Chapter Text
The night air was cold, like shards of glass tearing through his hoarse throat, but Chat Noir ran all the same. He wasn't sure if it was the wind that stung his eyes, or if it was the tears, but still he ran, the roof tops of Paris lacking their normal comfort at the odd hour.
"Adrien... I can bring her back."
His father stepped aside, revealing his mother in a glass ...casket?
"No..."
He felt his head shake, and heard his voice crack, but he doesn't actually remember moving or speaking.
"We can bring her back."
He felt a weight on his shoulder, and suddenly Hawkmoth stood where his father had been just a second ago.
"No."
There was a pleading look in his father - oh God, his Father was Hawkmoth.
"If we had the Ladybug and Cat Noir Miraculous, we could-"
"No! No, no, no, no!!"
He could feel his heart in his ears, when had it gotten so difficult to breathe? His body moved on its own, turning and running from Hawkmoth - from his father. From his mother in her glass casket.
"Adrien! Adrien, please, wait! Adrien!"
He felt the tears running down his face, and choked back a sob but he dare not stop running.
"Plagg, claws out."
His voice cracked, but the transformation came all the same. He grabbed his baton off his back vaulting out the giant butterfly window into the cool spring night.
His cat ear flicked back as Ladybug landed next to him, the only movement that came from his eerily still form in the orange glow of sunrise.
"Chat! I'm so sorry! Have you been waiting here all night?! What's wrong?" She dropped down beside him, her legs dangling off the beam of the Eiffel tower next to his, and a small smirk crossed his face.
"I found Hawkmoth." His voice was quiet, a hint of amusement in it. He refused to meet her gaze.
"...What...? How..?" Her voice was even quieter, and so confused. Normally he might have laughed at the bewildered look on her face, but today, he had no laughter, only bitter smiles that didn't reach his eyes.
"C'mon, Bug," he rose to his feet, stretching. "If we go now, we can surprise him."
He vaulted back in the direction of home, Ladybug scrambling after him.
Chat Noir tackled Ladybug, taking the brunt of the blow Hawkmoth had intended for her. They rolled across the floor, eventually stopping, Ladybug cradled protectively under him. A low growl sounded in his throat as he looked around. Hawkmoth was walking towards them, his expression grim and pained. The basement around them had crumbled, and they were now trapped in the weird garden next to his mother. There was nothing left that he could do. He had trapped them, he had doomed them to failure. His eyes fell to where his mother lay. Suddenly his hands are cradling Ladybug's face, and he's crying, he can see his tears as they land on her face.
"I'm so sorry, m'lady... I've failed you." he whispers, letting his forehead rest against hers. He blinks back his tears and kisses her, pouring the years of unrequited love and affection from his lips and into her. The love, the pain, the regret, pours like a broken dam, and it's bitter to her tongue. And then he pulls the earrings from her ears, and her eyes fly open, but he's already up and clipping them to his own ears. Hawkmoth's mirthful laugh of relief and victory rings in her ears, and she can't move, can only stare in heartbreak as Chat Noir unifies Plagg and Tikki.
"Well done, my son." Hawkmoth's voice is both right beside her and echoey as if at the end of a long tunnel. Chat Noir stands in front of her, glowing. She's sure that he's looking at her for a moment, and if his eyes hadn't been glowing, she would think that they must have held so much remorse, maybe even pain. But then he turned, facing the glass casket that she had only barely noticed before. His voice echoed from everywhere, both a whisper and a boom.
"I wish for my mother. I... I wish to take my mother's place."
"Wh-what?! Adrien, no!" Hawkmoth's voice is lost to the whirlwind of magic that surrounds them. Everything glows an eerie pink. Marinette is reaching for him, calling for him, but he can't hear her and she can't reach him, and Hawkmoth is dumbstruck, staring on in horror and disbelief. When the magic subsides, Adrien's limp form is curled where he had been standing only minutes before, Tikki and Plagg in front of him. Marinette is the first to react, scrambling to him, crying desperately for him to wake up. There's a hiss, and Gabriel's attention snaps to the glass casket where his wife had been resting. He jumps to his feet and stumbles over to her as the casket opens. His hands fret around her hovering uselessly as she sits up and groans, and he's crying because she's awake. She's awake and for a moment Gabriel forgets the price he paid for this moment as he finally swoops her into a bone crushing hug, spinning her around gleefully as the tears run freely down his face, and he peppers kisses on her cheeks, and she giggles, until her brain catches up with her eyes and she sees a dark haired girl curled over a boy just a few feet from where they are, and she frowns. She frowns because she does not recognize that girl, but the boy... She pushes herself free of Gabriel's rapidly weakening grasp as he follows her gaze, and they walk to stand behind the girl. Emilie's hand fly to her face, and tears quickly prick her eyes. She recognizes her son in the girl's arms. She turns and fixes her accusing gaze on her husband.
How could you.