Demigods: In Paris (a Miraculous Ladybug and Percy Jackson crossover)

So I did a thing...hehe... plot twist?

Nathalie stood with the glass shard to the teenager's throat, and didn't know what she was doing. Yes, she was Gabriel Agreste's assistant, but she wasn't paid to terrorise a city and murder children. She should stop now. She should have stopped a long time ago. But it was too late. She'd done too many bad things to repent now. If she stopped pushing the glass shard forwards, the force of the girl's power would send it straight back into her own heart. There was no way now but forwards, so as the new Hawkmoth's miraculous beeped its final warning, Nathalie kept pushing, the glass slicing into her palms.

And pushing.

Nathalie only realised she'd closed her eyes when she re-opened them slowly, her arms going slack as the telekinetic girl sent the glass shard skittering out of her hand. She let out a soft gasp as she looked from her hands back to the boy who was no longer Hawkmoth, then back to Nathalie. 

Nathalie shook her head, backing away. They must have damaged the butterfly miraculous. There was no other explanation. The boy let out a strangled cry, eyes squeezed tightly shut, and the girl hurried over to him. Nathalie stumbled further back. She'd been about to kill the girl. Cause this suffering. No. This was too far, she couldn't do this anymore. She coughed weakly, feeling the strain the peacock miraculous had put on her body. She had to stop. Emilie had been her friend, yes, but she wouldn't have wanted this. Besides, Nathalie knew she wasn't really doing this for Emilie anymore. She had to apologise to Gabriel, and then leave. 

☯︎

Gabriel watched the 'heroes' disappear through to the room where his wife rested, and grit his teeth. He could barely move, and his thoughts were muddled with despair. He couldn't even turn his head to look around himself, he was so tightly bound with that infernal tape. So he closed his eyes and pictured the room. It was mostly bare, with a few essentials in the far corner for the butterflies to feed on, the window and its operating mechanism, and...

Ladybug's lucky charm. She'd left it on the floor, just a few metres behind him. Gabriel began wriggling, squirming backwards along the floor towards it. He hadn't seen it, other than to know it was cloth-like, and relatively small, patterned in the same red and black as all Ladybug's lucky charms.

Gabriel wished he knew her identity. Knew who the girl that had ensnared his son truly was.

His son. Gabriel ceased wriggling for a moment. He knew he didn't often show it, but Adrien meant the world to him. He'd only tried to protect him, and where had that gotten them both. He knew that by following his own desires, he was hurting his son, but he loved Emilie too much to let her go. Adrien needed a mother.

Adrien also needed a father, and when Gabriel was done with the miraculous, he could finally start being one. 

Gabriel felt something through the tape and began the process of turning himself around so he could see what it was. Yes, he may be bound head to foot, but if a schoolgirl could fight off monsters with a fork, he could figure out a way to use whatever the object was.

Gabriel finally managed to turn his face so that he could see the lucky charm. It was just that - a piece of cloth, patterned like Ladybug's suit. He had a sudden urge to lean forwards and rub his exposed face against it, breathing in the indescribable scent of it. It shimmered slightly, unlike any fabric he had come across in his many years as a fashion designer.

Gabriel tried to focus, to come up with a way to use the fabric to escape, but his thoughts felt muddled and drowsy. He had to do something... find something... there was someone counting on him... wasn't there? 

His cheek brushed against the silky smoothness, and he inhaled that gorgeous perfume - somewhere between mountain laurel and rose. It smelt like... Like...

"Mr Agreste? Oh, Gabriel!" Clicking footsteps neared, accompanied by a delicate cough, then a woman was crouching in front of him, pulling the fabric away. Not that Gabriel minded as he gazed up into her face. Her beautiful, beautiful face.

He knew her name, didn't he? Such a beautiful name.

"Nathalie..." He murmured as she pulled the tape away from his mouth, her hands wonderfully soft and deft. He hardly felt the sting of the glue tearing away from his skin. It was nothing compared to the pain of having his hands bound, of not being able to hold her.

"It's alright sir, I'll get you free." There was a piece of Gabriel that gave a pang at the way Nathalie called him sir. So impersonal. He would have to fix that.

Nathalie had a shard of glass now, and was sawing her way down his back. As soon as he was unbound, Gabriel could restrain himself no longer. He leapt to his feet, brushing away the last of the tape, and met Nathalie's stunning gaze with his own.

She opened her mouth, revealing perfect teeth that had Gabriel fighting to keep his composure. How had he never noticed her before? How had he considered her just an assistant? Not felt this raging ocean of love inside of him?

"Gabriel... I'm sorry."

He blinked at her. What could she be sorry about? She was so perfect, in every way. If only she could bring herself to feel the same way about him, there could be nothing more for him to wish for.

"I can't do this anymore. I'm leaving." She took a deep breath, as if readying herself for an argument, but Gabriel just stared, fighting back tears.

"Nathalie..." he managed. "Please. Don't go. Please don't go. Stay. Please."

Nathalie looked at him for a moment, those eyes clouded with sadness. "I wish I could, but this is too far. I can't keep doing this, hurting people."

"Then we'll stop," Gabriel said hastily. "I'll stop. I swear it."

"Gabriel, I don't understand."

Nathalie looked stunned. Gabriel took a deep breath, feeling the fog over his mind beginning to lift. But he didn't want to stop. For the first time, he did understand. He remembered his wife, remembered how happy he'd been with her, how hollow she'd left him feeling. Still felt that sadness, that loss, but now it was less of a raging beast and more a quiet nostalgia, something controllable, something to acknowledge and grow from. This was it, this was the thing he had been chasing for the last decade, the feeling that had been absent from his life since his wife died, right in front of him all along.

"Stay, Nathalie. I love you."

Nathalie stared at him, mouth opening and closing. Gabriel's lifted heart began to sink. She didn't feel the same way. She was repulsed by him, by the monster he'd become, blinded by loss. He closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Leave, if you want t-"

Gabriel was cut off by the feel of Nathalie's lips on his, and after a second of surprise he held her close as they kissed, then as they pulled apart. Nathalie was crying.

"Oh," she sobbed, wiping at her eyes and laughing a little hysterically. "I love you too. I love you so much, Gabriel. I've regretted it for so long, knew it was impossible, but I can't stop, no matter how hard I try. That's why I haven't been able to leave, why I've helped you for so long, why I went against all my common sense to help you get Emilie back, if only to see you happy again. I never knew- Never even suspected..." she broke off and kissed him again. "I'll stay," she whispered into his ear, and Gabriel thought his heart might burst.