Divided We Stand: Battle of the Miraculous

Family is Everything

Cat's heart pounded as he leapt through the open window into his bedroom. Ladybug hadn't understood. She would never understand.

All this time he had thought she would always be there for him. Ladybug hadn't even tried to understand. She hadn't cared about who Hawkmoth—his father—might be helping.

Ladybug was supposed to be his friend, but she didn't even care about him. He'd been a fool to hope she could ever love him.

The door swung open and his father entered, Nathalie trailing behind him.

"Adrien—" his father stopped short when he saw Cat Noir. "What is this?" he demanded. "Where's my son?"

"Plagg," Cat paused for a moment, thinking about what would happen if he went through with it. "Claws in."

Gabriel's eyes widened when he saw that it was his son who had been Cat Noir.

"All this time?"

"Yes, Father. I went to Ladybug. But she wouldn't listen." Adrien stared at his feet.

Gabriel clasped his hands behind his back. He walked around the piano to where Adrien stood beside the bed.

"I wish you'd told me before you went to talk to her. You could have gotten her miraculous before she was even suspicious."

"Don't worry, Father." Adrien lifted his gaze. "I have a plan." He looked at Nathalie. "It'll take all three of us."

Gabriel stayed quiet and then smiled. "You've always been clever. With you by my side, we'll have Ladybug's miraculous in no time."

"How can you do this?" Plagg confronted Adrien after Gabriel had left.

Adrien brushed away Plagg's scolding. "Once my mother is awake, my father won't need to be Hawkmoth anymore."

"You have no idea what the wish may grant," Plagg warned. "No one has ever gotten what they wanted."

"It'll work."

"How can you betray Ladybug? I thought you loved her."

"She doesn't love me. She's told me that. Ladybug is supposed to be my friend! I need her help and she won't."

"Ladybug doesn't know what you need, Adrien. You didn't tell her."

"Well, I'm not supposed to tell her my secret identity."

"It would make this much easier," Plagg sighed.

"I'm helping my father." Adrien leveled Plagg with a glare. "I forbid you from seeing Tikki." He couldn't risk Plagg leading Ladybug to his secret identity.

No one could ever know who Cat Noir was.

The next morning Adrien woke ready to put their plan into action. He joined his father in the attic lair where Hawkmoth stored his butterflies.

"Are you sure this will work?" Hawkmoth asked him.

Cat nodded, surveying his father and Mayura. "Keep Ladybug distracted. I'll do the rest."

Hawkmoth nodded. "I can feel the negative energy of  someone who has been let down. My dear Chloe Bourgeois feels that she has been betrayed by Ladybug."

Hawkmoth opened the jeweled decor on the top of his staff. Placing a butterfly inside, it changed from white to purple.

"Fly away my little akuma and evilize her."

Mayura pulled a feather from her fan. "Fly away beautiful amok."

The thought of getting his mother back should have made Cat hopeful. He only felt emptiness as he turned to leave. He had his own role to play while Hawkmoth's villain and Mayura's sentimonster distracted Ladybug.