For Fox Sake

Assumptions

Alya woke up groggy to the faint buzz of her phone. Turning towards Marinette's bed, Alya saw that her friend had left early.

She sat up on the side of her bed and checked her phone. The buzz that had woke her up was a message from Marinette.

Im out w/ Collin. i didn't want to wake you. Where should we meet for lunch? -Mari

Alya was impressed that Mari had gotten up so early. She quickly typed back.

Coolio. We can decide closer 2 lunch. -Alya

Trixx flew out of Alya's bag and made a joyous figure-eight in the air. "It's so good to be out again! I can't wait to see the other Kwami. Nooroo's a bit of a push-over, and Tikki and Liveea are a bunch of goody-two-shoes, but Plaugg's pretty cool!"

Alya rubbed her eyes. "Tikki? Liveea? Nooroo?"

"They're the Kwami of Ladybug, Dove, and Hawkmoth."

Alya sat up on the bed. "Does that mean you know who Hawkmoth is?"

Trixx shook her head. "No, last time I was around, Hawkmoth was a girl. I haven't met the current Hawkmoth. I haven't been out of the box in ninety years."

"Ninety years?" Alya raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, my last master stopped in 1926."

"Why?"

Trixx frowned. "Long story."

"You'd think the god of lies could come up with something better than that." Still, Alya knew she shouldn't push the topic any further. "Anyway, you don't have to call me master. Alya's fine." She went through the photos on her phone. "Hawkmoth has got be in Shanghai somewhere, following Ladybug and Chat Noir."

Trixx nodded. "Then there's no better time to find him than now."

"I've had some pretty god luck so far. Let's hope that keeps up." Alya found the photo she was looking for. Back when Lila had been Akumatized, Alya had gotten a pretty good photo of Hawkmoth.

She studied the photo. "He looks like kind of like Gabriel."

Trixx landed on Alya's shoulder. "Who?"

"Gabriel's in shanghai! That's way too much of a coincidence! But why would Fu and Xiang be working with him if he was evil?"

"Who cares?" Trixx exclaimed. "If you know he's evil then let's go stop the bad guy!"

Alya looked down at her pajamas. "Maybe I should change first."

Alya Marched confidently into back room. She was a woman on a mission, and although she hadn't much evidence, she was pretty proud of her claim. Hawkmoth had to be Gabriel.

The circular table was piled high with books. There Gabriel and Fu sat, reading. Xiang stood by the wall of shelves, searching through books.

Fu looked up from his book, amused. "How are you liking your new friend?"

Alya placed her bag by the door. "She's peachy, but I'm not here to talk about her. I'm going to get straight to the point;" She turned to Gabriel at the table. "You're Hawkmoth, aren't you?"

Gabriel sighed. He looked morose. "Hawkmoth is my brother."

This isn't what Alya had expected. "Brother?"

He folded his hands. "My twin brother Felix is Hawkmoth. When we were your age, Fu gave us miraculous. I got the Peacock. Together we kept Paris safe. But we fell in love with the same girl. When she and I began dating, me and my brother split up. Felix became obsessed with my wife. She believed her presence put me and Adrien in danger. She's- She's gone now."

Alya sat down across from him. "If you have the Peacock miraculous then why didn't you just stop Hawkmoth?"

Gabriel scowled. "Villains are made from heroes with no one to fight. Hawkmoth was not a villain before my wife disappeared. If I had not put down the power of the miraculous, I would have gone the same way." His breathing became shaky. "Duusu is too emotional, she clouds my mind, it - it hurts - too much to use her again. Duusu just makes me think of my wife- I couldn't do it anymore."

Alya felt bad for the man, but she still didn't like him much. He wasn't looking at the big picture. "So you're going to make your son do it? He doesn't even know he's fighting his own uncle! If you had dealt with this earlier he wouldn't have to fight. Ladybug wouldn't either. My friends are out there risking their lives- and soon I will be too- to fix your mistake!"

Gabriel glared at her. "Don't talk down to me, little girl."

She stood, fuming. "No, I'll talk down to you as much as I want. I don't care if you're some uppity, rich, fashion disaster- You gave up the fight. We're still fighting."

Mr. Agreste was unimpressed. "You don't know if you even can fight."

"It doesn't matter, I'm still going to try!"

Xiang, who Alya had forgotten was in the room, put her hand on Alya's shoulder silently. "Calm down, dear."

Alya pointed to Xiang's necklace. "So, you're the Dove miraculous, right?

Xiang smiled. "When did you find out?"

"Just now," She answered. "I saw the same necklace in the museum, and at this point I'm pretty much just guessing everyone is a holder."

"The necklace at the museum was a fake."

Alya remembered how useful Dove was in the last battle. "Xiang, your powers could be a major help in fighting Hawkmoth. If you to come back to Paris, we can find Hawkmoth, pacify him and stop all this."

Xiang shook her head. "Dove belongs in Shanghai, I cannot leave. Shanghai is where the darkness first originated, hundreds of years ago. And if it returns this may be where the war begins anew."

"What even is the Darkness? I read about it in your book, but it was pretty vague."

"The Darkness is the amalgamation of rage and fear made from the Kwami." Xiang said.

Alya leaned her elbows on the table. "From what I've seen, the Kwami don't seem to mind their position."

"While being used for good, they are content." Master Fu explained. "This was in order to keep The Kwami Masters in line. But Hawkmoth is using Nooroo for personal gain. Every time he does this, he brings the darkness a little closer to existence."

"Couldn't Xiang just use her powers to calm the darkness?"

Xiang shook her head. "The powers of the Kwami work only on people, not other Kwami. The anger comes from Nooroo, therefor Liveea can do nothing."

Alya put her hands on her head. "This is all so crazy!"

Fu smiled "Remember that although you may be Volpina, you are also Alya- Flowers may bloom again, but a person never has the chance to be young again. So, don't waste your time."

She squinted. "Did you just say yolo?"

The master nodded. "You are very perceptive. You also seem to know about Ladybug."

"I think I know about too much." Alya headed towards the door. "I think it's about time that I do something with my knowledge."

Alya slung her bag over her shoulder, and went to go see her friends; she was tired of all the intrigues.