Unclean Hands 🫴🏻 (A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction)

Prolouge | Secrets To Keep, Fathers To Lose

"No one can know what really happened."

"You're going to lie about this?" Plagg asked. "Adrien, do you think that's smart?"

His hand balled in a fist as he stared at his father's lifeless body. He was angry—absolutely heartbroken—that his own father could treat him this way, could hate his own son so much. Gabriel never saw Adrien as his son, despite all his protections and precautions put in place all the young boy's life. He was just a means to an end, another puppet for his brand to control.

Adrien finally had enough.

"My father abused me for years. He hit me. He starved me. He said horrible things to me. He manipulated and controlled my entire life. Since the day I was born, I never had a choice. I was told what to say, where to be. What to eat, what not to eat. What to wear, how to pose. I have never been my own person because of my father. Even if he did all of that, he is still Gabriel Agreste. The most powerful and respected man in Paris. And I'm... I'm just a kid. No one would believe me."

"Adrien—"

"Besides, there's consequences for this kind of thing. I'd go to jail. How is that fair?! Why should I be punished for what he did to me?!"

Plagg took his holder's words to heart. For years the poor creature had been forced to endure the boy's abuse from his horrible father without being able to intervene. He could only sit and watch, helpless. "So, how are you going to explain this to everyone? Your father's expected in another country by tomorrow morning!"

"There's only one person who can help me." Adrien grabbed his phone. She'll understand.

His kwami saw her contact photo and his eyes widened. "What are you doing?!"

He dialed her number and raised a shaking hand to his ear. His phone almost slipped as he whispered, "Marinette, I need your help... my father is dead. You can't tell anyone."