Chapter 4: Tomoe

The tension could be felt in the atmosphere.

Adrien is Chat Noir.

His son is Chat Noir.

Gabriel and Nathalie remembered the countless times they faced Chat Noir in battle. Now, it was Adrien who was in the place of those memories, instead of Chat Noir.

Nathalie felt sick remembering all those events…

Nathalie's throat began to itch. She felt a fire spread through her lungs quickly making her chest burn.

Nathalie was having a bad coughing fit, like the ones she usually had.

Adrien undid his transformation immediately and ran to her side immediately.

"No Nathalie! I'm sorry…" Adrien rubbed her back, hoping she would calm down.

"Nathalie!" Gabriel stretched to reach her, but at that moment a pain in his left arm completely immobilized him. It was so much that he gasped and knelt on the ground, unable to stand.

Gabriel felt extreme burning in his left arm. Which was just the same as…

No.

Gabriel quickly uncovered his arm.

A small black spot had appeared on his arm. Right where the cataclysm was.

"What's going on?!" Marinette panicked when she saw what was happening.

"The cataclysm returned and it seems that Nathalie's illness did too." Gabriel said between clenched teeth.

Nathalie felt tears forming. Maybe it was because of the pain, because of Adrien, because of her fate, or maybe because of all three.

Adrien didn't really understand what was happening.

"I don't understand. What is happening?"

"I tried to help your father and Nathalie." Marinette crouched down next to Gabriel "I used our Miraculous to try to heal them both, but it seems that it didn't work at all.

Had Marinette tried to heal his father? Why would she do it?

"Mr. Agreste, let me see." Marinette asked him. Gabriel uncovered his arm showing the recent mark of the cataclysm that had appeared on it.

A realization came to Adrien in that moment.

His father was going to die.

And he was going to be responsible for his death.

Adrien felt dizzy. He no longer wanted to be there. Or at least not for the moment.

He turned around and left the room without looking back.

"Adrien!" Nathalie screamed desperately.

"Adrien wait!"

Gabriel wanted to go after him, but Marinette went ahead of him.

"Leave him alone," Marinette stood in Gabriel's way. "I don't think he's looking forward to seeing you both right now."

Marinette watched as Adrien went straight to his room and slammed the bathroom's door shut.

"Adrien!" Marinette approached the bathroom and knocked on the door "Adrien, are you there?"

Adrien locked himself in the bathroom. He leaned into the bathroom bowl and heaved up everything he had consumed for breakfast. He gripped the toilet, trembling.

Nathalie had gotten up and together with Gabriel they had gone to look for Adrien.

"Adrien, are you okay?" Nathalie leaned against the door to try to listen.

"No…"

The three opened the door only to see Adrien transform again and open the window. There they understood his intentions.

"Adrien, no! wait!" Marinette exclaimed.

"Adrien!" Nathalie and Gabriel came in trying to stop him.

But Adrien wasn't listening.

Before they could reach him, Adrien quickly transformed into Chat Noir, jumping out of the window.

"Adrien!" Gabriel looked out the window, only to see Chat Noir running away from there.

Marinette adjusted her bag and called Tikki to come with her.

"I'm going to look for Adrien." Marinette was going to leave until Gabriel gently stopped her by taking her arm.

"Wait Marinette! What about Nathalie? What about… me?" Gabriel said doubtfully.

"I'll be back in a few days. I'll figure out a way to help you. But for now, I'm going to go help Adrien. You take care of Miss Sancoeur and stay here in case Adrien comes back.

And with that Marinette ran to the exit to look for Adrien. Gabriel ran after her to ask her just one thing.

"Inform us of Adrien's condition!" Gabriel begged "Please!"

"I will!" Marinette shouted in the distance. And with that Marinette closed the door behind her.

Gabriel felt like he should go find Adrien himself.

But he had to trust Ladybug. She would bring him back.

Or so he hoped.

Marinette ran out into the street to go find Chat Noir. She went to a hidden place to transform so she could search for him properly.

She went up to one of the roofs and took out her yo-yo to try to communicate with him.

She dialed Chat Noir with the use of her Miraculous to see if he would answer, but after a few moments the device sent it to the mailbox.

Did the cat bite your tongue? If you want, leave me your message after the tone.

"Chat Noir, where are you? I want to talk. Everything will be fine, I promise." Ladybug finished recording the message and sent it to Chat Noir.

Ladybug was thinking about where to look for him, there were many places he could be. With her Miraculous she could go anywhere. She checked her yo-yo again, to see if Chat Noir had answered her messages.

Chat Noir did not answer his messages.

She went to look for him at her usual meeting places to see if he was there.

The search for Adrien took Marinette a few hours. She searched every place she could think of, but she couldn't find it.

Marinette thought about the last place she hadn't checked yet.

Her house.

Then Ladybug jumped from roof to roof, until she saw her balcony. Landing behind the wall next to her balcony, she undid her transformation.

When Marinette opened the trapdoor to her room, she found there were some things out of place. The quilt on her bed was messy. She went down to the first level of her room, noticing her chair was out of place and several papers that were on the desk were now on the floor.

Marinette followed the trail until she found the source of the disaster.

Cowering in a corner was a person in a black suit with a tail and cat ears.

It was Chat Noir.

Chat Noir was curled in on himself staring into nothingness. His face and especially his eyes seemed swollen. At that point Adrien had run out of tears to cry.

Marinette walked over and crouched next to him.

"Are you ok?"

"Don't tell them." Adrien's voice was trembling.

"Do you want to stay here for tonight?" Marinette lovingly removed some of the hair from his face.

He nodded.

"Stay here as long as you want." Marinette hugged him, feeling him tremble "Don't worry. I'll take care this."

Marinette stood there hugging him, thinking that she might have to cover for Chat Noir this time.

Both adults were reflecting on what had happened that day.

For Gabriel now everything made sense. The countless times Adrien had run away from home, from his photo shoots, from his classes. Now everything had a logical explanation. Besides that…

All this time he had faced his own son.

All this time he had been beating his son for some magical jewels.

The same magical jewels that his wife had asked him not to look for.

Emilie wouldn't be happy at all if she knew about all this. She would hate him it if she found out everything he had done to bring her back. Just when that was exactly what she didn't want.

Not to mention what Nathalie would be thinking.

She seemed quite shocked to have known that Adrien was behind the mask all the time.

Of all the people she'd ever suspected, Nathalie never imagined Adrien would be involved with the Miraculouses. And even less so directly.

"Nathalie, are you okay?" Gabriel asked when he saw the expression on his face.

"When I was Mayura, I directly confronted Chat Noir and I, I hurt him a lot. I hit him thinking that he was just any kid and… not Adrien." Nathalie looked at her hands, knowing what she had done with her own hands.

"You couldn't have known Nathalie," Gabriel tried to console her "Neither of us could have imagined it."

The only thing he met was Nathalie's furious look.

"If only I had known from the beginning, I wouldn't have continued with this absurd plan to bring Emilie back. I should have stopped you much sooner."

"I would have stopped if I had known, Nathalie." Gabriel told her to at least try to reassure her.

But Nathalie didn't believe anything Gabriel had said.

"How dare you say that, Gabriel? Many times, I thought he was going to stop and you didn't. Remember Style Queen?"

Oh right, that time he almost gave up after akumatizing Audrey in Style Queen. It was a direct attack from Nathalie.

"Nathalie, I could have fixed everything in all those new opportunities" Gabriel wanted to justify himself, but what Nathalie would say would stop him from doing so.

"But there was nothing to fix. The only thing you had to fix was your relationship with Adrien that was slowly deteriorating. This is all his fault." Nathalie pointed an accusing finger at him. For a moment, Gabriel saw Nathalie's offended look and how she blinked quickly to remove the tears that had begun to form.

Gabriel knew she was absolutely right. This was all her fault.

"Nathalie, I'm sorry." Gabriel tried to take her hand.

But she hit his hand so he would get away from her.

"I'm very angry with you," Nathalie crossed her arms and looked away "Don't touch me."

Gabriel grabbed his hand. Nathalie had hit it so hard it had hurt.

"Nathalie…"

Nathalie took out her phone, ignoring Gabriel, and looked for Marinette's number to send her a message asking about Adrien. A few hours had passed in which they had not heard anything from either of them and she was beginning to worry.

Nathalie immediately received a message on her phone.

"Adrien is at Marinette's house." Nathalie said relieved.

"How is he?" Gabriel asked.

Nathalie waited a few seconds until Marinette finished writing her response.

"Not so well."

The only thing Gabriel could think about in those moments was how badly he had screwed up. He sat in one of the seats in front of the chess table, thoughtful.

Nathalie saw that Marinette was writing a new message.

"Adrien is asking permission to stay."

"Let him stay as long as he wants. I don't want to force him to come back." Gabriel leaned forward, clasping his hands.

"But Marinette says that her parents might to want to speak with us," Nathalie read the second message that Marinette sent her. "But she doesn't know what to say to justify Adrien being there. He wants to avoid raising suspicions with her parents."

Gabriel thought for a moment and then looked at her.

"She can tell them that you are sick and it is very contagious, so we can't have Adrien here until you recover."

Nathalie looked at him with a very serious look, as if to say, seriously?

"Unless you have another idea, Nathalie." Gabriel grabbed the side of his head, clearly stressed.

"No," Nathalie began to write the message to Marinette "But I don't look very sick."

"You can use your makeup to make it look credible." Gabriel explained.

"Good idea." Nathalie sent the message waiting for Marinette's response to her proposal.

Marinette_ 15:01

It's a good idea Nathalie.

Marinette_ 15:01

My parents are available at night. They will call you once dinner is over.

Suddenly, Gabriel then heard the sound of a car approaching the mansion at high speed.

Gabriel crept towards the window and peeked through the closed curtain, careful not to be seen. He saw the car parking at the entrance of the mansion.

It was the Tsurugi's car.

It was the sign that Tomoe had already realized what they had done.

He saw the person inside the car get out of the car, and from a distance it seemed like she was not in a good mood.

It was Tomoe.

And she brought her bokken with her.

Gabriel closed the curtain and prepared to leave the room.

"I'll be right back."

"What is going on?" Nathalie didn't understand Gabriel's sudden change in attitude.

"It's Tomoe. She is outside. You stay here Nathalie." Gabriel left the room and went downstairs to greet Tomoe.

He went down the stairs, until he reached the main staircase.

"Ah Tomoe, welcome." Gabriel said in a condescending tone.

"Gabriel - San" Tomoe turned towards the place of the sound "You let me down."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Gabriel pretended not to understand.

"Our plan failed." Tomoe pointed her bokken at him "You promised me that this time we would be successful."

"Well, I think your plan wasn't so perfect." Gabriel replied mockingly.

That made Tomoe angry.

Taking her bokken with both hands, Tomoe charged towards Gabriel.

He was prepared and managed to dodge Tomoe's first blow just in time.

"My plans are always perfect!" Tomoe exclaimed "We had everything to make our wish come true, but you decided to abandon everything."

"I had no choice," Gabriel narrowly avoided Tomoe again "Ladybug offered me another solution."

That stopped Tomoe completely.

"Ladybug?" That was when Tomoe realized that Ladybug had influenced Gabriel "So, did you speak with Ladybug?"

"Yes. She gave me a second chance and I'm not going to waste it."

"That means we are no longer on the same side. Gabriel – San." Tomoe said that in a threatening manner. She repositioned her bokken.

Tomoe continued to attack more aggressively.

"The wish could have given us everything." Tomoe finally managed to hit Gabriel on the back.

Gabriel fell to the ground sharply. The blow that Tomoe gave him left him immobilized for a moment.

Just enough for her to land another blow much further down his back. Gabriel grunted in pain from the second blow she gave him. It hit it so close to his spine that he saw stars when he felt the blow on his body.

He crawled as best he could, like a wounded animal until Tomoe used his weapon to place it on top of his hand with great force.

Gabriel couldn't help but let out a moan of pain. He closed his eyes to suppress the pain.

"I can't believe that you of all people would betray me, Gabriel." Madame Tsurugi applied a little more force on the bokken towards Gabriel's hand.

Gabriel was going to nip that problem in the bud.

"I'm not going to work with you anymore, Tsurugi - San." he removed the bokken from his hand and stood up unsteadily "I already made many mistakes with Adrien and with Nathalie too. It's time for me to do the right thing."

"You can't leave everything for them. We could fix everything; nothing would have happened and everything would be back to normal."

But Gabriel knew that wasn't what either Emilie or Nathalie wanted.

Nathalie…

Gabriel got up as he could.

"I wish to return to the relationship that Nathalie and I used to have before our alliance, Tomoe." She was there before anyone else and did many things for me, even though she hadn't asked her to. She was there when Emilie died and she was there protecting Adrien even from myself. And I'm going to raise my son just like my wife asked me to. Now I'm going to leave this room. Good afternoon."

Gabriel turned around triumphantly.

Tomoe had caught the way she referred to Nathalie, her assistant.

"That woman made you weak Gabriel - San. The perfect universe was before us, but you ruined it all. Like all your plans."

"Nathalie was with me long before you, Tsurugi - San." Gabriel looked at her angrily even though he knew she couldn't see his expression "I'm not going to let our relationship to keep deteriorating."

Gabriel was going to leave the room, but Tomoe was faster.

"Wait a moment." Madame Tsurugi took the contract out of her briefcase "We have a deal. I could easily expose you and ruin your life if I wanted to."

Gabriel retraced his steps and suddenly grabbed the contract. As audibly as possible, he tore the contract into several pieces and threw them on the ground.

"That deal simply ceased to exist. And if you dare to betray me, you will fall with me. Think about what will happen to Miss Tsurugi when they find out what we were both doing."

Gabriel continued walking to get away from there as quickly as possible and not have to listen to everything Tomoe told him to make him come back.

"This doesn't end here Gabriel - San. You need me."

Gabriel stopped.

"Our deal is over, Tomoe. There's no point in arguing with you anymore. I ask you kindly to leave my house." Gabriel signaled the gorilla who had just entered.

Tomoe was escorted outside.

"Don't come looking for me when you need me, Gabriel."

That was the last thing he heard before Tomoe left the room and Placide closed the door behind him.

Using her password to access the cameras, Nathalie had been watching everything unfolding from her phone.

She watched as Tomoe aggressively hit Gabriel using her bokken, leaving him on the ground. The two exchanged a few words before Tomoe left the mansion permanently.

She saw on the other camera pointing to the second floor how Gabriel went to his room and closed the door behind him.

What just happened?

Gabriel went straight to look in the mirror. He took off the jacket and the white shirt that he had been wearing for a few weeks. He checked himself right where Tomoe had hit him and found some pretty obvious bruises.

They were red, but he knew that with the days, they would turn purple. He put his hand on one of his wounds and as soon as he touched it, he felt a lot of pain.

That was definitely going to hurt tomorrow.

Gabriel searched in his drawers and put on some ointment. He needed to reduce the chances of Tomoe's beating hurting him more than necessary.

Gabriel sighed as he tended to all of his wounds and put his white shirt and jacket back on. He returned to Nathalie to continue planning what they were going to do.

"Everything is solved now. Tomoe won't be back." Gabriel ran his hand through his hair, which was a little messy.

Nathalie examined him from top to bottom, knowing what had happened. But Gabriel didn't have to know that.

"Are you alright?" he heard Nathalie's voice say.

"Yes. Tomoe and I no longer work together, that deal is over. She was very… understanding."

Liar.

Nathalie knew that Tomoe had beaten him a few minutes ago.

"Well, in that case, remember that in about two hours we are going to talk to Marinette's parents so that Adrien can stay at her house, don't forget."

"I'll try not to forget it, Nathalie. Now, what were we up to?" Gabriel put his hands together trying to remember what they had ended up with.

"We're going to tell them that I'm sick, remember?" Nathalie mentioned pointing to her own phone.

"Ah, yes... Do you need help with your makeup?" Gabriel offered.

"No, I can do it alone." Nathalie searched through her drawer for the makeup she used to wear. "You should get ready, it won't be long before we have to deal with Marinette's parents."

"Ok" Gabriel was waiting for that answer.

Gabriel's body felt sore.

He would certainly lie down for a while.

"If I forget that we have to talk to the girl's parents, please remind me of it."

Nathalie just nodded.

Gabriel retired so he could rest.

He went to his bed and gently laid down on it.

It could have ended up worse, he thought.

He turned to look at the picture he had of him, his wife and his son on the nightstand.

You would be so disappointed in, my Emilie.

Gabriel looked at the ceiling thinking about how he could get his family out of that situation.

After working for a while Nathalie checked the time on the computer. It was almost time to talk to Marinette's parents.

But Gabriel had not yet shown any sign of appearing there.

Nathalie shook her head, thinking that he had forgotten about it.

She got out of bed to open the door and go look for Gabriel.

When she opened the door, she was surprised to find the person she was going to look for.

Gabriel was at the door waiting. Maybe it was her imagination, but for a moment she saw how Gabriel was surprised to see her, but he hid that expression pretty quickly.

"It's time?" He asked without looking into her eyes.

"Yes, it's time." Nathalie responded.

Gabriel couldn't tell her that, upon seeing her face, he thought for a moment that the peacock effects had progressed faster and she had become seriously ill again.

Just like a few days ago.

He had to give Nathalie credit; her makeup was too convincing.

Gabriel sat on the bed so they could both answer the call.

Marinette sent a message to Nathalie that her parents were now available for her to talk to.

"Remember what we must say, Gabriel."

"I know Nathalie," Gabriel repeated the words "You're sick and its very contagious, so we need someone to take care of Adrien while you recover."

Nathalie made a gesture of dialing the phone number that Marinette had sent her.

Nathalie waited until Marinette's mother answered.

"Hello Miss Sancoeur, how are you?" Greetings kindly Sabine.

"Good evening, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng" Nathalie looked askance at Gabriel. "I'm a little sick, sorry if you find me unwell."

"Oh no, don't worry. Is Mr. Agreste available?"

"I'm here." Gabriel took the phone from Nathalie.

"Oh, good night, Mr. Agreste. Marinette didn't explain much of the situation to us, so I would like you to clarify a few things for us."

"I will clarify all the questions you have" Gabriel answered back.

"It was not very clear to us why Adrien cannot return to the mansion for the moment."

Gabriel caught a glimpse of Nathalie.

"Nathalie has been sick for a few days, and it is very contagious. I don't want Adrien to run the risk of getting infected too."

Gabriel saw how Sabine's face changed completely.

"Oh, that's why. There is no problem that remains. We understand that this is something very important. We also wouldn't want Adrien to get sick."

"And he can stay as long as he wants" Tom was heard in the background "We have plenty of room for him. We can accommodate him."

Gabriel could rest assured.

"Thank you. I... I'll keep an eye on how Adrien is doing. I will be in contact with you. I will cover all the expenses that Adrien needs while he is with you.

Both parties agreed on a few things regarding Adrien's care. Like meal times and how long Adrien would stay there.

Since that day they hadn't heard much from Adrien other than what little Marinette told them.

Adrien's absence was felt quite a bit. Adrien was the cheerful presence of the mansion. Even though the atmosphere in there had worsened since Emilie left.

But one day something had changed. They felt another presence in the mansion.

They heard the sound of footsteps in Adrien's room.

Would there be a chance that Adrien has returned to the mansion?

Both adults looked at each other and went to check Adrien's room, hoping that Adrien had finally decided to return home.

Welp, Ladybug's cure didn't worked out in the end. Prepare for the long ride for finding a way to save Nathalie and Gabriel.