Chapter Text
Today was not a good day. Not that many of Gabriel’s days had been lately, but today was especially bad, and it was barely breakfast time. Actually, it was exactly breakfast time, because that’s what he had been preparing when everything had gone to hell.
He’d been at the stove, filling his role in a recently established family routine. Adrien had been gushing about someone at school, and Nathalie had been listening to him with unwavering interest as she sipped her coffee.
The picture-perfect image of a normal family morning.
And then an insuppressible cry escaped Gabriel’s lips, his vision spotting as Chat Noir’s blasted Cataclysm reminded him of its presence by crawling further up his arm.
He’d been able to keep a straight face through the other attacks, but this one had been too sudden.
The pan he’d been using hit the floor just before his knees did, and Gabriel cradled his arm close to himself instinctively.
So, this was where he was now. Nearly blacking out on his kitchen floor.
“Dad?”
“Gabriel!”
It was nice to know that Nathalie still cared, even after all her disdain for him lately, and he was glad to have her at his side when he felt her gripping his shoulders to guide him into a sitting position against the cabinets.
He was infinitely less glad that Adrien was here at this moment.
Nathalie knew what was going on. Nathalie was professional and collected in any situation.
Adrien on the other hand…
Oh, Gabriel could feel his worry and panic burning through the brooch on his chest.
“Gabriel, focus. Focus on me.”
He was trying, but the decaying of his arm just wouldn’t let up quickly this time.
“What’s wrong with him?”
He had to pull it together. This wasn’t the time. Not with Adrien here.
“It’s nothing, son,” Gabriel managed to force out through gritted teeth, regaining some of his self-control. “I’ll be just fine.”
As if that was going to work. Adrien wasn’t stupid.
“You don’t look fine!” Adrien protested, on his knees next to him. “What’s wrong with your arm–“
“Adrien, don’t!” Nathalie warned, but in her condition she wasn’t quick enough to stop him as he reached for Gabriel’s sleeve.
Gabriel wasn’t fast enough either.
Adrien only managed to get his sleeve the slightest bit up before Gabriel pulled his arm away, but that sliver of blackened skin was enough.
Adrien froze.
In an instant, his own skin had gone pale, his eyes seemingly stuck wide open.
His stillness was a complete contrast to the absolute chaos rising inside.
Gabriel winced, tempted to fling his Miraculous across the room to escape the onslaught of his son’s utter despair.
Horror. Denial. Betrayal. Sorrow.
Gabriel hated that it occurred to him that his son would be very powerful if he Akumatized him right now. Of course, he wouldn’t take advantage of that, but the knowledge was still there.
Gabriel had known Adrien missed his mother and was worried about Nathalie, but he hadn’t expected this severe reaction from his son at the first glimpse of illness from him.
Adrien was damn near close to a panic attack without even knowing how serious matters were.
It wasn’t as though he knew what it actually was – Chat Noir’s Cataclysm had never been seen before on a person, and the public didn’t know about the event anyway. Adrien couldn’t know what it was.
“I’ll be fine, Adrien,” Gabriel assured again. “It’s merely a bad burn. I’ll get it taken care of.”
Very, very slowly, Adrien shook his head, scooting back on the floor away from him and Nathalie.
“Adrien?” Nathalie questioned.
Betrayal. Betrayal. Betrayal.
Oh, it was so strong.
Of course Adrien had known that they’d been downplaying Nathalie’s condition, and now he knew that they’d been keeping this from him as well, but this level of emotion was excessive.
“N-no…” Adrien whispered shakily, using the edge of the kitchen island to heave himself back to his feet as he kept backing away. “No. No. No…”
“Adrien-“
Adrien didn’t let him finish as he tore out of the kitchen with a sob.
“Adrien!” Nathalie called after him.
He didn’t stop.
Adrien ran.
He ran even though he couldn’t breathe properly through his own sobs.
Not even transforming into Chat Noir was helping on that front as he propelled himself from one rooftop to the next.
He didn’t even know what the worst thing to focus on was.
His father was Monarch.
His father was the man who’d been tormenting the city at every available opportunity.
His father was the man he’d Catalysmed.
His father had been in pain – was probably dying – because Adrien had hurt him–
Adrien gasped as he misjudged his landing and fell short of the next building, bashing his shin on the roof’s edge before plummeting to the ground.
His shoulders shook with sobs as he cried into the concrete beneath him.
Why? Why? Of all the people in Paris, why did it have to be him?
“Chat Noir?”
Adrien dragged his head up, squinting through the tears blurring his vision to find Alya jogging up to him.
The Adrien half of him was happy to see her. Alya. One of his dearest friends.
The Chat Noir half of him was absolutely horrified. Rena Rouge. How little would she think of him now?
“Are you okay?” She rushed to his side, sliding off her jacket and laying it over his shoulders. For once there was no type of recording device in sight as she lay a comforting hand on his back.
“No,” he whimpered.
They were well beyond his acting skills now.
He just couldn’t.
“Well, what’s the matter?” She gasped, her eyes going wide. “Is Ladybug okay? Where is she?”
Ladybug.
He needed to contact Ladybug.
“No, she’s fine.” Adrien managed to get one of his arms to push him up. Where had he dropped his stick? “I-I need to talk to her. I know who Monarch is.”
“You– what?” Alya tugged on his bicep to help him sit on his knees. “How? Who?”
“My father,” Adrien choked out. “He’s my father.”
There. He’d said it. No going back now.
Maybe he should have just given the name, but that was what was on repeat in his mind.
His father. His dad. The man who, while distant most of the last year, had been there for him his whole life.
Right when things had been getting better. The breakfasts, the extra freedom, the more frequent smiles, and the ring on Nathalie’s–
Nathalie.
There was no possibility she didn’t know.
…But it was worse than knowing. If his father was Monarch, the only person that could possibly be Mayura would be…
Adrien sobbed harder.
“What?” Alya said in disbelief at his revelation.
Because who would believe it? Who could believe that they’d been in the same house this whole time, and Adrien hadn’t suspected a thing?
“I should have seen it.” Adrien couldn’t summon the energy to wipe his eyes. “Why didn’t I see it?”
“Chat.” Alya shuffled around so she was in front of him, gripping his shoulders. “Does your father know that you know?”
Adrien shook his head weakly. “I don’t think so.”
His father couldn’t have assumed that just from Adrien running off, could he have?
“Okay. Okay, Chat.” She reached one hand up to wipe a tear from his face. “I am so sorry you’re going through this, but you need to calm down.”
Calm down? How could he?
“Chat,” Alya pressed, brushing some of his hair out of his face. “I know this isn’t fair, but if you got Akumatized right now–“
“I know.” Of course he knew. It had been in the back of his mind this whole time, he just couldn’t stop focusing on how his entire world had absolutely shattered. “I’m sorry, I’m trying.”
“It’s okay. It’s okay…” Alya kept carding her fingers through one part of his hair, obviously trying to relax him.
It wasn’t helping at all. He didn’t want to touch anyone. Not after seeing his Cataclysm on his father–
“Chat Noir!”
Alya’s warning came at the same time he saw it.
A Megakuma. Dropping out right above them via the power of Voyage.
No.
Adrien shoved Alya back from him, scrambling to grab his ring as the Megakuma settled into the coat she had draped over him for comfort.
No, no, no!
Just as his hand landed on his ring–
“Chat Blanc. I am–”
“No! I won’t let you–”
The cruel laughter that filled his head made him want to vomit.
His father could feel his pain and he was laughing at it.
“Oh, how long I’ve waited. Betrayal of a loved one, is it? How distressing. Wouldn’t you like to return that pain to the one who took advantage of your trust?”
Oh, the irony. His father really didn’t have any idea who he was, did he?
“Fight him, Chat Noir!” Alya yelled. She wasn’t running away.
She’d broken out of being Akumatized before. So had Nino and a couple of others. But Adrien’s negative emotions were so strong…
This level of despair. His miraculous.
“Accept my power, Chat Blanc. Give in to those negative emotions. Why shouldn’t you be able to grieve like everyone else in Paris? Why should you have to be strong all the time?”
He’d be an incredibly powerful villain. And for the first time, it would be a one-on-one fight.
If his father turned him, Ladybug would have to face him with no backup.
No Rena Rouge or Carapace to have her back. No Pegasus to pull her out of a tight spot. No Vesperia to immobilize him. No Viperion to give them all a second chance.
Just him. Against Ladybug.
“No!”
Somehow, he managed it. Not to break free, but he found the strength to rip the ring from his finger and fling it at Alya.
She dove for it immediately, snagging it before it hit the ground.
“No!” Monarch’s – his father’s voice screamed in his head as the green light of his detransformation washed over him.
Alya triumphantly looked up from her clasped hands, but her expression dropped into sheer shock upon seeing him. “Adrien?”
“Go, Alya!” he screamed, his body feeling paralyzed once more. “Warn Ladybug!”
Ayla didn’t waste a second more, jamming the ring onto her own finger. “Plagg, what’s your–“
“Claws out!”
“Plagg, claws out!”
Alya was an experienced Miraculous user, and for that Adrien was thankful. He didn’t even get a good look at how her suit turned out before she was gone, propelling herself away with the weapon that had become such second nature to him.
Gone.
She was gone.
And he was alone. With his father. Who hadn’t said a word since Adrien’s transformation had dropped.
Did he care that his son was his nemesis? Or was he just thinking of a way to take advantage of his new knowledge?
If he Akumatized Adrien now, Adrien might still be able to catch up with Alya.
“Dad…” he sobbed. “Please… Please stop this…”
More silence.
“Please… please…” Adrien kept begging, his voice dropping to a trembling whisper.
Why wasn’t he saying anything?
“Please…”
Then, finally–
“…Come home, Adrien. We should… talk.”
Adrien gasped as the Megakuma’s hold over him vanished, and a portal opened on the street before him. The Megakuma flew through, but the portal didn’t close.
And on the other side was his father’s atelier.
Adrien stared.
…Should he?
It felt wrong, willingly following Monarch’s instructions, but…
What did he have to lose? He didn’t have his miraculous. Ladybug would soon know both his and his father’s identities. His father had already chosen not to Akumatize him.
What was the harm?
Adrien swallowed, his eyes still stinging as he slowly climbed to his feet and forced his legs to move forward.
Alya’s jacket slipped from his shoulders as he staggered through the portal.
At the exact moment that Nathalie entered the door to the atelier.