In Front of my Eyes : A Miraculous Story

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•

Marinette

No. No. No.

I don't know which was the worse. Perhaps it was the fact that Adrien revealed his identity. Maybe it was the fact that he now stood defenseless in the presence of a villain. But if I had to put my money on anything, it would be the fact that Gabriel didn't even look deterred from his plans.

"Hello father." Adrien said in the most broken voice I had ever heard.

"Adrien.. No.." Gabriel stuttered.

"I told you the stakes were high, Hawkmoth. You have to stop this!" I yelled.

No matter how broken he currently was, Adriens head remained high as he stared at his father. I couldn't quite place the look in his eye. Hurt, anger, sadness. All of it was there.

"Adrien. You have to let me explain." Gabriel said.

"Explain what? Explain that you're the one who's caused all this pain? How you've torn people apart to try to bring us down? How about you explain the fact that my mother's body is sitting in our basement!" He yelled, finally hitting his breaking point.

"That is what this was all about! Don't you get that, son? Don't you get that everything I've ever done was for you?"

All I could do was shake my head. It was awful hearing about it, but I couldn't even imagine what Adrien was feeling right now. Gabriel was making it seem like this was his fault, and there was no way he was getting away with that.

"Don't pin this on him! You've made your own choices, Gabriel. No matter the reason, you've brought so much pain to our city to alleviate your own. That's not how it works." I snapped.

"You are a child. Both of you are children, and you will never understand how it feels to have the most important person in your life taken from you."

"Wouldn't I?" Adrien said, his voice so so small. "Father, she was my mom. I loved her more than anyone in the whole world. I want her back more than anything, but this... She wouldn't have wanted this. She'd rather rest easy than know what was left in her wake."

"You don't know anything, Adrien!" Gabriel snapped, raising his hands up to the position they had been in when he was about to strike us down.

Adrien noted the movement too, because he ever so slightly angled his body in front of mine, scared of what his father might do to us.

"I love you son, but I will not let you stand in the way of my goal. I need your miraculous. Both of yours."

The two of us froze. We were truly at a crossroads right now. We could give up our miraculous willingly and finally give in to everything we've been fighting against, or we could stand here and wait for him to take it off our corpses. Neither of those seemed very tempting.

So when Adrien adamantly shook his head no, and grabbed my hand as tight as he could, we held on to each other and waited for the worse to happen.

•

Adrien 

I had always thought the moment before you died, your whole world would flash below your eyes. In a way it did. I didn't feel fear for myself. My only thought was about Marinette. My brave, beautiful, fearless Marinette. She didn't cower or run from the inevitable, she merely stood by my side, holding my hand so tight it was losing feeling. Both of us clung to the weight of one another, as a single tear fell down my fathers cheek.

"Spots off." She whispered more quietly.

There was something strangely liberating dying as ourselves. No costumes or alter egos. Just Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

"I'm sorry." My father sobbed.

The two of us held on to each other as tight as we could, closing our eyes to stop from witnessing the inevitable horror.

But as the seconds ticked on and both of us remained standing, I opened my eyes to see a sight I could've wept at. My father was lying facedown on the floor. Whether he was unconscious or...

I couldn't bring myself to think about it. I looked around, dazed at what had happened. Marinette opened her eyes, confusion coating her features too. We exchanged the smallest glance to one another before I heard a small cough that drew my attention away from my father.

"I'm so sorry, Adrien."