Love in Another Universe (Gabenath)

Confrontation

The safe located inside of his office isn't something Gabriel frequently checks. Months can go by without him even unlocking that safe. It's primarily used to save yearly contracts he requires once in a while and his late wife's most valuable pieces of jewelry.

And obviously it also holds one of the most priceless jewels ever... the peacock miraculous.

———

The safe is concealed behind a large painting. No one besides himself knows that it exists, not even Adrien.

A small latch attached to the painting allows for him to uncover the safe when it's needed.

The safe isn't too high up on the wall, so when Gabriel needs to unlock it, he must slouch down a bit in order to access it.

———

The moment Gabriel inserts the key into the aperture to unlock the safe, he immediately realizes it's jammed. He tries to turn the key, but it simply won't turn.
He begins to slowly move it from side to side, getting on his knees so as to not lose his balance while he attempts to fix the jammed lock.

After a few minutes, Gabriel is eventually able to turn the key and unlock the safe. The moment he opens it, he instantly notices how disordered it is. Documents are scattered and disorganized, and despite him hardly opening that safe, Gabriel knows for a fact he didn't leave it looking like this.

He collects the scattered papers and begins to organize them, but something doesn't feel right about the situation. He simply doesn't understand why the papers were found in such a way.

It's odd and definitely unsettling.

As Gabriel is reorganizing the documents, he gets the sudden impulse to verify that the peacock miraculous is still in its place. He quickly removes all the documents until only the jewelry is left inside. It doesn't take long for him to realize that the brooch isn't in there.

His heart drops and he is absolutely horrified. He immediately goes back to the papers in the hope that the brooch is hidden in between them. But it only confirms to him that the brooch is missing.

Gabriel soon begins to panic, he can't believe that the miraculous is missing.
"Nooroo, come here!" He exclaims with panic in his voice.
"What happened Gabriel?" Asks the kwami, noticing Gabriel's panicked expression.

"The peacock miraculous isn't here, it's gone!" Gabriel says, almost crying out.
Shock and wordiness quickly invades the small creature but he tries to keep calm, hoping it's all a misunderstanding.
"That can't be, if you haven't removed it from the safe."
"I haven't but I already searched for it and it isn't here..."

———

Gabriel closes the safe once again, and then recalls the incident where the security cameras of his home stopped working a few weeks ago.

"Nooroo, remember that day the cameras stopped working?"

The kwami nods.

"Do you think... it was purposely done... and somebody came in and stole the miraculous?"

Saying those words out loud is more horrifying than he could've imagined... Nobody knows that Gabriel is Betterfly and that he has the peacock miraculous in his possession.

"Was it The supreme?" He asks desperately.
Gabriel shoves his face into his hands, the thought alone that The supreme might know who he is and even came into his home without his knowledge is absolutely terrifying.

"Gabriel, whoever did this knows who you are and knows that you had the miraculous..."
Nooroo wants to say it. Say who he suspects stole that brooch, but knowing that Gabriel's heart will be completely shattered stops him.