Future Tales of the Miraculous

Chapter 16

"Silly little fox," Le Paon cooed, effortlessly blocking and countering Rena's lightning fast attacks with her fan.  

The red fox grew frustrated with missed strike of her bansari, struggling to find opening to the woman's brooch.  While keeping Rena Rouge at bay, Le Paon effortlessly encumbered Chat Noir with a volley of feather spears to evade.  She seemed overpowering against the two young heroes.  Earlier that evening, Gabriel Agreste had disclosed that her seemingly endless power was supplemented by an ancient and sinister spirit possessing the oddly glowing pin and explained how Le Paon came to be.

"It was from the accident five years ago.  Your mother...."

Adrien's embattled father began to explain as his son carried him over his shoulder. Chat Noir and Ladybug hurried across the city's rooftops, eager to engage Le Paon and her chaotic army of swarming aerial creatures and the behemoth eye from above. 

"Mother wasn't missing.  She was in that sanctuary all this time?"  The black feline tersely interjected. 

"Yes.  I had to keep her safe....hidden until I could save her from the curse.  You must understand, everything I've done, everything I worked towards, was for a promise of her freedom."

"How did Mrs. Agreste become cursed?"  Ladybug tepidly asked, turning her confused stare from her partner to his father.

"As the public knows, our plane trip went awry during our flight across the Annapurna mountains. We crash-landed, but no one knew where we were.  Emelie was badly injured and the snowstorm made it too dangerous for us to stay in the plane's cabin. We found shelter in some temple ruins we happened upon a couple miles away.  There I found the butterfly and peacock miraculouses deep within the temple.  Putting on the butterfly brooch myself, I felt the power it granted me and was able to use it to possess the nearest local and alert someone to rescue us."

Gabriel grimaced as he recounted the next part, pausing a moment in his recollection of the horrible events. 

"The spirit possessing the peacock miraculous had convinced me the only way to save Emilie's life was to have her don the miraculous." 

"Her essence and power was strong enough to undo all the injuries, but it came with a heavy price I failed to take into account before it was too late.  In exchange for my servitude and for your miraculouses, the spirit promised to free her body," he continued, shaking his head and smirking sadly to himself.  "Had I known the miraculous was cursed with that spirit.... I would have taken it as my own instead and maybe all this could've been avoided somehow.  But instead she has suffered for my grave mistake."

His words repeated in his mind as Chat nimbly vaulted into a tuck and rolled, closing the distance between him and Le Paon. Without hesitation, the blonde feline boldly lunged into her with his claws out, solely focused on disarming her from her fan weapon and ripping off that accursed brooch. He was determined more than ever before to save his mother from the cursed miraculous.  The peacock proved too evasive; she just barely missed his grasp and in turn flared her fan to shoot out sharp feathers at the blonde scrapper. 

"But she has a weakness," Gabriel's earlier words echoed in his memories. "Destroy her fan, and you'll be able to capture her miraculous."

Suddenly, an airborne car came careening towards the peacock, causing the villainess and Rena Rouge to bolt out of the way. Having crossed the street, Chat Noir hoisted up another car, ready to propel it in her direction. A slow smirk curled on her purple lips as she stared down the feline. 

"Such a disobedient child!  You leave me no choice but to teach you a lesson," she growled incredulously.

As Rena charged towards the distracted peacock, Le Paon's fuschia gaze darted towards her and lit up with mirth.  She patiently allowed the fox to reach her, then parried her lunge with an arm grab, forcing the canine heroine into a submissive kneel.  Rena found herself awkwardly straining to stay still, in front of a feather spear's sharp quill pressing against her neck.  Frozen in place, the red fox quickly assessed her options of escape.