The weekend passed quickly for the couple, mainly because they spent the entire time working on finalizing the designs for the different lines that would be introduced at the Spring Line announcement show in a few weeks.
Now that all the designs had been approved by all parties, they had been sent to the production team to get several sets created for the show.
Currently, Marinette had her hand propping her head up even as her eyes drifted closed. Beside her, Adrien snickered and nudged her side to wake her. They hadn't been up that late the night before, but Marinette had wanted to get up early to visit her parents and throw off suspicions, so she was extra tired.
Adrien was contemplating the best way to tease her without distracting the rest of the class when the Akuma alarm sounded. Everyone rose to see what was happening and escape if necessary. However, all the televisions in the school turned on and began to stream a live feed of the Akuma.
Only, there was no Akuma, instead, the sky around the Eiffel Tower was filled with butterflies just like when Paris was first introduced to Hawk Moth.
Slowly the face of Hawk Moth appeared in the butterflies and began to speak.
"Ladybug and Chat Noir," he began in even tones, "I wish to speak directly with you to discuss matters of great importance. I will be at the top of the Eiffel Tower at 7 pm tonight. I expect to see you both there so that we may discuss these matters."
With that, the image faded and the butterflies dispersed.
"Why didn't he just send an Akuma?" Adrien asked in a whisper once the television in the classroom had turned off and the other students had begun to discuss what had just happened as they returned to their seats.
"I don't know," Marinette replied as she glanced over to her husband in worry. "But there is no way that Ladybug and Chat can miss this, for all we know there truly is something more dangerous than Hawk Moth coming."
"So, 7 pm then?" Adrien asked, in things related to the miraculous he deferred to her.
"It's a date," she replied with a serious look, the sounds of the teacher trying to call the class back to order were ignored as far too many thoughts swirled through her head.
At exactly 7 pm that evening both heroes swung to the top of the Eiffel Tower expecting to find a mob of Akuma waiting for them. Instead, they found only Hawk Moth.
Far below them, the flashing lights of police cars could be seen as they set up a cordon around the tower.
"Welcome," Hawk Moth said as he watched them land, hands folded on top of his cane. "I am glad you could come."
"What do you want?" Chat asked as he took a partial defensive stance.
"A simple conversation, that's all, no tricks, no Akuma, just us."
"A conversation?" Chat asked with narrowed eyes, "About what?"
"The future, or more specifically my place in it."
"I don't follow," Ladybug admitted as she stepped forward half a step.
"It's simple," Hawk Moth replied, "due to many recent events in my civilian life, I have had time to contemplate exactly what it is I am doing and why. Recently I have found a new purpose in my life, one that forced me to take a long hard look at the terror and fear I have been creating for the past few years. When I did, thanks in part to the Ladyblog and the footage there, I realized that there was no purpose to my actions. No need for me to have done them in the first place. My desire was one that, with the wish, would have been made true. But along the way, how many more people would it damage or destroy emotionally to get what I desired? Would she have wanted me to become what I have to save her? No, I can see now that she would not."
"What exactly are you saying?" Ladybug asked as she hoped beyond hope that he was saying what she hoped he was.
"I no longer have the will nor desire to be Hawk Moth and I will turn myself and the miraculous over to you and Chat Noir."
"What's the catch?" Chat asked as he relaxed his stance partially.
"Very astute of you," Hawk Moth replied, "I know my son would have caught on to that as well."
Ladybug and Chat exchanged a look, they had never thought about Hawk Moth having a family.
"I have but one simple demand; I don't want to go to jail. I wish to just disappear and fade away."
"You know that's not possible," Ladybug answered.
"I do," he said as he shook his head in acknowledgment, "which is why I asked you to meet me here. To hear me out and help me to try to keep the life I have just found and desire to hold on to."
"And why would we do that?" Chat asked with suspicion.
"I have come to appreciate the people and things around me, I have a new drive with my work, a new family to call my own. Exposing me would destroy everything for not just me, but my entire family. I ask you to help me not for my sake, but theirs; for my son, my daughter-in-law, my employees, and my wife's memory."
He paused to pull an object from his pocket, Ladybug and Chat tensed until he revealed the missing Peacock miraculous.
"Here, take it, please, it has caused me nothing but heartache for the longest time. I have no desire to see this again."
Ladybug hesitated for but a moment before she stepped forward and accepted the object, cradling it in her hand she stepped back next to Chat.
"Before I reveal myself to you and give you my miraculous, I must tell you a story first. When I was a much younger man, my wife and I were both quite adventurous. When I wasn't running my company, we would be out traveling the world, most often to find new materials for my company. On one of our trips to China, my assistant discovered two pieces of jewelry, which we later learned were the Peacock and Butterfly miraculous. When we received them, the Peacock was already damaged with a large crack, and the Butterfly had a smaller one as well, but it was not enough to prevent its use. However," he paused to sigh as he remembered, "when my wife and I began using the miraculous it was intended for good. But as the damage to hers caused her to sicken, eventually the damage to mine caused me to darken. I started to become aloof, stand-offish, and cruel and it only got worse as my wife's condition worsened until she finally succumbed to the illness and fell into a coma from which she could not be woken."
He stopped to take a few steadying breaths before continuing, not noticing that Chat had grabbed Ladybug's hand, fear shining in his eyes as the story settled into his brain. It was starting to sound far too familiar to him.
"I took her to the best doctors I could find, but they all had no answers. In my pain, I cut myself off from my son and hid her away in a private hospital on the edge of Paris. I had read of the power of the Ladybug and Black Cat to be able to grant a wish when the miraculous were unified. I set that as my goal, to claim them both and wish my wife back to health. However, as I used my miraculous, I was drawn deeper into my despair, and I was only saved when my son changed my life by taking away all that I had worked for and leaving me with nothing. The shock of that broke through whatever the damaged Butterfly miraculous had done to me and allowed me to see and think clearly for the first time in a long time."
Turning his gaze to them, his eyes finally focused on them and not on images of the past.
"I have no illusions that I am not a monster," he said as he stared at them, finally noticing the death grip Chat had on her hand and the fear and panic in his eyes. "I know that I must pay for the harm I've done to others, but I want to start by not harming my son and his family any more than I already have. He deserves to have a life unassociated with the stigma of my name. Which is why I ask you both to please, help me correct my wrongs and keep the family I have finally found."
He took a deep breath before speaking the words he needed to.
"Dark Wings Fall," he said, and the transformation dropped, leaving Gabriel Agreste standing before them. He slowly reached up and removed the Butterfly broach from his neck and offered it to Ladybug.
Lifting a numb hand, Ladybug reached for the broach. Closing her fingers around it she pulled it from his hand and clutched it to her chest. Even though she wasn't trying to use it, she could hear the sweet, dark call of the damaged item as it tried to lure her into using it. Opening her lucky charm she placed the damaged miraculous inside and closed it, cutting off the dark song the butterfly was singing.
"Thank you," Gabriel said, "it has been a great struggle to not use that all this time. I could hear him calling to me, whispering in my mind to use him and Akumatize to get my wish. But thanks to my son and his wife I was able to hold him at bay."
"Gabriel," Ladybug said as she was still in shock. She could feel Chat's hand shaking as he gripped hers. Tearing her eyes away from her father-in-law she stared at Chat and his lack of expression.
"Chat?" She said slowly as she turned to him. "Chat, please say something."
"It's you," he said after a moment where Gabriel just watched them, knowing his future was in their hands. "It's always been you, every hurt, pain, tear, it was all because of you. Every time I died, every innocent that was injured, it was all because of you!"
"Chat," Ladybug said as she moved to stand in front of him, using her arms to hold him from moving. "Chat, listen to me, don't say anything more, and don't give in to what you want to say. I know where your mind is, don't do it!"
Sadly, his anger and pain were far too much, the shock of finding out what happened to his mother and hearing the reasoning of his father was just too much.
"Every. Single. Thing. Is your fault!" he raged as Ladybug did her best to hold him back. "It's your fault I never had a life, it's your fault I never had friends, it's your fault mother is gone! It's all your fault, FATHER!"
Marinette sagged against him as the tears fell from his eyes onto her head even as his arms came up to encircle her. Gabriel was visibly confused until Ladybug called out 'spots off' and detransformed before his eyes.
She didn't give Gabriel another thought as she grabbed Adrien's head and held it against her shoulder as he cried.
"It's okay," she said in whispered words as she just held him, realizing that not only was their cover meaningless now but that all the suffering from Hawk Moth had finally ended, leaving only the pain and suffering caused by Gabriel himself.
"Claws in," Adrien whispered before the transformation dropped and a tired Plagg fell from the ring, caught by an equally tired Tikki.
The world stopped at that moment, at least the concept of the passage of time did.
Gabriel didn't know what to do or think, all this time, he had been fighting his son and his daughter-in-law. How often had he tried to kill Chat Noir to get his ring? How many times was it Gabriel and not the dark influence of the damaged broach giving the order to try to kill him?
Falling to his knees, Gabriel could only stare as Adrien collapsed in tears into the arms of Marinette.
"Adrien," she whispered as she tried to draw his attention. "Adrien, we have to go, we can't stay here. There will be news helicopters in the air soon. We can't be exposed. We need to go someplace and figure this all out."
"The mansion," Adrien whispered through his tears even as he fished out a small piece of cheese for Plagg. "It's safe and secure."
Taking the cheese the black Kwami quickly ate it without a word. Marinette quickly took a macaron from her bag and offered it to Tikki. Once they had both eaten the heroes called for their transformations.
Once transformed, Ladybug moved to pick up Gabriel from where he had collapsed.
"No," Adrien said as he placed a gentle hand on her arm, "I'll take him."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," he replied as he just stared blankly at his father, his emotions hidden behind his façade. "I won't drop him, if that's what you're worried about, Mari."
"I wasn't… okay, maybe just a little," she admitted as she looked into his eyes. "Adrien, it'll be okay, we'll get through this."
He only nodded as he pulled away from her and moved to pick up Gabriel in his arms. Using one hand to extend his baton he quickly leaped away from the tower and toward the general direction of the mansion, Ladybug following, but from a different direction to throw off suspicion.
Some minutes later they were all seated in Gabriel's office; Adrien and Marinette were on the couch while Gabriel occupied the chair.
Nobody even tried to say a word as they all processed the situation.
Eventually, Marinette had to break the silence.
"I think we are going to need some more details before we decide on what to do with you."
"What is it you would like to know?"
"Why?" the whispered word from Adrien cut across any reply that Marinette could make.
"Desperation," Gabriel replied as he stared at his folded hands. "After trying everything that modern medicine could offer and seeing no change in your mother's condition I began to explore more unconventional solutions. Through my readings, I discovered the power of the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous to grant any wish asked. Once I learned that I made it my mission to make that wish and bring your mother back."
"That doesn't explain why you didn't go to the Guardians for help, they could have cured her if it was caused by the miraculous."
"I did," Gabriel replied as he looked up at Marinette. "That was the first thing I tried. I searched all of China and Tibet for them. Eventually, I was able to find them and when I did I begged for their help in curing Emilie. They turned me away, saying that the darkness in my heart prevented them from helping me. A Guardian named Su-Han turned me away and told me that it was my penance for misusing the miraculous."
Marinette gasped at this; his accusations opened up a world of questions she had about the Guardians. They were supposed to guard the miraculous, not turn away those who used them and needed their help.
"Once I left, I began to research more into the power of the miraculous and discovered the wish. Once I learned about that I set out to gather the miraculous and cure her myself."
No one said a word once he had finished, it took a few moments for Adrien, who had been staring at the carpet, to speak up.
"You mentioned the Butterfly being damaged."
"Yes," Gabriel said as he leaned back a bit and thought about his reply. "It had a minor crack in it when it was brought to me. At first, I did not think that it would matter, it wasn't as damaged as the Peacock. But as I used it, both before and after your mother got sick, I could feel myself change. I became more aloof, more closed off. I became more manipulative to get what I wanted. It is important to understand that some manipulation is necessary for the fashion industry, otherwise, you might find yourself with your company taken from you without you even realizing it."
Adrien ignored the comment about him taking the company, even if the tone was laced with pride.
"But I became manipulative just to manipulate. I turned into an entirely different man, and once Emilie fell into her coma, manipulating others to do my will was all I could think of. I know the miraculous and its Kwami are not evil, but something happened to it before it came to me that corrupted it. Sitting here, free from the influence, I can feel myself starting to become the man I was before. The person you know me as, aloof, disinterested, and cruel, is part of who I am, however, the extremes that I took when under the influence of the miraculous started to scare even me. I tried to get rid of the miraculous in the beginning, but the pull to make the wish grew too strong for me to break away. Nathalie knew me and how I was back then, she can even attest that the person I became, is not the person she knew back then, and I am not the ambitious young designer that your mother married all those years ago."
"I remember hearing that a miraculous could become corrupted if used by a particularly evil person," Marinette said in thought as she reached over and took Adrien's shaking hand in hers. "Since we don't know where or how Nathalie found it, we can only speculate about the previous holder. You're as much a victim as those you Akumatized."
"Ironically, you and my son are the holders of the Ladybug and Black Cat, it is because of you both that I was able to break away from the control of the Butterfly."
Adrien finally looked up at his father in confusion, but he didn't say anything.
"When you took the company away from me, it did… something to me. I experienced a massive shock and somehow that broke the grip of the miraculous, or at least it started to. As events unfolded over the past few months, I could feel myself regaining control. I could feel myself coming back, that the darkness that had been inhabiting my mind was slipping away. There was even a time when I was able to put the miraculous away and not desire to use it for my own goals. It has been put away and hidden until I removed it and gave it to you tonight, and with it now safely in your possession, I no longer feel the draw it had while I had it hidden."
"I don't know how to feel," Adrien admitted after several long minutes. "I don't know whether I should hate you or love you. All the hurting, all the pain, all the times that I did die, were all because of you, but they also weren't. If your miraculous was corrupted then you weren't in full control of your actions, all I know is that I'm just numb right now."
"I know that I broke your trust," Gabriel began as he looked at Adrien. "I don't hope that I could even begin to repair that. All I ask is that you let me try to make things right again."
"How?" Adrien asked as he finally looked at Gabriel, the same dark look that had so cowed the class was now directed at Gabriel.
"While I cannot undo all the damage that I have created, I can at least mitigate it, but I will require your help."
"What do you need from us?" Marinette asked.
"I need you to repair and purify the butterfly miraculous, with the corrupted influence gone I can use it to give those that I hurt a wish that will heal some of the damage. It won't be forever, of course, that's not how the miraculous works, but it will allow them to find a place within themselves that lets them start the mental and emotional healing process."
"And why would we do that?" Adrien asked, the dark look fading slightly.
"I desire to atone for what I have done and help those who have been traumatized. As part of my penance, I will set up a charity to help offset the costs of the mental health counseling the victims and their families may require. I also will help you utterly destroy Lila."
This last part caught their attention more than the rest, Adrien and Marinette were both extremely curious about how he planned to fulfill the latter promise.
"As Hawk Moth, I knew whether a victim was willing or not, Lila was always willing to be Akumatized, many times she sought me out to gain the power she wanted for plans. I plan to entrap her with an Akuma and get her to confess to being willing to work with me."
"You do know that you will have to be tried for your crimes," Marinette said as she and Adrien took a moment to absorb what Gabriel had said.
"I am aware that that is a possibility, however, I have been giving it much thought and believe that I can come up with a solution that would be beneficial to all."
Adrien raised his hand and cut off any more conversation, he let it slowly return to his lap before he started to speak.
"Father, what you have done to Paris, its people, and even your own family, is inexcusable. However, despite all that, in these few moments, I've been searching my soul and have come to realize that I cannot bring myself to hate you, especially since you were as much a victim. I believe that it may be possible to use that to help keep you from prison and here with us. I've already lost Mother; I don't need to lose you as well."
"Thank you, Adrien," Gabriel said into the silence, "I do not deserve your kindness, and I will spend every day of the rest of my life making it up to you and Paris. Unfortunately, your mother is a different story. Since her disease is magical, the doctors cannot do anything except monitor her and keep her comfortable. I can take you to see her if you wish, however, you must remember that the coma she is in has left her wasted."
"We can ask the Guardians to take a look and see if they can break whatever it is keeping her like that," Marinette added, "I'll reach out to them about it in the morning."
The silence that followed was both awkward, yet also not. Many things had been aired and there were patches of healing started. But it would take a long time before those patches grew into anything significant.
"Before we act on anything, I think it would best that we all get some sleep and approach all our issues with clear heads in the morning," Adrien said as he rose and helped Marinette from the couch. "Father, we will see you in the morning."
With that the couple left the room and headed for their bedroom, leaving Gabriel behind with his thoughts.
Nathalie slowly approached him from where she had been hiding.
"Do you still think it was wise to reveal it to them?"
"I do," he replied as he kept looking down in thought. He eventually looked up and stared at the door where the couple had left through. "Given our conversations regarding the usage of the miraculous, it was best to finally reveal myself and see if Ladybug or Chat Noir would be willing to help us. It was a cruel twist that the Heroes of Paris ended up being my Son and Daughter-in-Law."
He sighed as he sat back.
"I highly doubt there is anything that can be done for Emilie, but I still have to try, one last time."
"And the realization that the wish would most likely have taken the life of someone you care about helped?" Nathalie asked as she moved to stand next to him and look at the door as well.
"When I realized that making that wish could take Adrien or Marinette, or even you, away from me, I realized that it just wasn't worth it anymore. I have all I need or want here," he paused to take her hand and squeeze it. "If Emilie wakes, we will evaluate where we go from there. If she does not, then we will continue on and address the situation as necessary."
"A wise course, Gabriel," Nathalie replied as she removed her hand from his, checking her watch for the time. "I would suggest we follow their example and head off to bed ourselves, given the events of the night, tomorrow promises to be a long day."
"Yes," Gabriel said as he pulled himself from his thoughts. He rose and moved toward the doors.
"Good night, Nathalie," he said as he left the room.
"Good night, Gabriel," she replied as she too headed off to her room.