Chapter Text
Gabriel was absolutely certain he’d never been in so much pain in all his life. All he could do was keep the air passing through his gritted teeth as he lay reclined on his bed.
No point in a hospital. Nothing they could do about the Cataclysm that was now crawling up close to the base of his neck.
“I’m sure the other guardians will know something! This can’t be the only time someone’s used a broken miraculous.”
“We can hope,” Gabriel forced out, the fingers of his good hand squeezing Adrien’s tightly.
He simultaneously was grateful for his son’s presence and hated that he was there. It was a comfort, but he didn’t want Adrien to see this.
But even Ladybug hadn’t been able to get Adrien to leave his side. She had Gabriel’s rings now, and Nathalie had taken her to the kwamis, but Adrien had elected to stay with him.
“Maybe… maybe they’ll have a way to save you too…” Adrien said softly. “It won’t take long as Cosmobug and Astrocat to get there …”
And then what? He could live out his days in prison?
“If they can’t…” Gabriel had to pace himself. Air in, then speak. “Adrien, don’t blame yourself. This was my doing.”
Funny. Earlier today, he would have been happy to curse Chat Noir and blame it all on him and Ladybug.
“Dad…”
“I haven’t always… been the best father.” Focus. Breathe. His eyelids were so heavy. “But I always wanted what was best for you.”
“…I know.”
“You may hate me for what I’ve done.” He let his eyes slip closed. He just needed to rest. “But I hope you can at least understand why I did it.”
“I do. I would never have… I get it, though. I miss her too. Were you… looking for a way to save her the whole time she was sick? Before Hawkmoth?”
“Every. Conscious. Moment.”
Adrien squeezed his hand harder. “…I don’t hate you.” His voice had a wobbly edge again. “I don’t think I could ever hate you. Even now… I’m mad. I’m hurt. But I still love you, Dad.”
“…I love you too, Adrien.”
Adrien slipped out of his father’s room as silently as he could, making sure the door closed quietly behind him.
“Everything okay?” Alya was in the hallway waiting, and now that everything had calmed down, her appearance was throwing him off.
It was one thing to see Ladybug in his suit when they’d swapped, but knowing it was Alya staring him down with the green eyes he usually caught glimpses of in reflections of himself was strange, to say the least.
“Why, of course, my lady black-red-cat-fox!” He shoved some fake chipper into his voice as he gave a bow.
“Oh, that’s so weird coming from you.” Alya winced, pointing her stick at him. “And that’s Tortoiseshell to you, Mr. Noir.”
Adrien raised an eyebrow. “Nino’s going to think you’re stealing his thing.”
“It’s a cat breed.”
“Ehhh, still sounds like a turtle.” He grinned teasingly.
She only gave him the slightest smile in return, concern still written on her masked face. “Seriously. How you are holding up? And how’s your dad?”
Adrien blinked against the watering of his eyes. He’d cried more than enough today, and he didn’t want to start again in front of Alya now. “I’m okay, guess. And he’s… okay for now. Resting. I just still can’t believe this whole time… Why didn’t I see it?”
“Hey, he didn’t see that you were Chat Noir,” she pointed out. “None of us did. Honestly, I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around that myself. Wait, Nino doesn’t know, does he?”
“No.” Adrien shook his head. “I was so tempted, but no. I think a few of the kwamis knew, but I never told anyone.”
“You were really handling this all alone, huh?”
“Well… not totally alone. I had Plagg.” Thankfully. He doubted he would have been able to handle it without his chaotic support.
“Speaking of… Plagg, claws in.” She barely waited for the transformation to finish before she slipped the ring off her finger and tossed it to him. “Think that’s yours.”
“Adrien!”
“Plagg!” Adrien stepped back with a genuine laugh as Plagg nuzzled his cheek. He managed to fish out some camembert for the kwami. “I wasn’t sure I’d see you again… Especially not with our esteemed Tortoiseshell here,” he added the last bit teasingly, but he couldn’t deny that it had seriously crossed his mind.
Not that it even made any sense. Her identity was as compromised as his.
“Why?” Alya asked. “With Monarch out of the picture, your identity isn’t a problem anymore. And besides…” She held her hand up, wiggling her fingers to display another ring there – the one they’d gotten from his father with the symbol of the fox Miraculous on it. “I’m already spoken for as a holder.”
A little orange kwami floated up beside her, giving a wave. “Hey Chat Noir!”
“Hey,” he returned. So this was the fox kwami. He’d never gotten a good look before.
Plagg chomped down his cheese. “You know! This is better than I expected. I thought finally taking down Monarch was gonna end with half of Paris destroyed before Ladybug repaired it.”
Adrien slumped. This was better. Plagg wasn’t wrong, but Adrien always thought they’d be celebrating this moment, not that he’d be holding his breath on whether or not both his parents and Nathalie would alive in the near future.
“Plagg… do you think there’s a chance the other guardians can help my family?”
Plagg’s floating dropped a little, as though he were physically sinking into a more sober disposition. “I’m not sure, Adrien. But if anyone can help them, it is the guardians.”
“Nathalie mentioned she had a plan with the rabbit Miraculous before,” Alya piped up. “She wanted to drop off instructions on how to fix the peacock Miraculous before it ever hurt your mom.”
Adrien blinked. That did sound like a Nathalie plan. “That’s… risky.”
Very risky. It would probably fix a lot. Without his mom getting sick, his father would have no reason to become Hawkmoth. Nathalie would never get sick either.
…And he and Ladybug would never get their miraculous.
Alya shrugged. “Might be something to consider if the guardian thing doesn’t work out.”
Adrien nodded. “I guess we just have to wait and see.”
“Yeah…” she agreed. “Come on. Let’s go see Ladybug.”
Adrien nodded, moving over to her so they could walk together.
“Hey, Alya?”
“Yeah?”
He pulled her into a hug. “Thanks. For today especially, but really for everything. Ladybug and I couldn’t have done this without you.”
She returned his hug with just as much strength. “Hey, I look out for my friends. And turns out you’re two of them at once, so I guess you get double look out.”
Adrien spluttered out a laugh. “Careful, don’t want to give Nino any wrong ideas.”
“Oh…” Alya pulled away abruptly, slapping a hand to her forehead. “Oh, that’s even more ridiculous now! Not as ridiculous as you and Ladybug, but still.”
Adrien frowned. “What about me and Ladybug?”
Alya snapped her mouth shut for a moment. “…You’ll find out soon enough.”
…Oh. Right. No Monarch. No need for her to protect her identity anymore, right?
Would she really be willing? Finally?
“Come on.” Alya grabbed his shoulder and pointed him down the hall. “To Ladybug.”
Gabriel awoke feeling… nothing.
Not physically. Oh no, physically his body still felt as though it were tearing itself apart, but mentally it was so, so silent.
He’d almost forgotten what it was like not to have the emotions of others’ circling around him in a constant hum. It was… peaceful.
He forced his still heavy eyelids open, his vision filling with only blurry edges given that his glasses had been removed at some point before he’d been deposited in his bed.
It seemed darker in the room than before. Had he been unconscious all day? Was Adrien still here? Gabriel had fallen asleep with his son holding his hand, he recalled that much.
His son. Whom he’d killed. Repeatedly.
Every time Chat Noir had thrown himself in front of Akuma’s attack for Ladybug’s sake…
All Gabriel could see in his memories now was Adrien.
And yet… his son didn’t hate him.
He didn’t deserve that forgiveness, but he had it all the same, because Adrien was a good person.
The boy always did take more after his mother…
Gabriel twitched his fingers, finding his hand now empty. But he wasn’t alone. Adrien had left the room, but someone else was here.
The dark suit in Gabriel’s peripheral vision didn’t take him long to place, even with the extra blur.
“Nathalie?” he muttered.
Nathalie jerked in a way that told him he’d probably just startled her awake in her chair, but she shifted into action immediately.
He hoped falling asleep in a chair like that hadn’t negatively impacted her already fragile condition…
“Gabriel.” She gripped his good arm as she helped him sit up, shifting his pillow so he could lean against it. “How are you feeling?”
“Like a failure of a husband and a father,” he said bitterly.
Something was wrong here. Something other than his health predicament. Maybe Nathalie would know. She was always so good at keeping track of everything–
He blinked a few times, their more recent, more antagonistic dynamic popping to the forefront of his mind.
Oh. That. That’s what was wrong here.
“You’re here?” he asked softly.
“Of course I’m here,” she said, so factually he could almost believe he’d dreamed up all the animosity. She shifted at his side again, and then slid Gabriel’s glasses back onto his face.
Why had she returned to being so kind? Just because he’d given up?
He blinked a few more times, still trying to get his bearings. “Where are our guests?”
“Adrien and Ladybug left for Tibet a few hours ago. Miss Césaire is around somewhere.”
Left to keep an eye on them, no doubt. Not that they were much of a threat anymore.
Now, they were just two guilt-ridden, dying, powerless fools. He’d given up any chance of him salvaging something from all this nightmare when he’d handed over–
“You made the right choice today, Gabriel,” Nathalie said, out of the blue.
“Did I?” he muttered.
“Yes.”
Gabriel swallowed. “If the guardians are unable or unwilling to help us, I’ve doomed us all.”
“Even if their plan does fail…” Nathalie shook her head, and Gabriel hated that he couldn’t sense what she was feeling. “There are worse ways this could have all ended.”
Gabriel found it to difficult agree. “You think us dying slow and painful deaths is a preferable outcome?”
“Compared to us finding out Adrien was Chat Noir by pulling that ring off his lifeless finger? Yes.”
Gabriel grimaced. Nathalie had a point. She always had good points.
She had told him to spend more time with Adrien. To give up on bringing back Émilie.
Nathalie had supported him for so long…
Gabriel summoned up what was left of his energy so he could reach over and place a hand on her arm. “I hope that… even if Émilie and I are too far gone to be saved… something can be done for you.”
Out of all their conditions, her was most likely to be curable, after all.
Nathalie’s face twisted with a look of concern she used to give him. “Gabriel–”
“I’m sorry, Nathalie.”
Nathalie was quiet for a moment, and Gabriel missed his Miraculous horribly. What was she thinking? What was she feeling?
...No. No, he didn't need powers for that.
“…I’m sorry too.”
There was so much unsaid there. But he knew they didn’t need the words. He could read her, with or without a Miraculous. And she had always been able to see right through him.
They were back on the same track, it seemed.
All was not well. Not even close. But at least if Cataclysm took him soon, he had her. He had Adrien. He had… a shred of hope.
The fates of him and those he loved were no longer in his hands, and he found himself oddly okay with that.
Although it had been far from a good day, he was… at peace.