Chapter 16: Emilie's Funeral

Gabriel straightened his tie in front of the dresser. The day was turning gray outside.

It was Emilie's funeral.

He looked at his cataclysmed hand after putting on his shirt.

He would have to hide it well if they were going to go outside at the end of the private funeral, they were having in just a few moments.

Gabriel went to look for the first aid kit in the bathroom and from there he took out some bandages. He proceeded to bandage the areas where the cataclysm was located. He couldn't allow that secret to be revealed by accident when they left the mansion. Furthermore, his black suit definitely wouldn't be able to completely cover the wound.

Once he finished, Gabriel looked for a pair of gloves to cover the bandage. Once they finished the small ceremony that they had prepared, they would go to take Emilie's body to the cemetery, where it would finally be deposited and she would finally rest in peace just as she wanted.

Once he had adjusted the gloves, Gabriel looked for his suit jacket, which he left hanging on the desk chair in his room. After settling it in, he looked around. Almost all of Emilie's things were still there. But not by much. The day he let her go, Gabriel decided that he would donate her barely used clothes to charity.

He would only keep some of the jewelry she wore and the family photos she kept with her.

But even though he still hadn't gotten rid of all the things Emilie left behind, the room felt so… empty.

Finally, Gabriel finished getting ready and left to find Adrien. The sooner the ceremony began, the less suspicion it would raise from the public. If the truth came out, he wouldn't be able to fix it this time. Nobody would.

Gabriel walked slowly to his son's room and opened the door. Adrien was barely visible from where he was standing, but he could see that he was in front of the window looking outside.

"Adrien, can I come in?" Gabriel stuck his head out the door. Adrien snapped out of his thoughts and nodded, sitting down on the couch. Adrien was already wearing his attire.

Gabriel approached him, noticing that Adrien had an obvious sad expression.

"Are you ready Adrien?" Gabriel asked gently. He knew Adrien was very sad and he didn't want Adrien to feel intimidated by him.

"I think so," Adrien said timidly.

Gabriel sat next to Adrien on the couch.

"Adrien I'm sorry for having to put you through this, I'm trying to do the right thing now... that Ladybug gave me a new chance."

"I know."

Gabriel stood up to head out of the room. He stood at the entrance to wait for Adrien and take him downstairs.

"Let's go down. The ceremony is about to begin."

Upon leaving, they met Nathalie leaving the room with the phone in her hand. She wore a simple black neckless and sleeveless dress that reached her knees. But before she could speak to them, an incoming call interrupted her.

"Give me a moment" Nathalie said to retrace her steps. She required some documents to make Emilie's death official and she left them in her room.

"Come on Adrien. Nathalie will catch up with us later."

Gabriel went with Adrien to the dining room where they placed Emilie's coffin. They both stood near the coffin to look at Emilie one last time. This time, Emilie was wearing an all-white dress instead of the white suit she wore before.

There would only be the three of them. They couldn't invite more people because that would mean it would leak to the other attendees.

And they couldn't risk that.

They forbade Adrien to mention anything about all of this. Adrien wasn't very happy with the idea. He only mentioned it to Marinette because he knew she would understand.

But his father didn't have to know.

They were there for a moment until they heard the doorbell ring. Gabriel worried again.

What a bad time to receive visitors.

Gabriel's paranoia took over him again.

Could it be Amelie, or Felix? It was agreed between the three of them and the funeral services that no words would come out of the Agreste mansion. Amelie didn't need to know about this. If that happened, Gabriel could say goodbye to everything he knew. Amelie hated him and she wouldn't hesitate to destroy his reputation if she found out what had happened to her twin sister.

And he didn't blame her. And even though Amelie didn't like him very much, he had to admit that he was really mean to her in the past.

And he was also sure that Emilie wouldn't be too happy that Gabriel was hiding something so important from her sister, but he had no choice. Plus, he didn't want to risk losing any of the twin rings again.

After all, to them Emilie was dead.

Nathalie, who was closest to the door, headed to open it only to find Marinette and Luka at the door.

Nathalie stared at them confused.

"What are you doing here?" Nathalie found it very strange. She made sure no one found out. How did Luka and Marinette know?

Marinette shrugged.

"I invited myself. Well, we invited ourselves" Marinette pointed to Luka.

Luka had his hair tied in the back in a small ponytail, pulling most of his hair back, adding to that, he was wearing a black suit just for the occasion. He also had his guitar kept in his case. Marinette wore a simple dress of the same color, with her hair in a bun.

"We came here to be here with Adrien. He told me what you were going to do today and we didn't want to leave him alone," Marinette said solemnly.

That answered Nathalie's doubt.

Adrien had very good friends.

Although she didn't know what Gabriel would say about this. He was very insistent that they would not say anything to anyone except for themselves and the funeral services. But she couldn't pass up Marinette's goodwill gesture.

"Then come in" Nathalie moved to the side of the door, opening it completely "They are in the room to the right of the hall. Come with me."

Nathalie guided both kids to the room where they placed the coffin.

As they approached the entrance to the room, Nathalie stopped them with a gesture and entered first.

"Who was it, Nathalie?" Gabriel questioned when he saw her approach her.

"Our guests."

"Our guests?" Gabriel didn't understand what she meant.

Nathalie motioned for Marinette and Luka to enter.

"Nathalie, I told you not to allow anyone else here." Gabriel said, remembering the explicit order he gave her.

"Please don't be angry with her. It was our own choice to come." Marinette intervened for Nathalie.

Adrien was surprised to see them there. He approached them to receive them. Marinette hugged Adrien just as he was next to her.

Adrien felt comforted in those moments. Not only were Nathalie and Gabriel there for him, but Luka and Marinette had come to accompany him in such a difficult time.

Marinette pulled away from him.

"You came." Adrien took her hands.

"Of course I came, Adrien. We aren't going to leave you alone in this." Marinette gave him a sympathetic look. Adrien released Marinette's hands and turned to Luka.

"Luka." Adrien came up to greet him.

Adrien was sure that Luka came a little hesitant even though his father tried to use him to find out his true identity.

"Thanks for coming."

Luka gave him a hug too. He couldn't imagine what Adrien was going through now that he knew the truth of everything.

"I'm so sorry Adrien. I wish I could offer you more, but…"

"Your presence alone is enough for me, Luka." Adrien interrupted him.

Gabriel couldn't explain what they were doing there. He didn't know how they found out.

Adrien probably couldn't resist telling them.

That wasn't in their plans, but this time he wouldn't do anything. Adrien needed all the support he could get. All he did was watch as Adrien's friends tried to comfort him.

The five gathered in front of the coffin. They remained silent, watching over Emilie's body, while it was time to leave.

Adrien stood very close to his mother's coffin. He was memorizing her face before the casket closed. Plagg was comforting him, noticing how sad Adrien looked. Adrien handed him a small piece of cheese in gratitude for what he was doing.

The kwamis came out seeing that there was no issue in doing so. Tikki and Plagg stayed next to their bearers, hidden from the others' sight, it didn't feel appropriate for them to be out there.

After a few moments of silence, each one moved on to offer their respects to Mrs. Agreste. Marinette and Luka brought some flowers that they left on top of the coffin.

Nathalie accompanied Adrien to see her one last time.

Nathalie grabbed Adrien's shoulder and pulled him towards her, squeezing her shoulder in support.

"Thank you, Nathalie." Adrien whispered.

Gabriel stood next to them not knowing what to say. He was never good at comforting Adrien; Emilie was always the one to take care of that.

And now she is gone.

Gabriel looked at his watch. Time passed so quickly that he hadn't realized that it was time to leave.

Adrien watched as his father closed the coffin.

"It's time to go."

Everyone came out to the main entrance. The gorilla already had the car ready and the employees of the funeral service that Gabriel hired were placing the coffin in the car to take it to its destination.

The sky was turning even more gray, indicating that it would rain soon.

Luka and Marinette were getting ready to get on Luka's bike, but Adrien stopped them before they did.

"Wait, I think it's going to rain, shouldn't you use a better method of transportation?"

Both Luka and Marinette looked at the sky watching the gray clouds accumulate more and more in the sky.

"We can make room in the car." Adrien pointed to where Nathalie and Gabriel were waiting for them.

The funeral services were responsible for taking the coffin to its destination. On their side, Marinette and Luka found a spot in the car. Somehow, they managed to get Nathalie, Luka, Marinette and Adrien to go in the back while the Gorilla and Gabriel went in front.

The sky was getting darker as the minutes passed.

The five went to the cemetery where the family crypt that Gabriel and Emilie prepared a few years ago for the family. They stayed to wait for everything to end. Cemetery workers prepared to store the casket in place as quickly as possible.

"Goodbye, mom." Adrien placed his hand on top of the coffin one last time.

"Goodbye Emilie." Gabriel said.

Emilie was placed on the tomb that Gabriel arranged for her. A beautiful tombstone with golden details, a figure of an angel on it and Emilie's face carved on the side along with an inscription, which was positioned on one side of the tombstone.

Emilie Agreste

Beloved wife, mother and friend.

19XX – 20XX

Gabriel felt a sharp pain in his arm. He discreetly brought his hand to his left arm. He was sure that the cataclysm had grown once again.

The sky darkened as gray clouds covered it, hiding the sun.

Small drops began to fall on his heads. Gabriel was ignoring the rain that was falling regardless of whether it wet his suit.

Little or nothing could matter to him in the slightest at those moments.

At one point he felt the rain suddenly stop. He looked out of the corner of his eye, finding the person who covered him from the rain.

It was Nathalie. She was covering him with a black umbrella. She gave him a kind look and stood very close to him, looking at Emilie's grave which was being closed.

Gabriel looked at her with a gesture of gratitude.

Thank you, Nathalie.

Nathalie seemed to understand and they both stayed silent.

Adrien stayed behind them along with Marinette who covered him with her own umbrella and with Luka who covered himself with another umbrella waiting for everything to be over, so they could go back home.

They were there for a while until the rain intensified. Everyone got into the car to return home.

Gorilla led them all back to the mansion. Gabriel sat in the front again looking at Adrien specifically in the rear-view mirror.

He didn't look fine.

Marinette and Luka went back with them to the mansion and would stay with Adrien a little longer. From there they would both leave for their respective homes.

Nathalie stepped forward to open the door. She allowed Adrien and Gabriel to go in, followed by Marinette and Luka. Adrien entered the house, still looking gloomy. He didn't know it was so hard to have to say goodbye to his mother when he had already let her go.

But he also felt bad for his father. Although he partly hated him for what he did, that didn't mean he didn't think about how sad his father must have been after letting his mother go.

Gabriel went directly to Emilie's painting. He opened it only to store Emilie's defunction documents. They would be safe there.

Nathalie went after Gabriel, only to see him contemplate the painting of his wife like he used to do before entering the lair. Nathalie wanted to have that moment to comfort him, but she didn't know if it was a good idea to do it at that exact moment.

She would give him a moment to assimilate it.

Although Gabriel had another idea. He was not in the capacity to store those documents himself. His hand refused to do so.

"Nathalie." Gabriel called her.

"Yes sir?"

Gabriel pointed to the documents.

"Please, when I leave the atelier, store these documents very well inside the portrait, do you understand?"

"Yes, Gabriel."

Gabriel stared at the painting for a moment longer before turning away from it.

The next day he would remove it from the place.

He couldn't stand Emilie still looking at him from the painting. Maybe he would just leave the door to keep other things there. He would store the painting in the most remote room of the Agreste mansion.

He handed Nathalie the documents so she could store them in an organized manner in the portrait. Gabriel needed to check on Adrien again to see how he was doing.

Adrien sighed. He promised himself not to cry for his mother because he had already cried enough for her when she disappeared.

And he was sure that his mother would be very sad to see him like this.

Even so, his heart felt crushed.

Gabriel saw that Adrien's sad expression had not changed at all. He felt guilty again. Adrien's grieving process could have been better if it weren't for him.

Gabriel felt a sting in his arm again. In reflex he brought his hand towards it, taking care to not touch the wound directly.

Gabriel's glove came undone a little as did his bandage when Gabriel grabbed his arm. Parts of his wound were exposed when the bandage loosened, but he quickly pulled on his sleeve to hide it. Luckily no one would have noticed, or at least he hoped so.

Despite the distance between them, Marinette immediately noticed that part of his hand was already blackened by the cataclysm.

"Mr. Agreste, let me see."

Before Gabriel allowed her to see his arm, Marinette took his hand, noticing that Gabriel's cataclysm had advanced much further than the last time.

Not only that. Marinette noticed that the cataclysm on Gabriel's arm had gotten bigger when they were at the cemetery. Being behind Gabriel she noticed how he touched the area where the cataclysm originated.

Gabriel's time was running out.

And for her it meant that they had less and less time.

Maybe her and Luka's hypothesis were right. Negative situations were the cause of their illnesses appearing again and much faster.

"Mr. Agreste, don't you think that perhaps negative feelings are causing your cataclysm to advance even faster?"

Gabriel began to think. All the times when the cataclysm spread through his body were quite negative situations. Unlike last time, this time he hadn't done anything that would make the cataclysm worse like when he tried to use the kwamis to try to cure himself. Although it was quite gradual compared to the previous situation.

"Perhaps I underestimated what you told me before Miss Dupain-Cheng" Gabriel put his hand to his chin thoughtfully.

"Did you not notice that his illness was progressing faster because they were in a negative situation? When they learned of Adrien's true identities, the cataclysm returned again and Nathalie's illness returned fairly quickly as well even though the effects of the Creation and Destruction Miraculous were recent."

"And when I finally let my wife go, the cataclysm spread through my arm again," Gabriel reasoned.

Maybe Marinette's idea wasn't so far-fetched after all.

With this new information, Gabriel then decided that maybe he would turn this into a slightly more positive memory for him and Adrien. Gabriel noticed a while back when they arrived that Adrien seemed to be holding back tears.

He crouched down to Adrien's level to talk to him.

"I know you're trying to be strong, Adrien. But there is no need for you to do it anymore. You have the right to cry for your mother.

Tears were beginning to gather in Adrien's eyes. But he still refused to let them out.

"Let me hug you."

Gabriel hugged him. He had distanced himself from Adrien because he wanted to keep him away from the spiral of destruction he caused when Emilie left.

But he realized that it had the opposite effect.

If only he had been by his side from the beginning...

But there was no time to regret the mistakes he made in recent months. The only thing he could do was repair what he had ruined.

"Just let it out, son. I'm not going to judge you"

Adrien let out the first tears that he had been holding back throughout the entire funeral. It had been a long time since his father hugged him like that. Adrien managed to wet his father's shirt with the abundant tears that fell from his face. He had to hide his feelings so much without his father comforting him.

None of the three noticed in time that a black butterfly entered through the open window heading towards Adrien.

The butterfly entered Adrien's Miraculous.

Marinette and Luka managed to see the butterfly getting into Adrien's ring, but it was too late to catch it.

"An Akuma!" Marinette exclaimed.

Gabriel felt Adrien suddenly getting stiff. She looked from him to Adrien only to find Adrien with a lost look, but at the same time scared.

Adrien was in the process of being akumatized.

Gabriel had to stop him at all costs. He didn't feel capable of having to face Adrien himself.

"Adrien!" Gabriel tried to get Adrien's attention without success.

Gabriel was afraid that the Akuma would put his son's safety at risk.

Adrien heard a voice in his mind.

Adrien. the honeyed voice called him by his name.

That person knew him.

"Don't, leave me alone." Adrien was trying to get the person out of his mind without success. Plagg came out of his pocket worried about his wearer.

"Adrien!" Plagg floated in front of him. Adrien made an effort to look at him. "Don't let her brainwash you."

Adrien, let me help you... the voice said. You could have what you want, like having your mother back, your father and Nathalie could be cured. Let me help you in exchange for Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous. With them everything will be possible.

The voice in his head seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't identify where he had heard it before.

Gabriel backed away from him, afraid that Adrien would transform and attack them. Now he wasn't the one in control. The one behind the butterfly mask was the person in control.

That person was taking advantage of Adrien's sadness.

Adrien was having a hard time getting out of Akuma's control. At that moment Marinette and Luka went to his side to try to help him get out of the Akuma's control being in such a vulnerable position.

Come on Adrien, do it for yourself, do it for your mother. the female voice sounded quite convincing, maybe he could give in this time.

Maybe then his suffering would end.

Gabriel had to do something to help Adrien get out of the butterfly wielders control.

"Adrien, don't listen to what she's telling you, it's not true."

Luka stepped back giving them space. He knew from the guardians that the only person who could refuse the akumatization would be the affected person in question. He would have to trust that Gabriel could clear Adrien's mind.

Marinette stood to the side to see what Gabriel was planning to do. Standing in front of him, Gabriel knelt in front of him and grabbed his shoulders.

"Adrien, listen to me. I know I was a bad father, but I love you very much." Gabriel took his face. "And I am very sorry for hurting you."

Adrien was still resisting the Akuma.

Gabriel hugged him there.

"Son, please, you can do it. Everything will be fine I promise you."

Gabriel separated from him and examined him to see that he was okay.

Adrien was resisting as much as he could.

"Leave me alone Chrysalis! I'm not going to help you in the slightest!"

Adrien felt his mind release. Finally, he had managed to break the connection with Chrysalis. The butterfly came out of Adrien's ring flying away from him.

It floated for a moment before flying aimlessly and heading towards Luka. It seemed that the butterfly's miraculous holder wanted to make use of any trace of strong emotions she could find.

It was time for Luka to put into practice what he had learned with the guardians. Positioning his hands just as Su Han had taught him, he began to perform the ritual to repel the Akuma.

"The anger is mine, but I am not my anger. The anger is mine, but I am not my anger." Luka repelled the Akuma successfully. That gave Marinette time to quickly transform behind a wall.

Ladybug took her yo-yo and before the butterfly could escape, she caught it and purified it. The purified butterfly left the mansion through the window that Luka opened.

Everyone released their breath.

"Everyone is alright?" Ladybug asked.

Adrien separated from his father realizing that he managed to repel the Akuma effectively.

"I was about to be akumatized." Adrien was taking things in, recovering from his almost akumatization.

"Are you ok, Adrien?" Gabriel was a little worried that Adrien's almost akumatization would have some adverse effect on him. Gabriel examined his face; it was adorned with a worried expression.

Adrien shook his head. His father was always somewhat paranoid, but he had never seen him react that way.

"Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry about me, father."

Nathalie entered the foyer unexpectedly. She heard commotion as she finished organizing the things that were stored inside Emilie's box and ran to see what was happening.

When she came out, everything had returned to normal.

Nathalie wasn't quite sure what had happened. She left for a moment, just a moment, and when she returned everyone was upset and Adrien was even worse than before.

"What happened?"

Nathalie needed a lot of explanations. Why was Marinette transformed?

"Adrien was almost akumatized" Ladybug replied.

Nathalie was horrified. Who would be so vile as to akumatize Adrien at a time like this?

But for Nathalie there was only one culprit. There was just one person

Gabriel.

She gave Gabriel a furious look before leaving. She ran up the stairs quickly so Gabriel couldn't catch up with her.

"Nathalie, wait!"

Nathalie closed the door to her room angrily. Gabriel leaned against the door frustrated, Nathalie misinterpreted the whole situation and now he had to explain to her what really happened down there with Adrien.

Gabriel then decided that he couldn't wait. If he didn't it might be too late for them.

And he didn't want to make any more mistakes with Nathalie.

Gabriel forced his way into the room to explain what really happened.

Emilie its not with them anymore. But its for the better.

Thank you so much to luzbugs for Beta-ing this chapter.