Burrow to the Past

Chapter 3

The white coffin looked the same as always as Shadowmoth slowly approached, his son following right behind him. Yet the feelings flowing through his body were entirely different than all the sadness and urge for revenge he had felt before. His body was trembling with excitement. Every step towards his wife was a step towards a better future and a world in which everything was as it should be. He never would have expected Adrien to be at his side for this moment but it felt right. Everything was going to be as it should be. Not too long, my love.

With a sparkle in his eyes, Shadowmoth turned around, his hands placed neatly on his cane, while he looked at Adrien. "I know I have a lot to explain to you, son. Your mother is the most important person to me. When she got sick I knew I had to find a way to save her. Do you remember what happened to her?"

"She never really told me what was happening but I knew she was in pain and it got worse over time. For months she wasn't able to leave her bed until one day she just didn't wake up anymore", Adrien paused, "is your wish about her?"

"Not quite. But it will save her."

"You really want to end the world to wish for mom to be back?" Adrien asked. His insides were filled with contrasting emotions. He had missed his mom for nearly over a decade now, the grief making some part of him have nightmares. He never really understood what was happening back then. But time and Marinette had helped him cope with his loss. With the way his dad had changed afterwards.

"Yes and no. I will remake the world as a better place where she didn't get sick and the two of us remained as powerful as we once were." With a step to the side, Shadowmoth revealed Emilie waiting for her saviour in her cursed sleep.

Adrien stared in shock. There she was, the hazy memory of her face suddenly turning into full focus. She was the same as he remembered her. The blonde braid woven over one shoulder, dressed in white with the same long lashes and rosy lips he had inherited from her. Only her eyes were closed, different from his memory where they always sparkled green with joy and happiness whenever she looked at him or his dad. And her lips were a lifeless line, no smile or kind words tugging at them. "What?" he breathed shakily. Tears threatened to fall. He did not understand. What was happening? Why did his lifeless mother lay before him? He turned to his father. Through hazy eyes he could see the loving smile Gabriel gifted the corpse in the coffin with. This was wrong. So utterly and all-consuming wrong. He couldn't get a word out, but his body moved on its own. Before he knew it, he was face to face with his father, his back pressed against the cold glass of the coffin. "You - Stop it", he said. His voice not really leaving his throat, stuck in a limbo just like Emilie. "Stop this right now. She wouldn't want this, dad. She wouldn't want to be on display, for everyone to gape at her. If she's dead, you should have buried–"

"She's not dead!" Shadowmoth's booming voice echoed through the cavern, making the surface of the lake tremble. He loomed over Adrien, his gaze narrowing in on his son, his enemy. "You didn't know her the way I did. You were just a child. You didn't know I was Shadowmoth, so what makes you think you knew everything about your mother? With my wish we–I wouldn't have to grieve for her at all. With my wish I will be happy and she will be at my side."

Adrien took a shaky breath. Not once did he lose eye contact with Shadowmoth even though he wanted to run away, hide and never come back. "But at what cost, father? Is it really worth ending the entire world just for her to be back? Think of all the people you will kill. How many children you will rob of their mother, how many husbands of their wives. How many people have to suffer before you are satisfied?"

"Do you still not get it?" Shadowmoths face contorted, the sparkle in his eyes growing into a mania Adrien had never seen before in his father. It scared him shitless. "I don't have to bring her back because she never left. She was always right here by my side but the curse of the miraculous took her consciousness away from me! It is my duty as her husband to save her from that awful fate. Trapped in a sleeping body for all eternity. Who knows if she still feels the pain or if she might even hear everything happening around her? She is cursed just like the characters in the stories she used to read to you. Back then you were rooting for them to be saved, but now that your own mother is the one in need of my help you fight, because of your sense of justice?"

Adrien squared his back. "And what about me? What about my life, what I want? Does that mean nothing to you? I will lose my wife, my Marinette. I will lose the future I would have had with her. Maybe even future kids. Your grandchildren. Mom's grandchildren!"

For a split second, Shadowmoth seemed to falter. It was just the tiniest fraction of a second, a tiny step back, but still it was long enough for Adrien to notice. But in the end, it was just an anomaly.

"Fine, if you don't want to understand, if you don't want your mother back, then I will not leave you a choice." He waved his hand and commanded a white butterfly that was sitting on Emilie's coffin to come to him. It landed on his black gloved hand, where he formed a ball around it, turning its translucent white wings purple and black. Instead of the long monologue about what his victim was feeling, Shadowmoth only said, "Evilize him" and let the akuma fly free. Its wings flapped innocently as it flew towards his son.

Adrien tried his hardest to get his emotions under control so he would be able to reject the akuma but the tumult inside him was too loud. His father really being Shadowmoth, his mother in this state of paralysis was too much for him to bear. His wedding ring flashed black as the akuma disappeared inside of it. With a menacing face and the moth-outline over it he looked up at Shadowmoth.

"Sparrow. Carrier of the two souls that made you. I give you the power to fight alongside me and save the one that unites our love."

Adrien strained against the mind control Shadowmoth tried to inflict upon him, the mask flickering. He went down on his knees, his hands desperately searching for something to hold on to. He roared and strained, fighting like he would always do when he was Cat Noir.

But Shadowmoth repeated his new name and his purpose over and over again, exuding more pressure every time he did until finally Adrien's mind was broken. He transformed, black and purple goo covering his body, revealing a black suit, not that different from the one everyone in Paris knew from Cat Noir. Only the cat ears were missing and the slim tail-like belt had been replaced with a shield strapped on his back.

"And now that we stand united, let's make a wish and make this family whole again." Shadowmoth turned back to his wife, slight traces of the mental battle he just fought written across his face.