unexpected feelings | marichat

chapter fifty-one

a few minutes earlier...
adrien shot another text out to marinette shakily before contemplating dialing his father's number once again. of course, when he did it went straight to voicemail. as usual.
he wished he could just escape as chat noir for a bit, maybe just leap across rooftops or even show up at marinette's house. he couldn't exactly explain to her what was going on while in costume, but just being around her would calm him down. if only a little bit.
one look back down at nathalie's fragile figure, however, and he instantly regretted his thoughts. how could he possibly leave her alone now?
it didn't matter how much the sound of her breathing with the help of a machine terrified him, or how the sterile smell in the room made him dizzy and nauseous. when his mother had gotten fatally ill, he had vowed he wouldn't leave her side until the end, and he would do the same for nathalie.
adrien grabbed her hand, almost gasping at how cold and papery it felt in his. it felt nothing like the warm hand that had held his when his parents were too busy to care for him in his younger years.
all he could think of was how insanely quickly her situation worsened. it was eerie how similar it was to his mother's situation. how did it all happen so fast?
   plagg risked a peek out of adrien's jacket before deciding it was safe to come out. adrien was the only conscious human in the room, after all.
   "you okay, adrien?" he asked tentatively. adrien jumped before hastily wiping off a stray tear. realizing it was plagg who asked, he slumped back down to the position he had been in before. there was no use in lying to his kwami.
   "i hate this, plagg. i wish nathalie could be okay again, like she was before. the fact that she..." adrien trailed off, choking up. "she could disappear, like mother, terrifies me. and father isn't even here to see her."
plagg frowned and placed a small hand on adrien, comforting his owner. adrien smiled sadly at him before pulling out his phone, expecting a text from marinette. instead, he found an akuma alert. incredible timing, hawkmoth. wonderful.
he clicked on it, hoping that perhaps ladybug could deal on her own so he wouldn't have to leave nathalie's side, but he was dumbstruck by what he saw. on his screen were ladybug... and himself. or, rather, an akumatized version of himself. but that was impossible, wasn't it? how was he here and there at the same time? what is hawkmoth up to?
whatever it was, it couldn't be good. adrien brushed nathalie's hair from her shut eyes one more time before wiping his tears off and transforming. he composed himself before leaping off, hoping that whatever his father was doing was really important enough to be away from nathalie at a moment like this.

   gabriel agreste always took pride in what plans he concocted as hawkmoth. perhaps they were a tad heinous, and he really didn't know how his wife and son would react when he brought her back, but nonetheless, he praised himself for such genius ideas.
   that was, until ladybug messed them up. it infuriated him to no end. the fact that ladybug was his son's very own treasured classmate made everything way worse. if it weren't for her, he would already have emilie back. everything would be perfect. but he never succeeded.
today would be different, however. he knew it. he had said that the past few times, but he knew it was true today.
   ladybug cared way too much about chat noir. it was disgusting. and it was clear he cared for her too, both in and out of her costume. whether that meant he knew her identity or not didn't really matter anymore. what mattered was that he knew chat noir was her one weakness. especially an akumatized chat noir.
   the problem was, chat noir was always in an annoyingly good mood while in costume. so the solution was simple: create a sentimonster that looked and acted exactly like ladybug's nightmare of chat noir. now he just needed real chat noir to show up so they could be led to hawkmoth, where their miraculouses would be rightfully taken. piece of cake.
   he watched the live newscast with a grin, using the feed to be able to properly control senti-akumanoir. ladybug looked mortified, which was perfect. she'd be so off guard by the time chat noir showed up, it wouldn't take much to get the two where he needed them to be.
senti-noir pinned ladybug to the ground upon hawkmoth's request, and he almost broke character to laugh at ladybug. this was too easy. making her believe it was all her fault... shocking her into uselessness... what an incompetent hero.
the miraculous was just within reach... and then chat noir showed up, throwing the sentimonster off ladybug and onto the pavement behind them.
"NOOO!" hawkmoth almost threw his staff and amok across the room when he heard his phone beeping. once, twice, again and again until it wouldn't shut up. had he seriously forgotten to silence it?
   he set the things down on the table he had set up in his lair, ignoring the fact that the sentimonster now just lay dumbly on the ground. let ladybug and chat noir canoodle for a moment before the real action began.
   "fifteen missed calls from my son," hawkmoth muttered blandly, nearly shutting his phone off before seeing the frantic texts adrien had also sent.

he frowned incredulously at the screen. had she gotten so critical so fast? was that even possible?
   he had to go see her. at least one last time, even if it meant giving this plan up. he nearly snapped the sentimonster out of existence, but then he paused.
   gabriel thought about how much nathalie had helped in the pursuit of the miraculous, how that sacrifice had led to where she was right now. how could he let it all amount to nothing?
   there was only one thing left to do: show up himself. he would pry those miraculouses off ladybug and chat noir even if it was the last thing he did.
   hawkmoth returned to the computer screen, which showed ladybug and chat noir in the middle of an embrace. they must have figured out that something was up, at least to an extent. he had to keep them distracted until he arrived to take their jewelry himself.
   so he made sure senti-noir made a strong impression when he stood back up.
   "replacing me so soon? that's not very nice of you, marinette," senti-noir crooned cockily, perfectly emphasizing her name. ladybug lost her balance after hearing it, with chat noir having to catch her and shield her before she hit the ground.
the damage was done, though. his arms couldn't protect her from this. the reporters in the background went wild, circling the two like vultures to carcasses. they no longer cared about the dangerous sentimonster, apparently.
hawkmoth laughed maniacally at the reactions before exiting his lair and going down the elevator to where his wife lay. it wouldn't be long before he got to hold her again, he was sure of it.
"i'm one step closer to you, my love. just wait and see. soon, we'll be reunited. i swear to you."