CatWalk

Forty-Seven

Lights from the paparazzi's cameras almost blinded Marinette as she set foot on the catwalk. She wondered if they knew how bright the flash settings were. Gabriel held onto her arm to prevent her from tripping on her own to feet. A runway accident would make even Joe Vecchiarelli have a heart attack.

"Just take it slow." Gabriel whispered knowing very well that he should've gotten her flats instead of heels. However, he wanted a complete look for his fashion prodigy. He liked challenges and the satisfaction he has, when the project is finished to utmost perfection. He went so far as making sure Emma fitted the superhero theme along with him and Marinette. Gabriel preferred that his granddaughter were to wear a dress. His reasoning behind this decision was that Marinette had once mentioned that Emma disliked dresses.

So, Gabriel secretly kept track of what Emma enjoyed wearing. She liked putting tutus over overalls which to Gabriel was a fashion monstrosity all on it's own. She liked hoodies; well, specifically the large pocket on the front of a hoodie so she could use it to store food in. She never wore anything but her GABRIEL brand orange converses. Emma might have inherited her taste in shoes from Adrien. Gabriel then had to pick which superhero she was to represent. She couldn't be dressed as Queen Bee or Hawkmoth. Those were already taken by him and Marinette. She couldn't be Ladybug or ChatNoir since the collection had references to both of those heroes.

Gabriel made the decision to design his precious granddaughter, a Carapace themed dress that had a train in the back and was short in the front. She had a pair of leggings made from the same vibrant green fabric as the dress. She had ankle boots with bright orange tread to match the orange satin on the inside of the dress. Emma's shoe size was the only measurement of Emma's that Gabriel lacked. Marinette didn't write Emma's foot size along side her other measurements in her design sketchbook which she left in the workroom. This was the reason Gabriel called asking about Emma's shoe size so his custom shoemaker could make the footwear and have them be done in time.

Originally Emma was going to accompany both Gabriel and Marinette on stage for the final applause. However, the day before they had a few practice run throughs and Emma kept dabbing at the end of the stage when she was told to pose for the paparazzi. Gabriel momentarily thought of how proud he was of his parenting that Adrien wasn't this aggravating when he started modeling. He never dabbed at the end of a catwalk or blew raspberries during dinner or ate as much as she did.  Marinette didn't except her daughter to be her version of the perfect child. That would be psychologically damaging to Emma and no child deserves that amount of pressure.

Latched on Gabriel's arm for balance, the two walked slowly down the catwalk. Marinette couldn't help to think about how this seemed like a preview of her future were her father walks her down the isle and at the end of the isle is her future husband, Luka Couffaine dressed in that blue tux of his. Once the paparazzi calmed their beeswax, Marinette could focus her eyes. She saw'll at the end of the catwalk hidden amongst the reporters was ChatNoir.

She had hoped he was there to support her and not there to harass her for a second chance. She diverted her eyes away from him and looked at her her friends and family who sat closer to the runway curtesy of Gabriel. They were to answer a few questions hand selected by the announcer about the collection then exit off the runway. "This question is for Gabriel." The haired announcer told the King of fashion, as he glanced briefly at his cue cards. "Why did you design a gown inspired by the villain that is responsible for Ladybug's death?"

"Without Papillion, Ladybug wouldn't have made such an impact to the public. After all, a hero is not a hero if she does not have an obstacle to face whether it is facing a supervillain or creating a new fashion collection. After all, some people prefer to honor the heroes while others the villains since their morals are different then that of the majority. Who decided that Papillon is a villain? And that Ladybug and ChatNoir are the heroes? Maybe we've been wrong all these years?"