Work Text:
Gabriel stares at the body in front of him. Not Emilie's; she's already left the room in disgust.
Chat Noir's body.
Adrien's body.
His son's body.
It's still as stone, no longer filled with energy and life.
It's his fault, he knows.
His fault that he hadn't cared enough about what was left of his family, too obsessed with the idea of restoring it.
"Do you see what you've done?!" Ladybug's -- his son's girlfriend -- voice cuts through the air like a knife. "Do you understand that there's a price to be paid now?!"
Gabriel can’t bring himself to face her. Ladybug, the hero he’d sworn revenge against hundreds of times, the hero he’s suffered countless defeats to, his enemy, is now here in front of him.
Except she’s cradling a body in her arms as tears run down her cheeks. She's screaming and begging and crying all at once, making Gabriel feel sick. He has caused this. He is the reason this happened.
And worst of all, Ladybug isn’t just anyone. It would be one thing if this girl was nameless to him. But that isn’t the case here.
This is Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
And just like he once had, she, too, has now lost someone she cared so dearly about.
If only he’d cared enough about him too, when it mattered.
“I- I’m sorry,” he croaks.
“‘Sorry’ doesn’t cut it, Gabriel. 'Sorry' doesn't fix the terror you've inflicted upon Paris for the past few years." Marinette looks down at Adrien, her grip tightening on his body as she hisses, "‘Sorry’ isn’t going to bring him back!”
He already knows this, but hearing her spit it out drives a knife through his chest.
Adrien should still be here.
Gabriel doesn’t deserve to be.
But now he’s left to lament the consequences of his actions, because it’s not like he can—
Go back in time.
“Ladybug, the Miracle Box — the rabbit. Could it- is there even a chance of—“
“Don’t you get it already?” Marinette snaps, cutting him off. She suddenly gets to her feet, gently laying Adrien on the ground before looking up to face Gabriel. There’s nothing but malice in her gaze as she grits out, “You can’t. You can’t just go back in time and change things like that just so you can undo mistakes that never should’ve happened in the first place.”
Marinette takes a step forward. Gabriel subconsciously takes a step back, as if already knowing she isn’t someone to mess with.
But of course she isn’t. She’s Ladybug. She's bested him more times than he can count. It's by pure luck he’s standing here now with the upper hand, the victory.
Marinette curls her hands into fists against her sides. “And now he’s gone. Gone! And he will never be back. He's not going to—we’re not—“ she breaks off with a sob.
A victory.
“We planned a future together, you know,” Marinette whispers as she looks back at Adrien’s body. “To get married someday. have kids, get a house, a hamster, have careers we’ll both love. But now it’ll never happen.”
Gabriel's heart breaks for her. He half-heartedly reaches out a hand as if to comfort her, but he pulls it away when Marinette flinches and turns.
“I-It's m-my fault,” she says shakily, “I n-never should’ve let him go, I didn't protect him, I-I should’ve…”
Marinette trails off, and Gabriel wants to laugh. Not because this is funny, but rather because this? This is sickening. This is anything but the victory he had hoped for.
He managed to get both of their Miraculouses, managed to make the wish.
But he’s lost the very thing he was hoping to restore.
And there’s no turning back.
There’s no erasing the damage he’s done, the mistakes he’s made.
It’s taken him too long to recognize that, he supposes.
It’s how it’s always been, after all.
The Miraculous Cure fixes the physical damage, and his victims may not remember all the details, but he knows most — if not all — have some trauma from it. There’s support groups for this.
Having footage of the fights means the memories don’t fade away so easily.
Memory.
He should have been seeking to keep Emilie's memory alive, not her.
“No,” Gabriel says suddenly, turning to face Marinette, “it’s not your fault.”
She looks up at him, face streaked with tears yet an expression filled with fire. A burning rage that will probably never fade as long as Gabriel stands here.
No, none of this is Marinette’s fault.
“It's mine.”
It’s one thing to say those words in his head; it’s another to say it out loud for the entire world to hear, to admit that he was wrong not only to himself, but to everyone else around him.
Gabriel’s actions have been
wrong. He's
caused so much hurt, pain, destruction, and the worst part? He’ll never be able to undo any of this.
This
will be his legacy.
Police sirens wail from outside the mansion. He doesn't put up a fight as they storm in and cuff his hands.
This is his fault.
He was well aware of the risk involved; he refused to believe his family could possibly be hurt.
Gabriel was only trying to put the pieces back together, to keep them whole .
Perhaps he's the reason they broke apart; he should've been there for his son, should've been by his side instead of hiding in a lair.
If he'd been better, he never would have had to fight against his own son.
Adrien's death is on his own hands. There is nothing left for him to do but to hang his head in shame as he's led to the police car and deal with the sharp pain of realization in silence.
He stares out the car window as the mansion becomes a speck in the distance.
Until it is nothing, just like him.