What am I for you?

I am not heartless

Gabriel still couldn't believe it when the elevator stopped in his studio and brought him to his destination. That Nathalie had just left him, hurts him a lot, but it didn't really surprise him. Nathalie had always had great demands on herself. Failure had never been an option for her. Therefore the mistake today was devastating to her and had lead her to such a decision. Gabriel understood that. But what he couldn't was, why couldn't she stay? Why couldn't they have shouldered this mistake together and made it through it together like they always did?
Gabriel had rarely felt so alone in his life ever before. He feelt even more alone, then the time Emilie left him.
He carefully picked up his cell phone and checked the news for today. There was still no information to be seen that they finally found out who Mayura was. So it was still only the heroes who now knew, not so much the public. That would at least help him. He quickly put his cell phone back in his pocket when another wave of emotion rolled towards him. They were here.
With the doorbell ringing, Gabriel approached the speaker and pressed the button. "Yes?"
"Hello Monsieur Agreste? This is Ladybug and Chat Noir with Rena Rouge. May we enter? We have a few questions"
Gabriel reluctantly pressed the button that opened the gate to the huge property. He then clasped his hands behind his back, as he often did while watching the heroes come closer to him. He wasn't ready but he didn't had anytime to prepare anyways.
"What did I do to get to honor to be meet you here today?" he greeted them after they had reached the bottom of the stairs while he was standing on top of them, giving him a higher position.
"We came to speak to Mrs. Sancoeur. Would that be possible?"
Unnoticed, Gabriel took a deep breath. From now on there would be no going back.
"Unfortunaly no, she's not here at the moment."
especially with these words it was Chat Noir who raised an eyebrow "Not here?" he asked once more "Isn't she always here? When she's not walking around outside on your behalf it is?"
"That may be true." explained Gabriel "but I haven't seen her .. since noon today"
"She went missing?"
"Since her lunch break."
"So you don't know where she is?"
"The private life of my employees and how they spend their lunch break is really none of my business, but I would like her to come back soon."
The heroes looked questioningly at each other's faces. Could they really believe the words they know heard? I mean there wasn't really a way to prove if he is lying.
"May we ... maybe come in?" Rena asked, who until know felt quited and only now stood up to say something.
Gabriel hesitated briefly, but turned a little to the side and with a gesture he invited the heroes into his house. 'Just don't look conspicuous' were the only thoughts that weren't about Nathalie in his mind at that moment.
"If I may allow myself the question, Monsieur Agreste. And this is all about saving Paris. You want Paris to be freed from Hawkmoth's machinations too, don't you?"
Suspicious of what the lady in front of him was up to, Gabriel saw it as his best option to simply nod. "Of course I want to be free from this man and his plants."
"I thought so," continued the girl in the fox costume. "So surely you will allow me to ask, do you know what relationship Mrs. Sancoeur has with Hawkmoth?"
"Excuse me?"
"Monsieur Agreste" now also intervened Ladybug. "We have just found out that Mayura is Nathalie Sancoeur. Therefore, we would really need your cooperation. After all, you were the closest to her, wasn't it?"
It took all of Gabriel's strength to pretend to be amazed and surprised. As if he hadn't known all along that this is the reason why he now had visitors.
"My .. assistant is supposed to be Mayura?" he repeated now in the most shocked tone he could bring to light.
"I'm almost afraid so," said Ladybug, who was watching him closely.
"That's ... shocking .. I would never have .." Gabriel stammered, leaning his hand on his forehead.
"So you didn't know?" now ask Chat Noir with folded arms.
"No I have not." replied the fashion king.
"So you can't say anything about how the two of them were related to each other?"
Gabriel thought for a moment. He had to choose his next words well to get himself further out of the line of fire.
"They both seemed to be close. At least that's how it came across from the recordings. She never talked about him tho."
"So would you say they had an intimate relationship?"
"I .. would say they were in a relationship. However, I have no details about the private life of my employees. It's always just none of my business." At the word 'relationship' Gabriel had to swallow once. The words Nathalie had left for him on the letter flashed through his head again 'I love you'
Gabriel had always admired how far Nathalie was ready for him to go. He hadn't always treated her with the respect she deserved. Especially when his temper went through with him, which also led to the fact that he let a door crash down on her once. Which know that he thinks about it, never apologizes for.
Bu there had also always been the pleasantly warm feeling that he could feel around Nathalie with his Miraculous. But he never thought that she would tell him what this feeling was. That she would give this feeling a name. Because it was a fact that it was love, the feeling that always surrounded Nathalie was love.
Gabriel sighed softly once to bring himself back to reality where Nathalie was no longer there. He would rather spend the time looking for her than watch these children playing detective, if he had the option.
"I guess I can no longer expect Mrs. Sancoeur to come home. Seems like I have to deal with finding a new assistant for me. She is not here and if her identity is leaked ... she will probably be not come back either. " he continued.
Chat looked at him half in anger. How could this man be so cold?

The sky was already dipped in a deep red while the sun was about to end the day as Nathalie walked the dark alleys of Paris.
She had wrapped her hands around her body. Her otherwise perfectly fitting hair waved around her in disheveled strands.
She felt the way she looked - miserable.
Over and over again single sentences shot through her head which she had to hear in the course of her life.
"Sancoeur? Heartless? What a name! I bet Nathalie has no heart! She is the heartless!"
the heartless had become her nickname in elementary school giving her by people who found her lastname very amusing. It didn't helped at all that she never reacted when someone called her like that.
"Can you even show feelings? Or are you as cold as your last name suggests?" she heard so many people say to her. To many to count in fact. Why does they always jump to conclusions, just because of her lastname? It wasn't like she wanted to have this lastname in the first place. But just as your name, it is something you can't pick.
"I'm not heartless ..." Nathalie whispered softly to herself. "Because I can feel a heart beating inside me. Because it hurts ..."
She closed her eyes for a moment and remembered the first time she had met Gabriel.
She was still young, a tender 26 years old. She became aware of the job through a job advertisement and immediately seized her opportunity. Gabriel and Emilie were immediately impressed by how professional she was. Nathalie also saw Gabriel soon as a companion. He himself hid his feelings from the public, rarely showed them and came across as cold-hearted. Even if he was really looking after his family and felt great love towards them. Something Nathalie could related to. She was finally happy to have someone who didn't judge her based on her name.
A sense of connectedness developed, something that later turned into something much stronger after Emilie's death.
She could feel how gentle tears welled into her eyes at the thought of Gabriel. She quickly turned into an alley, against the wall of which she now leaned.
Where should she go? She no longer had a home, no friends, no one.
Just the wish to protect Gabriel and Adrien.
A slight smile came to her lips "Adrien ... he must be terribly angry at me .. I didn't tell his father that he wanted to meet his friend tomorrow..."
In the distance, steps could be heard coming towards her while she was focused on her thoughs.

Gabriel angrily made his way back to the layer. He had finally managed to convince the heroes that Nathalie was really not here in this mansion, and there would be now way they would find her here.
They had insisted on seeing her room, and while Gabriel was hesitate at first, he had allow it. At least it was enough to finally get them off his case. Now he could finally turn to more important things. Finding her.
As always, he pressed the key combination on his wife's painting without spending a second looking at his wifes face. He was much more focused on becoming Hawkmoth at the moment.
"Nooro, darkwings rise!" he ordered his kwami which he did immediately.
Hawkmoth closed his eyes and began to concentrate. He focused everything of any emotion he could find and sense. No matter how little it might be. 'Where are you, Nathalie?' it shot through his head.
But no matter how much he concentrated. He couldn't find anything, feel nothing. As if this woman had been swallowed by the earth.
"Damn it!" he shouted. How could she manage to disappear so quickly without leaving any trace.
In a rage, he jumped out of his window to freedom. If magic didn't help him, he'd just look for her himself.
He ran quickly over the roofs, jumped in alleys, yes he also ran along streets so fast that sometimes people could only perceive a purple flash before it was gone in a heartbeat.
Hawkmoth looked hastily left and right. Nothing.
He ran to every place he could guess where she might be. Nothing.
It was hours before Hawkmoth gave up. Nathalie was gone. And there was nothing that could be done about it at the moment.