The Passion of Miraculous

Chapter 14: The Plan

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"Natalie, we need to make some sort of plan. What do we know?"

"That Ladybug is Marinette, sir."

"Ah, yes." He said, thinking about his next move.

"But sir, we can't just barge into her house, she's too powerful."

He shook his head. The Miraculous felt so close to him, as if they were inches away from his grasp. With the information he now had, there was no doubt the Miraculous would soon be his.

"What if we use Adrien somehow? As a distraction? You are still too sick to be of use."

Hurt by his words, she decided to be rude back. "You would use your own son for that?"

Gabriel took offense to Natalies remark and looked away.

"You used Emily as a distraction, don't you remember how that turned ou-" Gabriel immediately jumped out of his seat to yell at her.

"DON'T REMIND ME OF HOW SHE DIED."

Natalie stood frozen in fear. He looked her dead in the eyes as he continued.

"You don't know Emily. You don't know her like I did you don't know how I loved her. I could never love anyone like I loved her."

Natalie let out a small breath of fear as he continued to talk in a stern voice, a lump in her throat began to form from the words she was hearing.

"You disgust me, Natalie. You're selfish and don't understand what it's like to be me." Gabriel collapsed back down his chair with his hand on his head. He began to cry as he reminisced about being with Emily.

"She's all I ever wanted. She's all I will ever want."

Tears began to form in Natalies eyes. She had to get out before he could see, who knows what he would do to her if he found out the true reason she was so loyal to him. While her heart broke because Gabriel was still in love with Emily, it felt completely shattered after the man she had loved and given so much to yelled at her for an innocent statement. It was the moment she realized she would never receive Gabriels approval, or any love in return. He was hopeless.

Natalie quickly walked out of his office and sobbed as she ran to her room. Natalie cried herself to sleep as she thought about how alone she really was. She had no one but herself. No one to love, and no one to be loved by.

The next day, Natalie woke up and decided she would spend the whole day away from the house, away from Gabriel. She headed toward Paris to find a local cafe and sat outside, trying to distract herself so that she wouldn't cry again. As she sipped her coffee, she noticed a familiar figure walking toward her. It was Alya. Hawkmoth knew Rena Rouge's identity, but Alya didn't know who Hawkmoth was, or that Natalie was his partner. She waved in Alyas direction.

Caught off guard, Alya waved back. Natalie gestured for her to come sit next to her. She thought it was odd, but complied.

"Alya, is it?"

"Yes? And you're Adriens assistant?"

"Gabriels." She said, and took a sip of coffee to hide her sorrow.

"Is there something I could help you with?"

"Yes, I was curious about Adrien. He seems to be pretty busy these days, do you know what with?"

Alya huffed. "Why don't you just ask him?"

Natalie took offense to this question but decided to continue. "Marinette has been pretty busy too, hasn't she?"

Alya, nervous that Natalie might know Marinette's secret identity, tried to play it off as much as she could. "Well, she's just busy, you know? We are graduating soon. Normal busy stuff."

"Too busy for her best friend?" Natalie asked, already knowing the answer. As she looked at Alya waiting for her response, she noticed her necklace. The Miraculous. Hawkmoth had thought she had given it back, but now Natalie had discovered it was a coverup. She quickly took another sip of coffee to hide the surprised look on her face.

"I guess so." Alya said, looking away. Natalie sensed she wanted to say more, so she sat silently.

"It's just- ugh. She's so boy-crazy. She's been blowing me off for months now. I'm not able to help her or just be her best friend. Ever since she kissed Ch- nevermind. She's just different, I guess."

Natalie smiled. "So it feels like you're not friends anymore? Adrien even seems distant from me sometimes"

"We aren't." Alya had felt she said too much, and got up and walked away before Natalie could say anything. But Natalie knew enough.

—

"I missed you so much, Mari." Adrien said. The pair was sitting on Marinette's bedroom floor, enjoying her family's freshly baked muffins.

"Me too."

She leaned in to kiss him. He cupped her cheek as they shared a passionate kiss. He slowly leaned in more and more until her back was to the floor and his body was parallel to hers. She spread her legs open, inviting him to keep kissing her.

She laughed as he continued to kiss her.

"What?" He said with a smile. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing! Just happy to be kissing you."

"Why don't we go for a parrol together tonight? Stop by the gardens?"

"I'd like that." He said with a smile.

—

"The time has come Natalie." Hawkmoth said, standing on top of the Eiffel Tower.

"I thought we agreed we couldn't try to go into her house." Natalie responded.

"It's where the Miracle box is. She will least expect us now."

Natalie felt this wrong, but hoped that her aiding him might win over his approval of her, or better yet, his love. Finding a stronger partner for him, someone who could actually aid in the retrieval of the Miraculous without letting love stand in the way was a good chance for her to prove herself.

—

"Plagg, claws out. Ready princess?" He let out his hand for her to take.

"Of course."

As they climbed out of Marinette's trap door, Rena Rogue stood above them. 

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