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Revealer touched down lightly on the grounds surrounding the Agreste Manor. She could still feel the absence of Hawkmoth’s - Gabriel’s - influence on her mind, but she had no doubt he would quickly discover her presence. She moved swiftly, slipping in through an open window on the second floor. A quick investigation around the walls had revealed that her target’s location could not be easily reached, a strange patch of wall with a small hole in the center seeming to be the only exterior entrance or exit.
Too small for a human.
But big enough for an akumatised butterfly.
She would have to search the house for the real entrance.
She reached the top of the stairs and met the eyes of Adrien’s bodyguard, who immediately prepared to fight.
"Stand aside. You are not the one I seek." She warned, sighing when he shook his head minutely.
Very well .
The bodyguard was a strong opponent, but Revealer was faster and more agile and she gained the upper hand in a matter of minutes, using her ribbon to send the man crashing through a large set of doors.
He didn't get back up, and Revealer felt a small twinge of regret before pushing it aside.
There was a bigger issue to handle.
Mayura leapt through the broken doors, face contorted into a glare.
"Revealer! You will halt at once."
With Hawkmoth’s identity outed as Gabriel Agreste, it had been easy for Revealer to deduce the identity of Mayura, but even if she hadn’t made the connection, it was clear from the tone of the villainess’s voice - It was the same stern, no nonsense tone she had heard Nathalie use on Adrien and others in her previous form, and it was clear she expected the Akuma to simply fall into line.
“I have a duty to complete,” Revealer narrowed her eyes, her ribbon flying from the bodyguard’s prone body and wrapping tightly around Mayura’s wrist, “Now, get out of my way .”
Mayura was formidable by all respects, yet Revealer knew she was not infallible.
She would not allow anyone to get in the way of her duty.
And it seemed Justice was smiling on her, for even as Mayura gained the upper hand, she suddenly doubled over into a coughing fit,hitting the ground quickly. Revealer snatched the peacock pin with little fanfare, revealing a gasping and pale Nathalie Sancouer and a small blue blur that dove out of sight into the pin. She placed the pin securely into one of the inner pockets of her robes, paying no mind to the former villainess, instead focussing on the sounds of a low hum coming from the back wall of the office.
Her ribbons flared in anticipation as Gabriel Agreste rose from the floor, arguing with who could only be his Kwami.
She moved quickly, her ribbons attaching themselves to the man and holding him in the air, as the purple kwami dove toward his master. Behind her, Nathalie finally slumped over, and she could, at last, focus on her Reveal.
The small kwami came over to her, struggling slightly with the weight of the butterfly pin - she had not noticed him remove it, but Gabriel certainly had, if the glare on his face and the venom in his words were any indication. She gave her first real smile since she took up her new mantle as kwami and pin disappeared into her pocket as well.
“Gabriel Agreste,” Revealer intones emotionlessly, as her mirror once more stretched out to its full size, spinning around to catch the infuriated supervillain in its reflection.
“It is far past time for you to see the monster you truly are.”
The smoke in the mirror cleared to reveal Hawkmoth looming over the city of Paris, butterflies swarming from his outstretched hands and a sick, triumphant grin on his face as water flooded its way over the rooftops and multiple akumas grinned in the foreground.
“Gabriel Agreste. Hawkmoth. You have terrorised the city of Paris, leaving nothing but death and destruction in your wake. Ladybug heals the scars you leave on the landscape but even she cannot cure the scars left on people’s minds. You have manipulated innocents and made others scared to feel. You have been a cruel and neglectful father. You have a selfish need to use the Wish without regard for the little family you have left. You had so many choices, so many other ways. In every time, you chose to terrorise my city.”
Revealer looked coldy at the supervillain, haughty and proud even in defeat.
“It is rare for me to grant extra punishments with my brand. The manipulative liar, Lila Rossi, received one such punishment, but yours shall not be equal. No,” She snarls out, ice in her eyes and dripping from every word she spoke, “Yours will be worse .”
She stands tall and proud at the flash of fear in the man’s eyes, his haughty exterior dropping for a second.
“I brand you monster. You will not know a life without pain until you have felt the pain of every injury, every death that you have inflicted through your Akumas. You will not know a life of peace until Paris decides you deserve it. Every Parisian who sees your face, or reads your name, will know who you were. They will know who has been terrorising them all this time.”
Monster brands itself onto the former supervillain’s skin and he immediately folds to the ground, hands wrapped around his stomach as the first Akuma injuries hit him.
She leaves the mansion silently and makes her way up to the rooftops once again, stopping only on her former self’s balcony ledge. Sighing, she removed the two pins from her robes, staring blankly down.
What do I do now?
“... Marinette.”
Revealer looks up at the mention of her old life. Tikki.
“Break the object, Marinette. I can purify the akuma.”
“... No.”
Tikki flew closer, looking shocked.
“No? What do you mean, no? You can’t stay like this!”
“If everything is put back then Agreste will get away with it all. The brand will disappear, nobody will remember. I won’t remember. What if it puts the Miraculous back in his hands?”
“It won’t!” The new voice is shocking for just a moment, as the purple Kwami rises into view.
“Nooroo!” Tikki cheers, and barrels toward him, stopping just short in front of him.
Nooroo beams at Tikki, before turning back to Revealer and gesturing toward his Miraculous.
“Your Akumatisation became atypical the moment you took the Miraculous from me! It is similar to that of a normal Champion when the Miraculous is used properly - you will retain your memories and Tikki’s power will only restore the damage done before the pin was removed, so his brand, as well as its effects, will remain.”
“So, all that will be fixed is the damage to the mansion, and the brands I placed on Alya, Lila, and Adrien?” At his nod, Revealer continued, “I suppose that’s alright. I imagine Lila will have said most, if not all, of her lies by now so she should no longer be in pain.”
She placed the butterfly and peacock pin gently on the floor in front of her, and then carefully unwound the thread from her mirror, frowning slightly as she did.
“Facing them later will be hard though.”
Tikki laid a comforting paw against her side as she reached for a stray pair of scissors she had left out finishing Alya’s gift on her balcony, something that seemed so long ago now.
She cuts through the thread and watched as her form dissolved, leaving her back in her previous clothing. Tikki shouted something above her, and four streams of ladybugs burst from her balcony, two headed towards the school and two more in the direction of the Agreste Mansion.
Marinette watched them go for a moment, and then stood slowly, picking up the discarded pins and happily accepted the earrings Tikki proffered. She brushed a thumb over the peacock pin, gently coaxing the blue kwami out.
“Come on, you two. Let’s get you to the Guardian.”