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After the funeral, Gabriel had had Nathalie clear his schedule. All of his associates were understanding; he needed time to deal with his son’s suicide. He was still clutching the sketchbook that used to belong to Marinette Dupain-Cheng tightly in his hand as he made his way to the office. He gently flipped through the pages of designs, taking note of the ones that held promise – just like he had done with his own wife’s designs after he disappearance.
His wife had held a love for fashion that he felt only just surpassed his own. She spent hours on end just making clothes, and she was the true genius behind Gabriel Designs. She wore the Agreste name well, and she’d loved designing clothes. But then she’d had Adrien, and her priorities had changed. She no longer spent time designing or making clothes, and instead she focused all her time on their child. He wasn’t upset, it was just that that had forced him to work more.
This resulted in him being absent far more than his wife had liked. Eventually the resentment for him and his work must have been too much, because she left. Adrien hadn’t been aware of the problems between his parents, or so that was what Gabriel had thought. But then Adrien started going down the same path his mother had, and Gabriel had distanced himself because he knew he wouldn’t be able to stand it if Adrien were to leave just like his mother. But Adrien was more like him than he’d ever thought possible.
Adrien had always had his mother’s eyes and hair colour, but it was her personality that shone through the most. It just seems that Adrien had fallen into the same situation he had in his youth. Adrien’s mother had had the peacock miraculous, and Gabriel had the butterfly miraculous. It was no surprise that they’d fallen in love; at the time they’d been very well matched. Chat Noir and Ladybug were on the same level, and it came to no surprise to him that they’d ended up together. Anyone with eyes could see that.
However, it was Marinette Dupain-Cheng that had surprised him. She had wormed her way into Adrien’s heart until she was the most important thing in his life. Adrien was swept along by the whirlwind that was the baker’s daughter, and soon he was sneaking out and rebelling far more. Missing lessons and shoots left and right, but Gabriel couldn’t find it in himself to bring it up with Nathalie.
They reminded him too much of himself and his wife. He couldn’t do it. His wife had been his everything, much like Marinette was to Adrien and Ladybug was to Chat Noir. Gabriel might not be a great father, but he did care for his family and he knew that his son had fallen in love with the young half Chinese designer. He was content to let it be, considering his affections were returned with the same amount of vigor. But then, Ladybug had been killed by an akuma attack, and everything had gone to hell. Not only was Ladybug revealed to be Marinette, but his son was revealed to be Chat Noir.
That fact had broken something in Gabriel, and he hadn’t known what to do with it. Never before had he akumatized someone who had motivation to murder the superheroes. They were just children, he didn’t want to kill them. He just needed their powers to get his family back. Why was that so hard to do? The two teenage heroes were young, and if they didn’t have their powers then they wouldn’t be in any more danger. He was hitting two birds with one stone! He wasn’t the bad guy! He was giving people what they wanted so that they could get him what he wanted. It was simply good business.
Casualties were to be expected in superpowered battles. He’d just never dreamed that it would affect him. He’d been almost horrified to find out that Ladybug was actually Marinette Dupain-Cheng, for he knew that his son would be devastated. At least he knew that he would be able to get back his wife with the powers of the miraculous. Adrien had no such knowledge and the love of his life had just been killed on live television. But then Chat Noir had lost it and almost destroyed the akumatized man in his rage. Gabriel had contemplated recalling the akuma in that moment, but he’d hesitated too long. Shortly after destroying the akuma, the remaining superhero had collapsed beside the corpse of his love and de-transformed after passing out. That was when Gabriel really had a panic attack.
His son had been sneaking out of class and late at night so that he could be a teenage superhero. A teenage superhero who was fighting his father. He had been fighting his son, cursing his son for keeping his one shot at bringing back his wife away from him. He hadn’t believed it at first, but then Nathalie had called him frantically and he knew that it was the truth. It could be nothing else. Upon getting Adrien back to the mansion, he’d instructed the staff to not bother the grieving teen.
His light had been harshly torn away from him. He was in no condition to go back to school. Not like this. Gabriel knew the pain all to well, and in that moment, he’d vowed to explain things to his son so that they could work together and bring both Marinette and his wife back.
But he’d never had the chance.
Adrien had woken up and gone to school, apparently suppressing the events of the day before. Upon being informed of his girlfriend’s death, he had fled the school grounds. He wasn’t seen again until some stranger found his long dead corpse at the base of the Eiffel tower. He’d jumped to his death.
He’d mourned his wife’s disappearance for so long, it had been his entire motivation for years. He’d found her miraculous left behind in a drawer, and he’d known what he’d have to do. The papillon kwami had been just as destroyed by his wife’s disappearance as he had, and had been all too eager to help its wielder try and get back his light. It told him that if he was able to get the cat and ladybug miraculous’ then he could bring her back. But Chat Noir and Ladybug were dead now. Their miraculous’ had disappeared after Marinette’s murder and Adrien’s subsequent suicide.
(There was a small part of him that was screaming that it was all his fault – he’d caused the circumstances that had lead up to the girl’s death. It was all because he’d akumatized that man that she had been murdered right before Adrien’s eyes. But another louder part, refused to accept the fact that what he’d done was wrong. No, he’d just been trying to fix his family. Ladybug had gotten in the way. If they’d just given up the miraculous, none of this would have happened. The akuma attacks would stop and everything would’ve been fixed.
His son wouldn’t be dead right now.)
His son had killed himself to be with the girl. And the worst part was that it didn’t even surprise him. He hadn’t had the hope that Gabriel himself was still desperately clinging to so that he could continue living. All he’d known was that she was gone and now he was alone. Gabriel had certainly never been there. What was here for his son anymore? What was there for him anymore?
He had to find the miraculous’. Then he could bring them back. He could bring them all back, and his family would be happy. His wife would be able to mother Adrien like he’d always wanted, and Adrien would have Marinette, his precious Ladybug. But most importantly, Adrien would still be here.
He needed to find the cat and ladybug miraculous. But they’d been missing ever since Adrien and Marinette’s deaths. There had been no signs of the kwami or even the ring and earrings. They had simply vanished. There was nothing he could do, but that wouldn’t stop him from trying.
He left the notebook on his desk before going to the back room to search all of Paris with the butterfly miraculous’ powers. He’d searched for what felt like hours when he finally found something. Two teens were standing in an alley way, but something was very very wrong. One of them – the boy (a nervous looking teenager) – was in a bright red body suit with black polka dots. The female (a sly bushy haired but passionate teeng judging by her hand gestures), wore a black leather cat suit. That was not correct, Adrien and Marinette had died less than a week ago. There could not be another duo yet. The two were whispering frantically to each other but he was too angry to hear it.
He was filled with rage at the mere sight of the two imposters just standing there. That was not how this was supposed to go. Chat Noir was his son’s, not this fake’s. He would rain down terror and pain on them until they handed over the miraculous. Then, and only then, would he be able to get his family back.
He would fix this.
He would fix everything.