Trahison

Chapter 3 (✔️)

Chat Blanc

I rolled my shoulders, letting the transformation wear off.

It was a handy little trick, because I couldn't be gone as Adrien Agreste all the time. The popular model of Paris' most famous fashion designer couldn't just go missing. It would raise a ruckus — problems I didn't want to deal with.

The mask and suit dissipated as I strolled across my room, stopping still in front of the enormous glass windows that gave me a clear view of the shining lights of Paris. I put a hand to the window, then took out my phone from my pocket, knowing that without looking, it was already displaying the photos of me and my mother.

Disappointment was all I could think. She promised to stay. She promised that she would care. She promised she would never leave me. She promised so many things, but left it all behind in the end. None of the comfort was ever true.

It was only a year. Three-hundred and sixty-five days. Eight-thousand, seven-hundred and sixty hours.

Exactly.

I glanced at the clock on my wall.

Not a second too early.

It was a year since the argument, the fight.

And yet I remembered every single little detail as if it had happened only two hours ago.

The screams, the yells, the almost incomprehensible words thrown at each other.

Then the next day, she simply disappeared.

A stab of pain tore at my chest, a cold feeling of ice at my gut.

It still hurt. It didn't matter how long I waited. No matter what, the wound would never heal.

The feeling of betrayal went deep. An invisible splinter that would always break apart the healing scabs and start the pain over again, every time you thought that it was gone. A prickle that would never fully go away, always bugging you every time you thought it had healed. A knife in your heart — when every time you thought that the agonising moments of death were finally numbing you, it would be twisted sideways, pulling you back into consciousness and back to the blood.

I grit my teeth, my hand clenching the phone tight. Ice was seeping into my veins.

I squeezed my eyes shut, as green faded away to purple, heightening my senses and strength without my consent.

The phone in my hand bent, the glass crushed. I glanced down at the phone with trepidation settling like a cold stone in my stomach. Those emotions would do that to me. I needed to hide it and get it under control without anyone noticing, or my identity would be as good as gone... I still wanted my side of the secrecy up, although I would unveil Ladybug's.

Maybe I could toy with her for a while, watch her scramble in fear and terror before truly ripping out her soul for what she did to me.

Three sharp raps against the wooden door to my bedroom echoed about, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Come in father." I said without turning around, knowing that he was already helping himself through the door.

"Where were you yesterday Adrien?" He demanded, his voice harsh and furious, but I could softy hear the anxiety it carried as well.

I turned to face him, making sure that I was in control of my newly-granted powers. "Worried?" I asked nonchalantly, meeting his cold blue eyes so similar to Hawkmoth's.

His eyes narrowed, face set in an emotionless scowl. Funny how I could still see the true meanings under that stony mask of his, whereas others would not. "Of course I was worried for you, my son."