A/N: Hello again, everyone!
Here's the ninth chap!
"Adrien? Adrien! Where are you!?" Aisha called out to him through her earpiece, and still nothing. "Adrien!"
"Adrien!"
"Adrien!"
"Adrien!"
"Come in, Adrien. Please be alright…"
Adrien had deformed from the suit Aisha gave him earlier and just stood there like a scarecrow, looking as if he was ready for life to do whatever with him.
"But…how did…wha-what…?" Gabriel was as confused as ever.
"It doesn't matter…" There were so many words to describe how Adrien was feeling right. "Monarch…Marinette…"
"Y-you know th…?" Marinette's voice cracked a bit.
Adrien continued that sentence for her. "That you're Ladybug? Yes."
She released a shaken breath, and her eyes began to mist. "Oh…"
Adrien approached the glass coffin with such dread…where his mother—whom they thought had been buried months ago—was really actually here this whole time.
Under his own home…
"Mom…"
"Son…I wanted to tell you this for as long as I possibly could…"
Adrien lets some tears fall from his eyes. "How…could you possibly tell me that my own mother was here this whole time?" He had to bring himself to ask this question. "Is she…still alive?"
"Yes, she is," Gabriel admitted with some shame. "But she's getting deeper and deeper into her sleep, and she can't be woken. This is why I need the Ladybug and Cat Noir Miraculous. Use the Ultimate Absolute Power to bring her back to us…"
"Well, there's just one problem with that…" Adrien walked over to Marinette, politely took off the Cat Miraculous ring—turning her back into Ladybug—and slipped it onto his finger. "Plagg, claws out…"
Marinette and Gabriel's jaws dropped, and their eyes widened.
"My son…"
"My kitty…" Ladybug rested her hand on his cheek and wiped his single tear with her finger.
"Cat Noir…" Gabriel was absolutely mortified and took a few steps back, but not too much where he'd been standing on the edge. "YOU…?! Y-y-you were…"
"Yes. The same Cat Noir who used Cataclysm on your arm and felt uneasily guilty about it, even if I didn't know it was you. The same Cat Noir you made the experience my worst nightmares. The same Cat Noir who told you were a lousy, cowering parent…it's always been me…father…"
"I'm doing this for us, Adrien..."
"No…" Cat Noir shut his eyes, and his paws curled into a fist.
Gabriel kept trying to convince him. "…For you and Kagami to be the eternal icons. A world…"
"NO, YOU'RE NOT!" Adrien's voice grew; this was built up for a long time, to say the least.
"STOP LYING TO ME! AND TO YOURSELF…! CATACLYSM!"
His hand…the Cataclysm…the nightmare…this is what he feared when he had to…and the nightmare…no…he had to get rid of it.
He was stronger than anything…
Face it and overcome it...
He used it on one of the runway railings and panted, having his back turned away from them.
"YAHHH!"
This got both Marinette and Gabriel to go silent as Adrien retransformed back into himself and continued facing them again.
"Adrien…"
"ALL MY LIFE, I'VE DONE WHAT YOU WANTED ME TO DO! YOU NEVER CARED ABOUT WHAT I WANTED! ALL I WANTED WAS FRIENDS! THE GIRL I LOVE! RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW WITH ME! AND YOU TOOK THAT AWAY WHEN YOU FORCED ME TO GO TO LONDON! I ONLY MODELED FOR YOU JUST TO BE CLOSER TO YOU! AND YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE I WANTED!? I JUST WANTED TO BE YOUR SON! BE ABLE TO HAVE BREAKFAST WITH YOU, TALK TO YOU, AND SO MUCH MORE! AND YOU TOOK ALL OF THAT FROM ME!" He inhaled and exhaled, panted, and lowered his voice. He was glad to have gotten that off his chest. "And you know the worst thing, which I almost find to be the saddest thing as well? You knew that. And even Mom knew this."
Ladybug took out the cell phone Nathalie had given her and played a video of Emilie Agreste.
"…Don't be sad, Nathalie. You know that I agreed to it that Gabriel never forced me to do anything. But he should never try to bring me back; no one should have their life stolen from them because of our mistake we made. You must continue to be happy even though I'm no longer here. As long as there's love, it is possible Adrien will be well surrounded. He'll have you, Nathalie, and he'll have his father if Gabriel agrees to give up on his madness and on me. Adrien will all have the love he needs to be happy…"
"My beautiful Emilie…" Gabriel collapsed on his knees with tears as his wife went on.
"…Adrien shouldn't have to suffer the consequences of our mistakes. Our little prince has the right to create his own vision of happiness. All I want is for Adrien to be free. Our little miracle…"
"You see that?" Adrien had a blend of disgust, sadness, and pity in his tone as it went on. "And to think…all of this…could have been avoided…Mom never wanted any of this. And I think deep down you knew this. But your obsession, madness, greed, and insanity kept driving you to new heights. You didn't care..."
"HOW DARE YOU, YOUNG MAN!" Gabriel furiously denied his son's accusations; the two teens fiercely protected each other while backing up. "I do care! I need your Miraculous to use the Ultimate Absolute Power to bring her back!"
"It's not worth it. Someone else will have to take her place…"
"I DON'T CARE!" Gabriel sounded more desperate. "Please…! GIVE IT TO ME NOW!"
Ladybug had to speak up, but the two backed away even more. "Every time the power is used for personal gain, it causes disasters. Power of any nature should only be used for the greater good. There is no magic solution. But we can think and work out a solution on our own—human—scale. Even though it's not as perfect as we'd want it to be. There's just no such thing as the perfect wish."
Those words…and when Gabriel had his fists to his head…
"AHHHHH…!" Gabriel released a wail as if it were a lion's roar and sobbed soft shivers. Gabriel sniffed. "There was a time when everything was perfect. Your mother and I…we never thought we had children. We tried and tried. And tried. Even to the point where we…But then you came into the world…you were our little miracle manifested from our love. We knew the cost…"
"Of using the broken Peacock Miraculous to create me?" Adrien concluded as he squatted to his father's level, leaving his father shocked. And Ladybug. "Yeah, I now know. My amok is in those rings. And I never understood why I could never disobey or go against you when I really wanted to. You used it so much on me lately; controlled me like a puppet."
Marinette stood silent at that…
"I really hurt you, huh…?" Gabriel's eyes were red-rimmed.
"I don't think you don't even know a quarter of it." Adrien's tears still flew down his face. "You caused so much terror around Paris. New York. China. And now the world. For something Mom never wanted. You shut me away after she…" Adrien swallowed his gulp. "You did everything you could to keep Marinette and me apart, even so far as to send me to London, used Lila, Chloé, Kagami, the world to turn everyone against us, using the Alliance avatars to say Kagami and I are a couple again, and you locked me up…in my worst nightmares. Why?" His voice cracked at the last sentence.
"YOU WERE BORN TO BE EXCEPTIONAL! And I owe Tsurugi-san that much in my deal with her. I just wanted to protect you from all this, son. And because…you and…Marinette…were a…constant reminder…of what happened between your mother and me. When she was a shining star…and I was an…absolute…nothing. Your happiness…being what I don't have anymore."
Adrien and Ladybug came to the same conclusion. "You were disgusted. And jealous."
Gabriel shuddered. "When your mother left, my world collapsed…"
"What? I wasn't enough for you?" Adrien retorted.
"YOU WERE! AND STILL ARE!" Gabriel yelled and lowered his voice. "I just wanted things the way they were. Please…let me have them…"
"You heard Mom!" Adrien cried. "She accepted what happened. And now…you need to, as well. Accept it. Stop this madness. Please."
Gabriel watched the video of Emilie going on.
"I'm counting on you, Nathalie. I know he's as stubborn as they come, and it won't be easy to convince him to stop chasing the Miraculous…" She stopped to cough. "But you have to, for Adrien. He's going to need you both, and I know you'll take care of him like a mother..."
Gabriel looked down at his Catalysmed arm, fingers, and neck. "I really never blamed you for this, you know, son. This was all my doing in my sanity." He then stared up with renewed tears. "Please, forgive me, my son. Please…"
Adrien shook his head, and more tears poured on his face. "I don't know if I can…"
A rumbling crash came among the crypt, and out came everyone dropping in.
From the United Heroez to Lady Dragon, from the Resistance to Aisha, Ziddy, Ekon, Jabari, Blessa, Abdou, Kasmin, and even Félix and Kagami. Adrien transformed back into Cat Noir in the nick of time.
"Ladybug! Cat Noir!" Majestia held in a fighting stance. "We're here to help!"
Lady Dragon was more than ready. "Surrender now, Mr. Agreste!"
"Yeah, that's right. We know you're Monarch!"
"There's no escape this time."
Gabriel stared at the photo of Emilie smiling sadly at the end of the video and then Ladybug and Cat Noir—now seeing him as Adrien.
"No need. I surrender…" He threw off his white gloves and stared at his Cataclysmed body. "I don't have much time left anyway." Gabriel held his hands up without resistance, but not before removing the remaining Miraculous rings and handing them to Ladybug and the Graham de Vanily rings containing Adrien's Amok to Cat Noir.
Majestia and Knightowl flew over to Gabriel to restrain him. "You still have a lot to answer for all of this…"
"I really am sorry…and I'm sorry for you all…for all the trouble I caused." Gabriel secretly winked and smiled at Adrien before he was taken away by the United Heroez and Lady Dragon.
"Ladybug!" Alya immediately hugged her girl and whispered, "You okay, Marinette?"
Ladybug hugged her back. "Hopefully…"
Nino placed his hand on Cat Noir's shoulder. "Are you okay, man?"
Cat Noir let a tear fall. "I don't know if I ever will be…"
A/N: I hope you liked the chapter!
Wait and see what happens next...
It'll be a few days, though.