Chapter 18: Catching a butterfly

Alya was in front of the computer ruling out people she had already researched on priority. She already crossed out several of the list of people she thought were suspicious with the evidence she collected and it all seemed to lead to one person.

Lila Rossi.

Alya had no doubt about it, much of this person's behavior pattern was very similar to the one Lila used to have when she attended Françoise Dupont. But the strange thing was, since Lila was expelled from school, they never heard from her again.

Alya clearly still felt guilty for not believing Marinette the entire time she was questioning Lila. And she believed that helping her investigate was a good way to make up for all the trouble she caused her.

Alya went to one of the places Lila used to frequent. It was a park away from the school. When she was still in the old Françoise Dupont, she once went with her to that place, although Lila never explained to her what the purpose of getting there was.

Before arriving, Alya could notice a shadow of a person in the distance. Sneaking up and hiding behind a trash can, she was able to notice that some facial features of this person were similar to those of Lila Rossi, however, she was not completely sure if it was her. She couldn't get any closer because she would be discovered in the act. She took some pictures to use as evidence.

She saw with surprise that that person entered through one of the place's sewers.

Without hesitation, she ran to follow that person. She opened the sewage cover and looked around before going down. Touching the floor of the sewer, she saw the path of tunnels forming around it. In one specific area, the road stretched until it was completely dark.

Alya recognized where that place was going.

The catacombs.

She has heard for many years how dangerous it is to venture into the catacombs. A place full of dangers and which is also completely prohibited. Alya wanted to go after Lila and see what she was up to. But she was afraid of getting lost. If she had the fox Miraculous it would be much easier.

Marinette had to know about this.

Alya came back out of the sewer, and she ran back to her house to contact Marinette immediately. She didn't want to cause trouble to Marinette if she got lost and she believed it was better for them to go with reinforcements.

Gabriel had already taken care of recovering all the rings from Paris and the rest of the world, with the excuse that all the rings were defective. He returned the Alliance money to all the people who bought it and kept all the rings in a box that he took to Nathalie's room, to see how to dispose of them later.

Nathalie seemed very pleased with what he did.

One very important thing was still missing.

Gabriel was waiting for the moment when he would have to deal with Tomoe once again.

And he didn't like that.

But it was very important for Adrien to be comfortable again with using his image in public.

Gabriel was telling Nathalie about his plan. She just crossed her arms.

"Now I'm going to try to contact Tomoe to delete all of Adrien's data from her artificial intelligence."

"Gabriel, how are you supposed to do that? Remember that your relationship with Tomoe is almost nonexistent now," Nathalie was worried about everything that implied. She also wanted to remove Adrien from the Alliance's artificial intelligence, but she wasn't sure if Tomoe would agree now that they had cut ties with her.

"Regardless of how I do it, I want Adrien's data out of Tomoe´s database. I know it won't be easy, but I'm willing to do everything I can to make a deal with her." Gabriel was determined to remove Adrien from the Alliance database. When Adrien told him, he knew it was the right thing to do and something he was obligated to do.

Gabriel sat at the table with Adrien. He promised himself that he wouldn't leave Adrien at the table alone ever again. And Nathalie couldn't go down because she was a little tired.

Gabriel could notice during dinner that Adrien seemed upset.

Had he done something that bothered Adrien and he didn't realize it?

"Is something wrong Adrien?" Gabriel sat in front of him, but not before offering him his plate for dinner.

"I... when I left the house today with Marinette, someone unexpectedly approached us to talk to me and... They were also rude to Marinette. I saw that they recognized my image with the image model in the Alliance. And I realized that..."

Adrien didn't know whether to continue. The last time his father convinced him that it was fine.

"Son, please continue." Gabriel offered Adrien a piece of toast, waiting for him to tell him what was bothering him.

Adrien swallowed and received the toast from his father.

"The truth is that it makes me very uncomfortable that my image is on the Alliance."

Gabriel had completely forgotten about it. He himself persuaded Adrien to believe that it wasn't a big deal, but now he realized that it was a very big issue and he hadn't bothered to deal with it yet.

"If this is the case Adrien, then I'm going to get you out of that database," Gabriel said.

Adrien was surprised by his response.

"Aren't you going to refuse later? Are you sure you can do it?" Those were two questions that were going through Adrien's head. He wasn't sure if his father could get him out of the database.

"I was wrong, Adrien. Your comfort is the most important thing, and if that makes you feel uncomfortable… well, I think it's time to fix it." Gabriel had only one goal in mind: Get Adrien out of the Alliance database.

And that was why it was so important to insist.

Gabriel made a call to Tomoe. He was going to call until she answered. He hoped that he could solve that problem without a hitch.

He soon heard Tomoe's voice on the speaker.

"I find it incredible that you have the audacity to call me after your betrayal. Have you changed your mind?"

"No Tomoe." Gabriel raised his voice for a moment "The only thing I want is for you to remove Adrien's image from all the Alliance and the database system."

It was not going to be an easy task.

"You are too bold to make a request like that now." Tomoe was in no mood to deal with Gabriel now.

Gabriel would continue to insist

"Tomoe, I am willing to do whatever it takes to get Adrien out of the Alliance."

"Until we get Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous?" Tomoe inquired.

"Anything but that." Gabriel said firmly and proceeded to remind Tomoe of something "You know very well that I am willing to expose you."

Gabriel heard a sigh behind the line.

"I can remove Adrien from the database and withdraw the rest of Alliance. But I won't do it for free." Tomoe pronounced from the car. Kagami only listened to what her mother had to say as they headed home. That meant she was going to be removed from the database too.

"I assure you that I will pay you everything you ask for as long as you remove my son from that database, Tomoe. I have every right to demand it. You don't want us to go to court, do you?"

There was silence behind the line.

"This will be very expensive for you, Gabriel." Tomoe just wanted to get away from this problem and not have to see Gabriel again "Alright, I will accept your request, today I will clean the database. But never contact me again."

The call ended there.

Well, that was... easy. Maybe too much.

Gabriel would not be surprised by the large sum of money he would have to pay. But now there was something much more important he had to do.

He was thinking about talking to Nathalie on how they were going to tell Adrien that he is a sentimonster.

But all that changed when he opened the mail that arrived that morning.

Two letters arrived at his house.

The first one, was the forensic results that Gabriel sent from the threatening letters he received some time ago. He opened it immediately, only to be met with a result that he didn't like one bit.

NO RESULT.

That person who sent him the letters was very careful with what they did.

He checked the wrapping of the other letter he received. This one had no sender, so he suspected that she was the same person who sent the previous ones. But this one was different from the other threat letters.

Gabriel opened it immediately, not knowing what he would find.

The first thing he found were some quite compromising photos. Photos of things he tried to get rid of a long time ago: The friterrie where he worked in the past, his passport from when he was still called Gabi Grassette, of his journey with Nathalie and Emilie in their search for the Peacock Miraculous, as well as photos of Emilie in the capsule, even photos of the contract he signed with Madame Tsurugi.

But, who took the photos?

The only other person from him than who knew where his lair was and how to get in was Nathalie.

Nathalie.

He couldn't help but think that maybe Nathalie had betrayed him.

He wasn't liking this.

Gabriel went straight to Nathalie's room, slamming the door.

"Can you explain to me where this came from?" Gabriel demanded. Nathalie noticed that he was quite upset. Gabriel threw the photographs on her bed.

Nathalie saw the photographs. She was scared because those photos almost completely revealed all of Gabriel's secrets.

"Where did you get this?" Nathalie couldn't explain where those pictures came from. Only she and Gabriel knew how to get into the lair. Adrien could be another option, but she doubted it.

"I'd like to know that too." Gabriel snapped at her.

The photos that were there showed the place where the friterrie that belonged to Gabriel's family was located along with his passport, the contract with the deal they made with Tomoe, and Emilie's body, as well as other things.

All of Gabriel's secrets were in those photos.

"Nathalie, why?"

"Gabriel, I didn't do it!" Nathalie exclaimed. Although she was sure there was another explanation for what Gabriel was showing her, she was sure she didn't do it.

"Yeah, right." Gabriel rolled his eyes.

Everything changed when he heard someone ringing the doorbell insistently.

"We'll discuss this later, Nathalie, I'm going to see who it is." Gabriel went downstairs. The Gorilla was already checking the camera.

He saw Marinette through the camera and she looked somewhat anxious.

He opened it immediately.

Marinette ran inside somewhat agitated. She had arrived with very important information.

"I found out something that could help us."

Before Gabriel could ask, Marinette got ahead with the explanations.

"It's about the butterfly´s miraculous wearer. I already have a clue that could be useful for us to find her."

Gabriel then called Adrien and Nathalie downstairs to see what could be done with the information Marinette brought.

Marinette sat at the dining table and left on the table the map that Alya drew for her so she would know where to look for the suspect.

"I enlisted Alya's help to try to find the person who stole the butterfly Miraculous and her whereabouts."

"And did you tell her anything about us?" Gabriel was worried by what she told him.

"Oh no, no. I didn't tell Alya anything about you. She doesn't know what I know," Marinette waved her hands in the air. "But I knew she was the right person to help us investigate. Alya learned a lot after the truth of what happened at school was revealed, and I know she can gather information better than I can. And I came because she found something."

Marinette handed them some pictures that Alya managed to take during her investigation. They tried not to send that material by electronic media for the safety of both of them.

"Alya told me that she followed a person who apparently has ties to the Miraculous. This person fits the descriptions I gave her about the person who was in the recordings."

Marinette handed her the printed photos that Alya had passed her. They were a little blurry because of how fast this person was moving, but the person who was there matched the description. However, the person's face was clear. This time she didn't have her glasses on and her wig was a little messy, allowing the real color of her hair to be seen.

Gabriel recognized the look of this person. She looked like…

She looked a lot like Lila Rossi.

"Lila Rossi." Gabriel said.

"Lila?" Marinette questioned.

"She looks too much like her. And she's another one of the people who might have something against me," Gabriel remembered "I didn't allow her to go to the diamonds party. I immediately noticed Lila's intentions and that she wanted to control me, but I stopped her; and I took this opportunity to get rid of her by cutting ties with her and the Agreste brand immediately."

"Alya and I suspected her too. But we couldn't be sure if it's really her." For Marinette it also made sense. If it was Lila, that meant that maybe she was seeking revenge on her too.

"Lila also has something against me just because I didn't believe her lies and exposed her in front of everyone at school." Marinette said "Maybe she's also looking for revenge on Ladybug and maybe Marinette... I mean me. I... I exposed her on one occasion because she was claiming that she and Ladybug were friends; and I didn't know her at all."

"Wait, Marinette." Adrien interrupted her "Wasn't it when I took the grimoire to school?"

"Yes, Adrien. That day you left the grimoire abandoned for a moment and Lila took it without your permission. I suppose that's how she found out about the existence of the Miraculous." Marinette answered.

Gabriel listened attentively to what Marinette was saying. They both now had a common enemy: Lila Rossi. And it was vitally important to stop her before she did something to them.

Adrien interrupted the moment.

"Can I ask you something else, Marinette?" Adrien wanted to understand something very important with what Marinette had just mentioned "When I took the grimoire to school, and I was in the library, you know that I lost the grimoire there. Who returned the grimoire?"

Neither of the two adults said anything. They had agreed that Adrien should not find out who returned the grimoire to his father. "It was me, Adrien," Marinette replied before any of the adult's present could respond.

"You Marinette? You returned it?" Adrien asked surprised.

"Tikki recognized it when you took it to school. And she asked me to get it back from Lila's clutches to take it to Master Fu. She threw the book in the trash and I got it back. And in the process, I took it to Master Fu to check it."

Adrien couldn't believe it. The person who had returned the grimoire to his father was none other than Marinette.

"But then, why did you return it?" Adrien needed to know the reason.

"Because if I didn't return it, you wouldn't get your freedom. So, I explained the situation to the Master and he gave me permission to return it to your father, so you could go back to school."

Marinette was the reason he got his freedom back. Marinette was the one who covered his back that time.

"Why you never told me anything, Marinette?" Adrien couldn't explain why Marinette never wanted to tell him about it.

"I didn't want to get you into more trouble, so I lied and said that I was the one who had lost the grimoire. That´s why I didn't tell you" Marinette explained.

Adrien never thought that the person who had helped him was Marinette. Neither his father nor Nathalie told him how they recovered the grimoire.

Speaking of revealing truths…

Gabriel turned to Nathalie. She still owed him some explanations about the photos she received in the mail that day.

"Nathalie, please I need you to be honest with me and tell me the truth. Were you the one who revealed those things to Lila?"

Adrien and Marinette paid attention to what Nathalie and Gabriel had to say.

"No Gabriel." Nathalie said immediately. She understood that Gabriel was upset that such private information about him was now in the hands of his enemy, but what she didn't understand was why Gabriel was so distrustful of her.

Gabriel refused to believe her.

"Then Nathalie, why did give you all that information about me?" Gabriel looked at her a little hurt. He couldn't understand who else could give that information about him to Lila "You know that information was sacred to me, Nathalie."

Nathalie leaned over, covering her face. She was telling the truth; she didn't know where those photos came from.

"I swear Gabriel. I didn't do it. I don't remember anything about it."

Gabriel seemed surprised by that answer.

"You don't remember doing it? Then..." Gabriel started to have a hunch. There was only one akumatized person with the power to control people. Gabriel had a flash of who was the real culprit in this situation.

"Lila Rossi."

"Lila?" Marinette said surprised.

"Nathalie, were you using the Alliance when I akumatized Lila Rossi?" Gabriel asked gently.

Nathalie thought back and remembered that at that moment she was using the Alliance.

"Yes, at that moment I was working in my bed, but I never got up from my place. I don't understand where those photos came from either." Nathalie knew something strange happened, like an empty moment in her memory that she couldn't remember no matter how hard she tried.

Marinette looked at everything without understanding.

"What is this all this about?"

"When I akumatized Lila, I gave her the power to create lies that people would believe no matter how absurd they were. She probably used it to get private information about me. It seems she did it behind my back." Gabriel clenched his fist in fury.

He had made a mistake and he had been a jerk to Nathalie.

He should have listened to her from the beginning.

"I'm so sorry Nathalie. I truly thought you had betrayed me by revealing all that information about me."

"I would never do something like that Gabriel. Less with such sensitive information. Even though I didn't know, I understand that you distrusted me." Nathalie said.

Gabriel held both of Nathalie's hands in his.

"Forgive me, Nathalie. For not trusting you, for treating you like a liar, for letting Lila blackmail us." Gabriel looked at her directly with a pained expression.

Gabriel felt very guilty. He was the reason they were involved in this. He had the idea of creating those rings.

Those rings had been their downfall.

Gabriel stood up in the middle of one of his fits of rage.

"Gabriel, what are you going to do?" Nathalie asked when she saw Gabriel taking the box where all the rings were.

Gabriel looked at the box with all the Alliance rings that he had managed to recover from Tomoe.

"Do you know what I'm going to do with these rings? This is what I'm going to do."

Gabriel turned the box over, throwing all the rings to the ground, and raising his foot, he slammed it hard against the ground, breaking into pieces several of the rings that his partner Mrs. Tsurugi had ordered to be made specifically for him.

"I don't want anything to do with those rings anymore! They are our downfall, if I hadn't given the Alliance to Nathalie, my secrets wouldn't have come to light so easily." Gabriel stomped on a few more, shattering them.

The three of them looked on in amazement. But Marinette thought that those rings could be useful.

"Gabriel, wait." Marinette stopped him by grabbing his arm before he continued destroying the rest of the rings. "Couldn't we use some of those rings to our advantage?"

"What do you mean?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I don't have much of an idea of how the rings work, but couldn't we use them to lure Chrysalis to us?"

Gabriel's mind started working. If they were setting a trap for Lila, they could perfectly use some of the rings.

"Son, would you mind if I use your image one more time?" Gabriel asked Adrien for permission. Adrien saw a determined expression on his father's face.

"What do you have planned, Father?" Adrien had a slight feeling that it wasn't good.

"I think you're not going to like Adrien."

Gabriel´s plan was simple: They were going to use Adrien's voice and image from the Alliance to lure Lila, if their assumptions were correct. Lila was interested in Adrien and his influence over her father. And they could catch her on her own game.

Of course, he knew that Tomoe wouldn't be happy with what he was about to do, but what did it matter. They still had a few hours before Adrien's image would be deleted from Tomoe's database.

Gabriel offered to help them and Nathalie would stay at the mansion to wait for them.

The three of them entered the area that Alya had indicated. Ladybug and Chat Noir went down first and Gabriel went down after them.

Ladybug summoned her Lucky Charm to help them. A rope fell into her hands. Gabriel and Adrien examined the Lucky Charm in their hands.

"I guess we'll use it to catch Lila." Ladybug wrapped the rope around her shoulder.

Gabriel turned on the flashlight to see where they were going better. Ladybug and Chat Noir stared into the darkness of the path that Alya had shown them. Since they were little, they had always heard how dangerous the catacombs were.

"Mr. Agreste, are you sure you want to come with us? You don't have a Miraculous and I couldn't give you one. It could be dangerous."

"I'm going to help you with this. Even if I don't have a Miraculous to defend myself." Gabriel took out the flashlight he carried with him and turned it on to light the way.

"But Lila does have one, father, and not just any Miraculous, she has the butterfly Miraculous." Chat Noir reminded Gabriel that he is the most vulnerable of the three. He felt that his father was taking the situation too lightly.

But Gabriel was determined to help them. Not for himself, but for Nathalie and Adrien. He had to assume the consequences of his actions.

"I caused this and I have to fix it." Gabriel stepped forward with the flashlight "Let´s go, we have no time to waste."

The three of them went into the caves, the path seemed cleaner than the others, they could be heading to the right path. Chat Noir left a trail behind them so they could easily get out of the catacombs. The place was a huge labyrinth. After a few turns, they began to see signs that they were getting closer.

"Look." Ladybug noticed a strange mark. Gabriel illuminated it with the flashlight.

"Someone made that mark." Gabriel noticed that those marks were made by someone.

"I see more over there." Chat Noir saw many more of those marks on the wall with the help of his night vision.

"We must be getting closer." Ladybug advanced in the direction Chat Noir was pointing. They followed the marks until they reached an area with a door.

"It must be here." Ladybug pointed to the door "Chat Noir, can you do the honors?"

Chat Noir used his cane to open the door. Inside it was occupied by a lot of objects. As if someone was coming there.

The three of them entered the new location. The walls were painted with different landscapes. There was a desk in the middle of that place with some objects. There were also some wigs that Lila probably used to change her identity.

That explained why they couldn't find her.

But there was something which caught their attention.

A board full of photos and maps was in front of the table. A lot of photos, of Ladybug, of Chat Noir, of Nathalie, and of Gabriel himself were pinned on the board. These were related to photos of Hawkmoth and Mayura.

Lila had been researching them all this time. And now she knew a lot of things about them.

Ladybug approached Chat Noir and Gabriel.

"Lila will be back any minute." Ladybug began to take the rings out of the box.

"We better get started." Gabriel nodded and they started to organize their whole plan as they had agreed.

Lila had just returned from outside. She had gone to see one of her mothers so they wouldn't suspect her. She would go to her hideout to pick up her other disguise to go sleep at one of her other mothers' house.

She entered her hideout, taking off the wig she used for that day. She left the wig on the table, not realizing something had changed in her hideout.

"Lila..." A voice pronounced her old name, making chills run down her spine.

She recognized that voice.

It was the voice of Adrien Agreste.

"Lila, Lila, Lila or whatever your name is." Lila heard Adrien's voice say "Don't you get tired of lying to people?"

Lila turned to look around, but she didn't find anyone.

"What are you doing here Adrien? Where are you?" Lila was trying to figure out where that voice came from.

"Lila… if that is your real name, I'd like you to know I don't like you messing with my family." Adrien said in a not very nice way.

Lila looked around desperately, she couldn't find where Adrien's voice came from.

Where could that sound come from?

Suddenly Adrien's image appeared all over the room. All those images were looking at her.

Lila stepped back, knowing that she had been found.

"We don't know why you do it Lila, but listen to us carefully, we know your secret. You will never hurt anyone again." Adrien was everywhere.

Lila took a step back. But this time they wouldn't give her a chance. If she ran, she could escape through the catacombs…

Chat Noir blocked Lila's way, trapping her. He stood in front of the exit, to prevent her from escaping.

Gabriel also stood in her way along with Ladybug. They surrounded her and quickly Ladybug used the rope that her Lucky Charm gave her to prevent Lila from leaving. The rope wrapped around her body, leaving her defenseless.

Gabriel helped hold the rope to prevent her from leaving.

The three of them approached to try to retrieve the butterfly Miraculous. Ladybug and Chat Noir didn't want to make the same mistake as the last time.

Chat Noir positioned himself and quickly activated his cataclysm, aiming it at Lila.

"Give up Chrysalis, don't make this any harder." Ladybug tightened the rope even more. She examined Lila's clothes quickly, finding no traces of the butterfly Miraculous "Where's the butterfly Miraculous?"

But what she didn't expect was that she would laugh maniacally.

"That's none of your business, Ladybug" Then Lila looks at Gabriel "And I see that you brought a guest."

"I came to retrieve what's mine, Miss Rossi." Gabriel said, clenching his teeth.

Lila sketched a smile that Gabriel didn't like at all.

"Mr. Agreste. Don't you think it would be a shame if Adrien found out... about the things I know about you? I think you understood it with the letter I sent you." Lila said innocently.

"What do you mean?" Chat Noir frowned. Was there more information that he didn't know than Lila did?

"I'm afraid there's no time for explanations." Lila said. Lila's figure began to glow and started to disappear. "Did you really think you could catch me that easily?"

Lila smiled. She immediately began to turn into dust, breaking free from the hold the three of them had on her. The dust came out through the small exits in the sewer. The three of them lost their grip on Lila as she escaped.

Lila Rossi knew they were going to go look for her. A butterfly came out of the dust. It floated until it purified itself, coming out through one of the cracks in the sewer.

An Akuma.

Lila had escaped.

Nathalie was quite worried. She hadn't heard from Adrien, Gabriel, and much less from Marinette for hours. She sent messages to all three of them on their phones not long ago, but none of them had responded back.

And it was already taking too long. Dusk was falling in Paris, and she was starting to think something bad had happened to them.

Soon she saw some figures in the distance coming towards the mansion. She got closer to the window trying to discern who they were. She finally recognized them by their clothes.

It was them.

Nathalie went down to open the door for them. As they entered, she saw the expression on the faces of the three of them. They didn't seem very happy.

"Did you make it?" Nathalie asked as she saw them enter through the door. All this time she was very worried about them. Lila Rossi had shown that she was a real threat.

"No, Lila escaped before we could catch her. It seems that she was one step ahead of us. We also believe that she didn't have the butterfly Miraculous with her." Gabriel answered him.

"Even if we had really caught her, she would have escaped. The Lila who was there was nothing more than an illusion. She wasn't the real Lila." Marinette explained to Nathalie.

"That means that Lila knew that we were going to look for her." Adrien sat next to his dad.

For Nathalie that was quite disappointing.

"And now we don't know if she will continue hiding in the catacombs." Marinette was hesitating "The catacombs are so large that she could easily go back there to hide in another area down there."

"I don't think Miss Rossi is going to use the same place to hide." Nathalie guessed "She's not dumb. Is there any clue you found that would be useful?"

"We found that Lila had been spying on us all this time. Not only she have information about me, Nathalie. She has information about you and Adrien too."

That was truly worrying for Nathalie. What other information could Lila Rossi use against them?

Adrien was quite doubtful about some things. What Lila told him was going around in his head. Are his father and Nathalie telling him the whole truth?

"You're not hiding anything from me, are you?" Adrien asked doubtfully.

Nathalie and Gabriel looked at each other in a worried manner. Nathalie didn't understand why Adrien asked that question.

"I'll explain it to you later." Gabriel whispered in her ear.

The lack of response from both adults didn't help to calm Adrien's worries. At that exact moment, Gabriel received a message on his phone.

Saved by the bell. Gabriel immediately checked his phone. It was Tomoe informing him that his son's data had finally been deleted from their systems.

"I think your image has already been completely deleted from the Alliance database, Adrien." Gabriel showed him the message he received from Tomoe.

Adrien checked the last Alliance he saved. He turned it on and found an empty main menu. His data had been deleted from the system.

What a relief, Adrien thought. Maybe this way the public would leave him alone, or at least, they would do it most of the time whenever he went out.

Gabriel had lost a fortune recovering most of the Alliance to get rid of them.

But it was worth it. All for Adrien's comfort.

Nathalie noticed it was getting dark already.

"Marinette better get back home now. It's getting dark."

"Oh, you're right I'm leaving then." Marinette gathered her things and went back through the door. Before leaving she wanted to raise everyone's morale "Don't think that what we did was in vain. Now we know who the person behind the butterfly Miraculous is. Not everything is lost."

The three of them nodded.

"Thank you for your words, Marinette." Gabriel was grateful that at least Marinette didn't see this mission as a complete failure.

After Marinette left, it was time for the adults to talk.

"Adrien, go rest. Your father and I have to talk." Nathalie motioned for Gabriel to follow her.

That didn't make Adrien feel better. Maybe it was true that they were hiding something from him, but they didn't want to say what it was.

Both adults went to Nathalie's room to talk.

Nathalie and Gabriel knew the inevitable was coming. They would have to tell Adrien the whole truth and none of the three of them would like that. It was definitive that they couldn't keep waiting for Adrien to know the truth. They couldn't let Lila put wrong ideas in his head with everything she knew now.

"Now what do we do Nathalie?" Gabriel was very worried about what Lila said. "Lila hinted that she could tell Adrien the whole truth if we decided to go looking for her again."

Nathalie knew what the most obvious answer was, but Gabriel probably wouldn't like it at all.

"I think it's time to tell Adrien the truth, Gabriel." Nathalie said, knowing what that implied.

Ding, dong!, It´s time for Adrien to know the truth!