they nodded their heads in silent agreement to let their son sleep and marinate on everything he'd just learned. They moved to stand up, but Adrien stopped them.
"Wait," he looked at both of his parents, still holding his mother's hand. "Would…would you stay here tonight?"
Maybe it was a silly thing to ask, but he'd only just gotten his mother back. He wanted to hold on for her for a little while. As for his father, Adrien's heart softened towards him a little more. Maybe it was wrong, knowing everything that his father had done. But that didn't change the fact that Gabriel was his father, and for once his family was together.
They sat back down, agreeing to stay with their son for the night.
Adrien leaned his head onto his mother's shoulder, and she wrapped her arms around him. Gabriel reached over and joined his wife and son in the embrace.
The Agreste family spent next day together, enjoying the fact that their family was complete again. Despite having a private chef, they cooked and ate a large brunch together, like they did on Saturdays before Emilie fell ill. After brunch, Gabriel sat at the piano and played melodies for his family. Then he took them into the studio and showed them the designs he'd been working on.
Adrien felt a little strange being around his father, in light of the previous night's conversation and the week he'd had. How do things simply go back to normal after that? But he couldn't help but feel some happiness at seeing the beginnings of his old father return. They all knew it would take time before things settled into a working rhythm.
They took a drive around the city, and Emilie asked the driver to stop when she smelled something sweet and delicious in the air. Of course, they were outside the Dupain-Cheng bakery, and she urged her family to all go inside. Gabriel obliged, willing to do anything to make his wife happy, and Adrien followed. He was a little uneasy, not knowing how Marinette would react to seeing his father there.
The bell on the door rang as they entered. The usually busy shop was empty, aside from Marinette and her parents. She was laughing at something her father said when she turned around and her stopped in her tracks. Her expression displayed how clearly shocked she was to see Adrien there with his father and his mother.
As his mother went to the counter to pick out her pastries, Adrien walked over to the table where Marinette was standing.
"I'm just as shocked as you are." He said, at a volume only they could hear.
Marinette glanced from him to his family and back, not sure how to respond. She knew what Tikki and Plagg had done, but never expected to see neither Emilie nor Gabriel, especially not Gabriel, there in the flesh. Hawkmoth aside, he never left his home, and this was…
"Weird, I know." Adrien said, reading her mind.
He turned around to watch where his parents stood, talking to Marinette's parents and laughing at something one of them said. It was such a normal scene to watch, yet at the same time so strange.
Marinette looked up to see the small smile that was rested on Adrien's face, and couldn't help but mirror one of her own.
"I'm happy for you." She said, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.
"Thank you, M'lady." He smiled at her and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Meet me at our spot tonight?"
She grinned back at him. "I wouldn't miss it, kitty cat."