.
oOoOoOoOo
Chapter 2 — Not even Human…
oOoOoOoOo
"That son of a b—" Plagg roared and zipped forward to reach the little containers, but Wayzz raised a tiny nub.
"Stop! Don't make things worse!" he said.
"Yes, Plagg, if he senses you and captures you, we'll be even more trouble!" Trixx added.
That stopped Plagg, who appeared to be almost shaking and growling. "I can't believe—"
The Kwamis started talking all at the same time,
"He's a monster, Plagg!"
"He melted our Miraculous into rings!"
"He's crazy!"
Adrien saw that Plagg was livid, and the more the Kwamis talked, the angrier he looked. His gaze was darting around the wall as if searching for something. Eventually, he interrupted the avalanche of words coming out of the other Kwamis and asked, "Where's Duusu?"
"Oh, you don't know?" Barkk said, lowering his little head. Plagg shook his head, so Barkk continued, "That boy that looks like your holder. The Guardian gave him my Miraculous, and he stole all our jewels and gave them to Monarch."
Plagg sighed. "Tell me something I don't know…"
"—and asked for the Peacock in return," the Dog Kwami finished saying. Two sets of green eyes widened.
"You mean…Félix has the Peacock?" Adrien gasped when the Kwamis nodded.
Suddenly, there was a noise in the room, and all the Kwamis moved their trembling faces towards the lift that had brought Adrien up, but nothing appeared.
"Please, Monsieur Noir, don't stay here further. If he comes back and catches you, it's the end!" Kaalki said, still eyeing the lift's door.
Adrien sighed. He knew Kaalki was right, but the thought of leaving the poor creatures in those horrible cages was breaking his heart. Eventually, he nodded and looked at Plagg, who was now searching for an escape route.
"Do you think you can get into this hole, gamin?" Plagg asked after noticing that the window that the mechanism had opened had no glass.
"I think so; it looks pretty big," Adrien agreed. "It's a great idea, Plagg. But then, how do we close it from the outside?"
"You transform," the God of Destruction said, winking at him. "Go back to your room and leave it to me!"
And so, they did: Adrien looked back once more at the caged Kwamis, who gave him a cringing smile and moved the nubs they had in place of their arms and hands as if wanting to give him a thumbs up. With a sigh, he transformed, climbed on the roof and, with the help of his baton and the superhuman agility of Chat Noir, in a few moments, he was back in his room. Empty, as usual. After releasing his transformation, he watched Plagg flow out of his window and come back a few minutes later with a sly smile.
"Mission accomplished!" He winked again.
Adrien's face lit up. "Thank you, buddy," he said, scratching behind his ears. "Now eat some of your disgusting cheese, and I'm gonna go get my books and my tablet back. After all, I have school tomorrow, so Father can't suspect anything. When I have my things back, we must warn Ladybug first."
Plagg nodded firmly and rushed into his locker to emerge with a slice of camembert per paw. "Wait a minute, I'm coming with you," he said as he stuffed his mouth with a piece of cheese bigger than himself. He put it all in his mouth and didn't even chew it, immediately reaching for the next one. Adrien gave him a sad smile and approached to take a couple of slices of cheese he had put in his shirt's pocket. Just in case.
"Are you ready? Come on," he said when the Kwami nodded. He waited for Plagg to slip inside his shirt pocket and left the room, heading back to his father's atelier.
But when he came to the door of Nathalie's room, which was only slightly open, and made his way to the atelier, his heart stopped in his chest. His father was in Nathalie's room, talking to her. And from what he could see from the small door crack that was open, the Kwami, Nooroo, was flying freely near his head.
Nooroo.
Was flying near his father's head.
With Nathalie in the room.
Adrien's eyes opened wide for the implications of this other discovery. So, Nathalie was helping his father. Maybe she was Mayura... It made sense. Nathalie had been very sick recently, and Gabriel had started unifying the two Miraculous in his possession to become Papillombre at the same time. Yes, there was no doubt; Nathalie was Mayura. He noted that detail in the recesses of his memory as he glanced at Plagg, who responded with a look of similar concern. Then he put his ear to the door, trying to make as little noise as possible.
"There's only one person, according to my data, who has never been akumatised, even when you tried to send her a butterfly, Gabriel," Nathalie was saying, as her hands rushed over the surface of the tablet. "To confirm my suspicions, I used Duusu to recreate Optigami again when we still had him. I sent the Sentimonster to keep an eye on the girl for a few days and I didn't regret it."
"Is this why you asked to see me, even though you chose not to help me anymore?" Gabriel said.
Nathalie wasn't helping Father anymore—that was a detail worth noting.
"Yes. I've just gotten the data uploaded onto my tablet and the information was too crucial to keep it to myself."
As Gabriel watched the video, the exclamation of wonder rang throughout the room like a clap of thunder.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng is... Ladybug."
Adrien's eyes widened, his heart went into his throat, and the boy struggled with all his might not to gasp and make noise.
"That girl is... I always thought there was something about her," Gabriel said after the initial surprise, thoughtful, as his right hand began to fiddle with his left hand, and in particular, with his wedding ring. "To think I had the solution to my problems right under my roof..."
"What do you mean, Gabriel?" Nathalie asked.
Gabriel's lips curled in a cunning grin. "If that girl is Ladybug, we have the solution right under our noses," his father said. He sat next to Nathalie, grabbed her hand and continued, "She's in love with Adrien. It's time for my son to make himself useful and help me bring his mother back."
Adrien's heart stopped.
What?
Panicking, the boy began to look left and right to find a way out, but when Nathalie resumed speaking, he forced himself to calm down and continue listening.
"He's in love with her too; it could end up hurting Adrien's feelings. Are you going to talk to him and tell him you're Monarch?" Nathalie asked with a frown. "I told you; I won't allow you to hurt Adrien."
"No. I will make him hurt that girl's feelings, using his amok."
Behind the door, Adrien's world collapsed in a millisecond.
The boy, as pale as a sheet, put his hands in front of his mouth, trying not to make noise. But the emotion he felt was too strong. Not only had he found out that Marinette, his classmate, whom he considered his dearest friend and had also recently discovered to be truly in love with, was Ladybug. But to top it all... finding out not to be even human?
Too much...
Plagg watched with his throat clenched and terror in his eyes as Gabriel gasped, looked at the door and completely changed his posture, his fist clenched on the ring he had held up until a moment before. Nathalie appeared ready to object, but Gabriel cut her off.
"Come in, Adrien," he said in a commanding tone, his finger flicking the ring on his ring finger nervously. To his dismay, the little black Kwami saw Adrien take on an absent expression, a blank, alien look in his beautiful green eyes.
Mechanically, the boy took one step after another and entered the room.
"What did you hear?" Gabriel roared.
The designer must have released the grip on the ring because Adrien had an expression again. And his mouth remained closed as he watched his father with terror.
"Adrien! I am your father. I asked you, what did you hear? Don't make me use it again." Gabriel gave him a stern look, but Adrien's frown grew stronger as he glared at the man he had always considered his father.
"Enough," Adrien said quietly. "What do you want me to do to Marinette?"
Gabriel gave a couple of pats to Nathalie's bed, near where he sat, and signalled his son to approach. "Come here; I'll explain everything."
Adrien paled, but did as he was told.
oOoOoOoOo
If Plagg had thought that Adrien had cried all his tears in front of his mother's coffin, he reconsidered when the boy, trembling and as pale as a ghost, finally came back to his room and crashed on his bed. For once, the Kwami didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to comfort his holder. Within seconds, his father had destroyed him and hadn't even needed to lift a finger against him. Plagg observed Adrien for a long time, his ears flat on his head, and when the boy's hiccups began to fade, he laid on his head and began to massage the nape of Adrien's neck with his paws, purring.
Adrien did not speak for so long that Plagg almost thought he had fallen asleep. But eventually, the boy's head emerged from the hollow of his arms and he sat cross-legged on the bed, his gaze so empty that Plagg feared for a moment that Gabriel was controlling him again. He had to go and check for safety, but couldn't see the man anywhere, eventually finding him asleep in his room (although he could not find Nooroo). He also checked that the woman, Nathalie, was sleeping, and when he was satisfied with his search, he rushed back to his holder and floated in front of his face, looking at him sadly.
"I... I don't know what to say, gamin."
Adrien started fiddling with his Miraculous, turning it around his finger as if it was burning him while sniffling several times. "I don't deserve this ring, Plagg. You're in danger with me. If my father realises that I'm Chat Noir, it's over. I can't…" he mumbled, speaking so fast that his words began to overlap.
"Don't you dare even think that," the God of Destruction said. "Adrien, you are and will always be the best Chat Noir I've ever had."
Adrien grinned angrily. "Yeah, sure. At least the other ones were human!"
"Stop it!" the Kwami said. "There's no difference between you and a human!"
Adrien gave him a grim look. "Apart from the fact that my soul is in my father's and Nathalie's rings and that I am at their mercy. When they feel like it, they turn that bloody ring, and they can control me as they please! I'm a puppet in the hands of supervillains, Plagg! How can you think I'm the best Chat Noir you've ever had? I don't deserve you; I don't deserve to be the owner of the Black Cat Miraculous! You should run away and leave me in my misery!" He put his elbows on his thighs and covered his face with his hands. "You should go warn Ladybug—Marinette. You must warn Marinette. Otherwise, tomorrow, or when..."
"I'm not the one who must warn her, gamin—you are. You know the words..." Plagg interrupted.
"He wants me to break her heart, Plagg."
"I know, I heard." His ears were still flat on his head.
"I didn't even know that she loved me until André told me the other night, and even my father knew it! Do you realise that? What kind of friend am I? What kind of partner? I thought I was smart and instead I'm so blind that I never noticed that Marinette loves me!"
"Adrien..."
"Father said that everyone knew, that when Truth questioned our friends, everyone said Marinette was in love with me! Everybody knew but me. What an idiot I am!" He started slapping his face and a couple of times he hit himself so hard that his cheek got tinged red.
"Adrien, stop doing that!"
"Don't 'Adrien' me! I don't want to make her suffer; I don't want to cause her akumatisation. I wouldn't be able to fight her. I couldn't do it!" His cheeks were so red that only the sclera of his eyes could rival them.
"That's why—" Plagg began, but Adrien interrupted him again:
"He said that if I don't do it, he will." His voice cracked under the weight of the words he'd heard earlier, which he almost didn't have the heart to repeat.
Plagg huffed. "I know! What are you waiting for? Go to your Pigtails and talk to her! She's the only one who can find a solution and now is the best time because your father is sleeping!"
Adrien looked at him with horror. "But... what if my father, or Nathalie, checked on me while I was talking to her? What if they realise that I'm Chat Noir and control me in battle? I'd put her in danger!"
"Adrien..."
"I can't put her in danger like this, Plagg; if they touch that ring, I can't fight them; they move me how they want; they make me do what they want. It's horrible..." His face was draining more and more blood as he spoke, his gaze darting around and trying to focus on something that wasn't Plagg's judging eyes.
"Adrien..."
"He could have made me disappear with a snap of his fingers!"
"He would never do that..."
"Only because now Félix has the Peacock; Father said it very clearly." Adrien shivered. "But Father—"
"And Ice Queen, thank the Mighty Creator," Plagg interrupted him.
Adrien sighed. "Yes, Nathalie too. They can still control me and make me do what they want. Father hasn't done it until now to respect maman's wish, because she wanted me to be human." His voice broke. "Because she loved me."
"Nah, I don't believe it. I'm sure he has controlled you from time to time; he hasn't done it much because Ice Queen kept an eye on him, thankfully. She said that she doesn't want him to hurt your feelings. Remember all those times that you felt you couldn't disobey your father? I would be surprised if he hasn't already used the ring on you more times than you think. He's a monster. He doesn't deserve you to call him 'father'."
Adrien frowned, his frame shaking from the sobs he was trying to hold. He had to keep quiet for a while, to regain some composure. "I—I think that's why he hasn't found out that I'm Chat Noir yet. But what if he does? What if Félix finds out? What if Félix decides to snap me out of reality? I... I'm so scared..." Adrien put his hands in his hair and began to sob quietly, while the tears that poured out from his eyes and descended on his cheeks wet the fabric of his jeans.
The little God frowned, his ears flat on his head. "That's why you must talk to Ladybug about it. Transform and go to her. You know who she is now..." Plagg sighed deeply as he patted Adrien's hair with his tiny nub. "Come on, dry those tears. Go to her, talk to her, and try to find a solution. If you don't go tonight, you're really gonna be a puppet in the hands of those monsters. But if Pigtails knows his plan, you can still help her find a solution."
Adrien's gaze was lost in the void in front of him as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "You're right, Plagg; I need to talk to her before it's too late. Claws out!"
He took one last look at his room, especially at his mother's photo on his computer desktop. Then, with the darkest frown he had ever had since he'd received his Miraculous and had become Chat Noir, the black-clad cat-boy used his baton to support himself; he jumped out the window and vanished into the night.
To Be Continued…
Author's Note
Hello everyone!
So, this is chapter 2. I hope you're still following me. I know it's painful, but it's necessary for the story.
I wanted to inform you that I will have to pause this story for a couple of weeks. On the 17th of January, I was driving back home with my nine-year-old from a doctor's visit when, I have NO IDEA how, I collided with another car from the other side. I suspect black ice on the road, but my brain has completely erased the minute before the impact, so I don't remember anything; the insurance is investigating the matter. I'm SO BLESSED to be still alive and able to tell the tale. I have only got minor injuries out of it, and my son was almost entirely unharmed—another reason to thank God. The other car's driver didn't even go to the hospital, but he had a big 4x4. And that's also lucky. Thankfully, I was going slow and probably even the other driver was.
Don't worry; I'll come back to it as soon as I can sit down at my computer for longer than a few minutes without my foot hurting. Give me a couple of weeks, and I'll upload chapter 3.
As usual, if you read this and enjoy reading, writing and talking about Miraculous, please join my favourite Discord servers, Miraculous Fanworks (for people on FFN, discord dot gg slash mlfanworks) and Miraculous Discordance (for people on FFN, discord dot gg slash QwgKdUhJNJ). I'll wait for you there!