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“Chat Noir, you need to come quick! There’s a giant… thing, coming around and ‘grounding’ everyone in Paris!” Ladybug whispered into her communicator, ducking behind a chimney so that she didn’t get grounded by a big, nasty akuma. She was relieved when Chat Noir arrived promptly.
“At ease, m’lady.” He bowed to her. She yanked him down out of sight.
“We need to stop that thing! It just showed up. We’re going to need some help…” She opened up her yoyo, and from it, she pulled out two miraculous- the pig, and the fox. “Can you take this and give it to Rose? I’ll take this to Rena Rouge.”
He took the anklet and nodded. “Sure. Meet you at the Eiffel Tower?”
“And quickly!”
Hastily, Ladybug and Chat Noir rounded up Pigella and Rena Rouge. They were hiding behind the Eiffel Tower, the ground shaking as the titan rampaged on- only growing stronger the more citizens it captured.
“What is that thing?!” Rena Rouge asked, grimacing as blood curdling screams filled the air.
“I’m not sure… it’s like it showed up out of nowhere.” Ladybug responded. “It’s time for a... lucky charm!” She tossed her yoyo into the air and the magical insects materialized a throw pillow. The heroes awkwardly gawked at it, while Ladybug tried to come up with a plan.
“No offense, m’lady but I think if we’re going to put it to sleep, it’ll need a bigger pillow than that.” Chat Noir remarked with a smirk.
Ladybug’s vision saw nothing for her plan, but time was quickly running out. The titan approached, and instinctively, she tossed her yoyo out as it came closer. It wrapped around its legs, and then around the Eiffel Tower’s base.
“Pigella! Go and use your power!” Ladybug called to their newest ally, while struggling to fight off this abomination with Chat Noir by her side.
“You can count on me, Ladybug!” She responded, as she began to scale the Eiffel Tower, tambourine in hand. Once she was eye level with the colossal akuma, she stood on the railing. “Hey, over here!”
The titan turned around and approached her, a giant eye staring her down. Pigella showed unwavering bravery as she shook her tambourine. A pretty pink present materialized, and then showed the titan what it wanted- a happy future… together.
“Look… you two can be happy together, and with your son… you don’t need to cause evil to do that. You need to talk to each other...” Pigella said, looking up hopefully.
The beast began to breathe heavily. “Wait… what? No, it can’t be… What are you doing?!” It uttered, before the akuma fell apart, and Gabriel and Nathalie appeared, holding onto the same book. The butterfly and feather drifted away. The heroes were absolutely baffled at the akuma just falling apart, though they had to work quickly to catch the adults who were falling from the sky. As Pigella began to climb down the tower, Rena Rouge made an illusion of a giant pillow, thus breaking the falls of Gabriel and Nathalie. Chat Noir and Ladybug helped up the victims, making sure they were okay. After casting the miraculous ladybugs, Ladybug pulled out two charms from her yoyo- one black with red spots, the other white with red spots.
“Here you are Mister Agreste and Miss Sancoeur…” She replied, placing their charms in the palms of their hands. “You are now safe from Hawk Moth.”
“Thank you, Ladybug. We appreciate it.” Nathalie replied to both of them, side-eyeing an abnormally silent Gabriel. As Ladybug took off, Gabriel’s fist clenched tightly around the lucky charm.
Nathalie took notice how angry he was, and decided to ask him, “Are you alright?”
“No, I’m not alright, but thanks for asking.” He responded, with venom in his voice.
“What’s the problem, then?”
“This!” He pointed to their lucky charms, “And those brat heroes, that’s the problem. How am I supposed to win if that pesky girl just gives out these charms? She’s going to run me out of business at this rate…”
“You know.... Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.”
“What do you mean?” Gabriel asked as his brow furrowed.
“I mean… are you really happy doing this, Gabriel?” Nathalie then calmly asked. Her question caused him to freeze up. She could practically see the cogs in his brain screeching to a halt. “...Gabriel?”
He just wasn’t sure how to respond. What was he supposed to say? Of course he wasn’t thrilled with this, why would he be? No one enjoys being a supervillain and constantly losing to children. “No… I’m not.”
“So then why do you continue?”
“...At this point, Nathalie, I’m too far gone. I’ve spent too much time just to quit.”
Nathalie sighed. His point was valid but she hated seeing him unhappy. It just made everyone miserable. Adrien wasn’t happy, and neither was she. “Sometimes…” She pursed her lips.
“Sometimes what?”
“Maybe sometimes you just have to quit, even when you know you‘re going to lose something.” Nathalie looked away from him shamefully. “I know you think what you’re doing is best, but think carefully about that…”
Gabriel looked at her, raising a brow. She may have a point. It may no longer be worth it to seek his goal, especially since it seems like they had the same desire. To just be happy together… but it was too much. Too many large thoughts and decisions were presented to him. “...Maybe we should just go home… go home and reassess. I’m sorry. This is all too much. I don’t want to give up yet. I just… can’t.”
“I know. Let’s go, then.” She assured him. She knew he hated change, and knew giving up being Shadow Moth would not be easy. They wanted the same thing. Maybe she could coax him gently into giving up… though she could lead the camel to the water, but can’t make it drink. It was back to the drawing board… for both of them.