A Miraculous Story Book 4: Rivals Part 2: Princess Justice

• Gabriel or Adrien •

This is Book 4 of A Miraculous Story! Make sure you read book 1-3 before this one, as they are in chronological order.
Book 1- Verity Queen
Book 2- Iceolator
Book 3- Rivals Part 1: Queen Wasp 2

Albibis and Princess Panda crawled out of Hawk Moth's secret hideout. They knew how to get back there in the future and were invited to when they needed a place to go. But for now, they had a plan to pull off.
Mayura had informed the group that Marinette, Adrien, and Kagami were all on the Couffaine's houseboat, which was the perfect opportunity to strike. So Lila and Sabrina were on their way to execute the plan.

After the two girls had left the hideout, Mayura turned to Hawk Moth. "You're sure you want to do this?" she asked.

He nodded. "You saw the evidence. Marinette Dupain-Cheng must be Ladybug. We have to akumatize her. And if she isn't who we think she is, then, I guess we're back to square one. But there's no harm in trying." He turned away from Mayura to face his butterfly farm, watching the beautiful creatures flutter around. Their movements were so aimless, yet so purposeful at the same time.

Mayura sighed, gently fanning herself. "Yes, but, your plan involves Adrien to be foliumized. I thought you promised you would keep Adrien out of this?"

"I said I wouldn't akumatize him. Foliumization is a different matter." He held out his hand toward the kaleidoscope of butterflies, allowing some of them to land in his palm. "He won't be hurt, I promise. This is all to bring back Emilie."

Mayura stood still, still slowly fanning herself, an unsure expression on her face.

Hawk Moth sighed and retracted his hand, looking down at his feet. "Nathalie, look. We are so close. So close to reaching my goal. If Marinette is Ladybug, then we will win with this plan."

Nathalie loved Gabriel, that was sure, and she would want almost more than anything for his wish to become reality. But she didn't want Adrien involved in it.
Why not? she asked herself, not even sure why she didn't want Adrien as a part of this. Adrien wouldn't be harmed in any way, so why? Why didn't she want him a part of the plan? There was no real reason, if she was being honest with herself.
"Yes, sir..." she muttered quietly, despite a voice in the back of her head whispering against it. "The plan is on."

She walked toward the exit, stepping into the elevator. As it carried her upward, she looked through the glass tubing at the man she loved and the white butterflies surrounding him below.
All those beautiful, innocent creatures would become infected and used for villainy.

That was when she realized why she didn't want Adrien a part of their schemes. Adrien was pure and innocent. She didn't want him to follow a path of villainy like Gabriel and herself, even if it was against his will. He didn't deserve to be infected by anything at all.
But just as whispering voice that was sided with Adrien's safety figured out why is was there, it was suddenly drowned out by another part of her mind.
This one screamed out to her love for Gabriel. Anything for Gabriel, no matter what. Anything for his wish, even Adrien.
Mayura set her jaw and inhaled sharply at the sudden change in thought, smiling slightly. At this point, Hawk Moth's plans were becoming bigger and bigger, and it was now clear that she couldn't help both Gabriel and Adrien. She had to pick one, and often different perspectives help with such choices.

She chose Gabriel.

• • •

It was about twenty minutes into band practice, and they were sounding great. Rose was singing, the Couffaine siblings were on the guitars, Ivan was playing drums, and Adrien was doing the keyboard. Marinette, Kagami, Max, and Kim had come to watch, and they sat under the covering on the boat facing the stage. The sun had just set moments ago, but the lights on the Liberty were bright enough to still see everything just fine. The evening sky was a dark navy, and the lights strung around the ship gave Marinette a strange, comforting feeling as night was coming upon them.