CAGED

Adrien Agreste is used to hiding secrets (he’s a freaking superhero, after all!), but it’s not something he likes doing. In an ideal world, he’d be able to love whoever he wished with no consequences at all but his is not an ideal world. As such, his relationship with Luka Couffaine is confined to clandestine rendezvous, faked study sessions and outings with friends who support them. Unfortunately Lila is snooping around and rats them out to Gabriel, who demands that Adrien end this “unacceptable dalliance” and takes extreme measures to do so when Adrien defies him. But as all shall learn, there are terrible, terrible consequences to meddling with affairs of the heart…….

Twentieth in the CONSEQUENCES series

Notes:

So, the twentieth installment. Never dreamed it would ever get this far.
This is essentially "SUN'S WRATH" with Luka as the akumatised party rather than Adrien, though no less dangerous.
Having taken the rather lukewarm reception to the previous installment, "UN-FOUR-TUNATE", into account, any further crossovers will be relegated to a separate series since I now know they're not everyone's cup of tea.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Adrien Agreste was in his room doing his homework in relative peace and quiet for once, as Plagg seemed more intent on eating his way through the largest wheel of Camembert cheese Adrien had been able to get his hands on so far. At least he was doing so under a special glass dome, as otherwise the cheese’s stench would have been too overwhelming even for the room’s state-of-the-art air conditioning system. Right now he was working on his history homework and regretting that he couldn’t cheat and ask Bunnyx to take him to see what really happened.

“French Assistance In The American Revolution Was Vital To Success: Discuss.” he read off the assignment he’d been given.

“Very true!” Plagg piped up, suddenly zooming over. “They never would have won if it weren’t for the assistance they received from you guys.”

“Plagg, history is rarely ever so simple.” Adrien replied. “The question we’re supposed to answer is to what extent did French support for the American Revolution lead to victory.”

“Oh, why can’t everything be as simple as cheese?” Plagg moaned.

Adrien simply chuckled at his kwami’s antics.

“You think Marinette or Alix would let me borrow Fluff so I can ask her?” he asked.

“Probably not and not as much help as you’d think, either.” Plagg replied. “Fluff is so scatterbrained that she can remember what she had for breakfast a thousand years from now whilst simultaneously forgetting the date Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.”

“I suppose.” Adrien conceded. “Plus, I have to list my sources and that would probably lead to awkward questions.”

“Oh, dreadfully awkward.” Plagg agreed. “Still, I will say that visits to the United States are always exciting for me. Until that outing with Miracloniser or whatever he was called, I hadn’t been to America since that thing with Mount St. Helens.”

“Really, I - wait, Mount St. Helens?” Adrien asked, stopping in the middle of his writing to gawk at his kwami who had just clapped both paws over his mouth. “That was you?!”

“Oops, I’ve said too much!” Plagg squeaked. “But in my defence, how was I supposed to know I would have an allergic reaction to the pine trees there? And anyway, it wasn’t nearly as bad as Krakatoa so-”

“Krakatoa?!” Adrien echoed in a strangled squeak.

Before he could interrogate Plagg any further, however, his phone began to ring with a familiar ringtone.

“Oh no!” Plagg groaned in annoyance.

Adrien’s face broke into a beaming smile as he abandoned his homework, grabbed the phone and answered it.

“Hi, Moonbeam!” he said by way of greeting.

“ Hello, Sunshine .” replied the voice of Luka Couffaine.

The use of Luka’s pet name for him always made Adrien, in the words of several people, giggle like a gormless idiot. The first time it happened he’d clamped both hands over his mouth in shock, whilst everyone else laughed themselves silly at hearing him make such an unbecoming sound, but Luka had merely smiled and said it was the cutest laugh he’d ever heard.

“Have I ever told you how much I love it when you call me that?” he asked.

“ Only every time I call you that. ” was the amused reply.

The nicknames had been inspired by Marinette and Rose, who’d remarked once that the two were like the sun and the moon and it had expanded from there.

“ So, what are you doing right now? ” Luka asked.

“Homework for history class.” Adrien replied. “American Revolution and how much France’s support contributed to its victory.”

“ Ooooh, interesting .” Luka said. “We studied that last term along with how the American Revolution played a part in the French one.”

“Any chance I could impose upon you for help?” Adrien asked, batting his eyelashes even though he knew Luka couldn’t see.

“ You know I can’t resist your lovely face, Sunshine. ” Luka replied. “ Ask away. ”

“Oh, brother! You could pour this stuff on pancakes!” Plagg exclaimed in pure disgust before going back to his cheese.

Adrien hadn’t exactly been expecting to realise he was gay after so long pining after Ladybug, but after a long period of soul-searching, deeply emotional conversations and one or two knocks on the head he’d realised that what he had for Ladybug was more of a deep infatuation of puppy love brought on largely from being starved for affection and latching onto the first person to show appreciation for him as a person rather than a celebrity. Of course it had been really awkward when they realised who the other was behind the mask and Marinette’s horrendously crippling crush on him was revealed, but now it was something you could look back on and laugh at for the most part.

Falling for Luka, on the other hand, hadn’t come as a huge surprise. Straight or not you couldn’t deny that he was very attractive, for starters, and his relaxed demeanour, calm empathy and gift for knowing exactly what to say to relax your worries and woes only increased that. More and more Adrien had found himself over at the Liberty in Luka’s relaxing presence, pouring his heart out to the older boy who just sat there and listened calmly, never once complaining about all the emotional baggage being unleashed on his presence. Adrien hadn’t even meant to develop feelings for him at all at first, simply grateful to have someone to talk to about all the stress and pressure in his life as the face of the Agreste brand, but over time he had grown to realise how attractive Luka was until one day he finally just blurted it out.

“I’m gay and I like you!”

A few seconds of embarrassed silence had followed, during which Adrien gave serious thought to hurling himself out of the porthole to drown himself in the Seine, before Luka replied.

“That’s OK, I’m bi and I like you.”

Now here they were, four months on and still going strong. Adrien quickly finished his homework and then lay down on his bed to talk further.

“So how is Kitty Section’s newest song going?” he asked.

“ Great. We have the right melody, just need to fine-tune some of the lyrics and then we can show everyone .” Luka replied.

“I’ll see about getting permission to come over to watch it, though I might have to dress it up as another study session.” Adrien said.

That sent a pang of sadness through him and even through the phone, Luka could sense the drop in his boyfriend’s mood.

“ I knew what I was getting into when I said yes to being your boyfriend, Sunshine. ” he said soothingly. “ Sneaking about and pretending to just be friends isn’t ideal or romantic, but it’s the most practical thing for us. ”

Luka did have to fight to keep his own bitterness out of his voice; he did not blame Adrien at all for this, but that wretched excuse of a man who claimed to be his father on the other hand……..

“I know, I know, but it’s just so not fair.” Adrien said. “I love you and I want the world to know that. I want to shout it from the rooftops and scream it from the windows and proclaim it from street corners: I love Luka Couffaine!”

Luka chuckled at his boyfriend’s antics whilst secretly burning with affection on the inside; when it came to love, Adrien loved with every fibre of his being and with a fierceness like that of a blazing hot sun. To him love was the purest, most wonderful thing in the entire world and to dedicate anything other than full effort into making it shine was an affront. As much as Luka’s hopelessly romantic side wanted to agree with him and damn the consequences, his far more pragmatic side meant reigning it in and keeping it on the downlow for now. Adrien being such a massive public face meant far more scrutiny with his personal life and for him to be involved with another boy……..well, Europe was far more open-minded these days than it had been in the past but there was still a large enough element of old-school conservatives, religious nuts and the plain old prejudiced SOBs pottering about to make being an LGBT+ teenager a living nightmare.

But easily the most prominent obstacle to their being an out-and-proud couple was Adrien’s domineering, icy and control-freak father, Gabriel Agreste. He wasn’t openly homophobic, probably because half his incredibly competent staff roster would quit if he was, but it was no secret that he only tolerated what he deemed “alternative lifestyles” out of that single nugget of pragmatism and otherwise had a very rigid view of what things ought to be. His only son, whom he seemed to regard as more of a choice cut of meat to be held back until the most worthy eater came along, being gay and dating a boy certainly would not be one of those things. Honestly, the sheer injustice of it all sometimes made Luka want to wrap his fingers around that man’s throat and squeeze like a python until he turned purple. He realised that he was unconsciously clenching his phone rather hard and relaxed his grip.

“ I love you too, Sunshine, but as things stand now that would be like travelling back to the Salem Witch Trials and babbling in tongues in the town square. ” he said. “ We won’t have to hide forever, and there are people who know and support us anyway .”

He was referring to their circle of friends, all of whom supported their relationship 100% (though Alya still seemed a little bitter over the failure of her hardcore ships of LadyNoir and AdrieNette as a result) and jumped wholeheartedly into helping them meet for secret trysts under the guise of group outings. Luka suspected that Alya had only warmed up to it because of the thrill that came with such an aura of conspiracy, not that the stubborn girl would ever admit to it. And dear, blessed Marinette who was always somehow able to wrangle a complex, convoluted yet utterly successful plan from thin air, had managed to arrange for them to enjoy a couple of dinner date scenarios where they could pretend, just for a few glorious hours, that they were a public couple.

“I know, but I wish things could be different.” Adrien said. “I don’t like sneaking around, pretending we’re just friends, treating you like a dirty secret.”

“ Do you give all your dirty secrets the latest jewellery? ” Luka asked. “ Because if you do, then it’s a status I don’t mind having .”

As he said this, he angled his wrist to look at the beautiful Ouroboros bracelet that Adrien had given him only last week. As one of the Gabriel brand’s most prominent models, Adrien always got free samples of the latest releases after modelling them and he found special joy in giving them to people who would love and appreciate them more than just sticking them in a wardrobe or drawer because he had too many clothes and accessories already.

“You know what I mean.” Adrien said. “I want to be able to hold your hand in public, I want to be able to kiss you in front of people, I want to be honest about us. Not hiding it.”

“ I know, and someday that will happen. ” Luka replied. “ Just not now. It sucks and it stinks and it’s not fair, but it’s how it has to be for now. ”

“How is it you always know the right thing to say?” Adrien asked, genuinely curious.

“ It’s a gift. ” was the enigmatic reply.

“I love you.” Adrien sighed, completely overcome by the emotion.

“ I love you too. ” Luka replied. “ Now, go to bed. You’re always grumpy when you don’t get enough sleep. ”

“Shut up, I am not!” Adrien protested.

There then followed a brief argument over whether or not he was grumpy, followed by a debate over which one was cuter and who should hang up first before Plagg cut in and threatened to eat the phone and then spit it out over Adrien’s pillow if he didn’t hang up there and then.

“You have no sense of romance, Plagg.” Adrien complained as he got ready for bed.

“There’s romance and then there’s you and him and……..blech, all those feelings!” Plagg shuddered in disgust. “Even Sugarcube couldn’t stomach all that sweetness!”

Adrien just sighed at his kwami’s antics as he got into bed, turned out the light and rolled over. Images of Luka’s smiling face danced in front of him as he drifted off, grinning into his pillow so Plagg wouldn’t see and tease him further. The Kwami of Destruction scoffed and rolled his eyes at his holder’s antics, but on the inside was content that he’d finally found someone who could make him truly happy after so long a time being unhappy. It was rare for the Miraculous of Destruction to fall into the hands of such a pure soul, or at least as close to pure as humanity could manage, and Plagg was determined to make sure that as long as Adrien was his holder then he would do his best to protect him.

“Even - no, especially if I have to Cataclysm his father into dust!” he vowed to himself. “Crotchety old dinosaur. No, I won’t insult the dinosaurs by comparing him to them.”

Luka was nominally a student at Francois Dupont, but largely outsourced to another school whose music department offered more options so he only attended for basic lessons. Nonetheless, as he was still technically a student he was permitted access to the building and its facilities including the library, which was a popular spot for all of them to gather and study or discuss their futures. Adrien and Luka sat together, naturally, hands discretely clutching beneath the table.

“OK, hold that smile. Just a second longer and……there! Done!” Nathaniel Kurtzberg said as he put the finishing touches to a sketch of the two he’d been doing. “What do you think?”

Nathaniel was already a stellar artist before becoming the illustrator of a professionally sold comic book and his skills had improved to such a degree that it looked like the drawing could step off the page and come to life.

“Like looking in a mirror.” Adrien remarked as he inspected it. “Though you’re cuter, Luka.”

“No, you are.” Luka replied.

“You.”

Nathaniel stuck his tongue out and hid his face behind his sketchbook so as to block his eyes from the sickeningly sweet display, though a pointed glare from his best friend Alix made sure to inform him that she considered this revenge for making her endure similar interactions between him and Marc.

“What is it about love that turns people into idiots?” Alix remarked.

“No idea.” Nathaniel replied, not at all denying how easily it happened to him. “Although need I remind you of the massive crush you had on my sister that caused you to-”

“Say it and those will be the last words you ever speak.” Alix cut him off through gritted teeth.

The look on her face promised death for Nathaniel if he did speak and Marc, not wanting to become a widower before his wedding, quickly decided to change the subject.

“So, Adrien, have you given any further thought to what you want to do for your future career?” he asked.

Before Adrien could reply, however, a most unwelcome interruption arrived in the form of Lila Rossi.

“Hi, guys! I just got back from Fiji and, oh, how wonderful it was!” she exclaimed. “I can’t wait to tell you all about it!”

The reaction to her sudden appearance was not at all what she had envisioned, but then being away from the school for many months on top of her massive ego and overestimation of her own abilities meant that those who knew she was lying or knew enough to notice holes in her stories and get suspicious enough to take a closer look were able to convince everyone else to reexamine what they’d been told and then………..well, let’s just say that it was lucky Hawk Moth hadn’t been in town that day otherwise Lila would have had half her class on her tail with superpowers. Alya in particular had taken the news very badly and even now looked ready to breathe fire as she forced herself to bite back the scathing tirade she longed to throw at Lila. With considerable effort, she managed to contort her face into a polite grin without making it look like the gesture was causing her physical pain.

“That would be lovely, Lila,” she said, and props to her ability to sound convincing, “but we are all rather busy at the moment and don’t really have time to chit-chat.”

The beauty of it was that she wasn’t lying; with end-of-year exams approaching and their final year at Francois Dupont drawing to a close, they were focusing more than ever on their schoolwork and what they wanted to do after finishing their education. Lila’s lies and tall tales would just get in the way of that, but the girl herself seemed highly affronted at the notion of anything being more important than her blatant falsehoods.

“B-But I was so looking forward to telling you all!” she said, tears already welling in her eyes. “You think I’m lying, don’t you?”

As much as it would have been enjoyable for certain people (Alya, Max and Alix) to throw back a blunt yes (and a few choice swear words for good measure), they kept their cool.

“No, of course not.” Max said as his left eye twitched with suppressed rage. “But we have reached a critical point in our schooling where we must devote considerable time, effort and thought into our future ambitions and thus have no time for frivolous conversations.”

Lila looked like she’d just been slapped in the face.

“F-Frivolous conversations?” she stammered. “Is that what you think of me? Max, I thought we were friends.”

“We are.” Max replied, even as his stomach curdled at the thought. “Everyone else at this table is also my friend, yet they only speak about what we’re supposed to be talking about.”

“You just don’t want me to talk about my travels because you think they’re lies.” Lila persisted. “It’s because of Marinette, isn’t it? She’s told you all I’m lying!”

Marinette, who had up to that point stoically kept her attention firmly on her textbook, glanced up with her blue eyes flashing dangerously like icebergs.

“Marinette had nothing to do with it and has said nothing since you arrived.” Max went on. “You may sit with us if you like, but please be aware that the only thing we really wish to discuss is what we’re planning to do in our future.”

Lila seethed with rage on the inside at the dismissal of her stories, but she could hardly start kicking up a fuss without coming across as the wrongful party so she reluctantly conceded defeat by pulling out a chair and plonking herself down as close to Adrien as she could, though she found herself blocked by the strange boy with the blue hair that she didn’t recognise.

“Adrien, I seem to have forgotten all my textbooks. Would you mind sharing with me?” she asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

Adrien gave her a look that suggested he would rather endure a hug from a humboldt squid than let her anywhere near him whilst the blue-haired boy moved himself closer to Adrien with a very defiant look. Marinette glanced at Alya and they shared a rushed conversation involving eyebrows, glares and what might have been a mouthed swear word before Alya offered to share her books. Marinette wasn’t all for making her best friend suffer but Alya still owed her big-time for a few things and this meant cashing in a few favours at once. Alya’s solution to the matter was simply to slam a book she wasn’t using in front of Lila and return to her very intent study of a book on journalistic ethics.

“Oh, Alya, those are lovely earrings!”

For once Lila wasn’t just speaking up to get attention; the earrings Alya was wearing truly were lovely, a pair of orange-gold fox tails that dangled gracefully from her lobes.

“Yes they are, aren’t they?” Alya replied, pushing her auburn locks back to make them more prominent. “They’re my favourite accessories.”

“Where did you get them, if you don’t mind my asking?” Lila asked, only adding the last part because she didn’t want to sound pushy or greedy.

“Adrien gave them to me.” Alya replied. “He has a good eye for jewellery, though hardly surprising considering he’s a model.”

Adrien? Did that mean Alya was now dating Adrien? Oh, this would not do.

“Is that not a bit…..awkward?” she asked, trying to sound innocent. “I mean, you are still dating Nino and jewellery is a big thing to give a girl, so….”

She trailed off meaningfully and several people no doubt got her meaning, if the flashes of fury in Marinette’s eyes were any indication.

“Not awkward at all, actually.” Alya replied coolly. “People tend to get given gifts on their birthdays and that’s what Adrien did. I was a bit reluctant to take them at first, I admit, because they are clearly expensive but he insisted.”

“Adrien is very generous and sweet when it comes to his friends.” Luka said.

He curled an arm around Adrien in a manner that was protective, brotherly (at first glance) and also slightly possessive, as well as showing off the shimmering green Ouroboros bracelet on his wrist, and smiled at Lila in a way that appeared non-threatening until you remembered that snakes only smiled when baring their venomous fangs. To the untrained eye it simply looked like a gesture of affection from a friend, but Luka was very deliberately projecting a single statement: MINE!

Lila glanced around at the others and finally noticed that each of them were wearing some form of high-quality and very expensive Gabriel brand jewellery on their person and her entire being flared with jealousy and longing.

“Oh, Adrien, you truly are so generous!” she gushed. “I simply can’t wait to see what you decide to give me.”

Alix coughed into her fist, a not-entirely-muffled grunt of “subtle!” that made Max, Nathaniel and Juleka snicker under their breath.

“Give you what, Lila?” Adrien asked, blinking innocently.

“My gift, of course.” Lila replied.

“Oh, right. Sorry, Lila, but I only do that for close friends.” Adrien said.

Alya’s newest phone wallpaper quickly became the photo of Lila’s expression she discreetly snapped on hearing that.

“B-But I thought we were close friends, Adrien?” she said, genuinely stunned.

“I said we were friends, Lila, not close friends.” Adrien replied gently but firmly. “Besides, haven’t you received numerous discounts and freebies due to working as a model for my father?”

That last part was true and made Adrien wonder if his father needed to see a doctor because he had witnessed Lila basically walk right off the set with numerous clothes and accessories without being accosted or reprimanded for it on no less than a dozen separate occasions when any other model or staff member would have been outright fired for doing that even once. Lila just stared at him for a second, then unexpectedly threw her head down on the desk and began sobbing hysterically.

“Oh, Adrien! How could you possibly say that? After all we’ve been through!” she wailed.

Alya reluctantly raised one arm and began patting Lila mechanically on the shoulder in the most insincere display of comfort ever seen.

“Sorrows, sorrows, prayers.” she said in a wooden voice.

Unsurprisingly this did nothing to mollify Lila and her increasingly loud wails began to attract the attention of others in the library, most notably the very stern librarian Ms. Lemon.

“Mr. Agreste, Ms. Rossi, if you have issues to discuss please take them elsewhere.” Ms. Lemon said.

Adrien quickly mouthed the words “locker room” at Nino, who gave him a quick nod in reply. As soon as Adrien and Lila had left, Nino turned to Marinette and whispered the same words.

“Luka, follow them.” Marinette said briskly.

Luka was already up and moving towards the door before she’d even finished speaking, taking great care not to be spotted as he shadowed his boyfriend and the filthy liar whose presence he was forced to suffer down the stairs, across the quad and into the locker room. Luka quickly ducked into the girl’s section, took out his phone, set it to record and placed it down where it could get a perfect view of where Adrien and Lila were standing.

“So you think you’re funny, do you?” Lila asked. “Trying to humiliate me in front of everyone?”

“I did no such thing, Lila.” Adrien replied evenly.

“Don’t make me laugh, of course you did!” Lila scoffed. “You did something to make everyone think I’m a liar.”

“Bzzzt! Wrong.” Adrien said. “One, you are a liar which kind of undermines your whole grievance claim from the start and two, everyone else worked it out for themselves.”

“You’re wrong. Those idiots aren’t smart enough to figure that out.” Lila replied.

“They’re not stupid, just trusting.” Adrien said. “Your mistake was being overconfident in your lies being able to hold up even without you present to keep them propped up.”

“I don’t make mistakes, Adrien.” Lila snarled, furious at the mere thought. “Someone told them that they were lies otherwise they wouldn’t have found out. It was Marinette, wasn’t it? Oh, I’ll make that little pest pay through the nose for this-”

“You will leave Marinette alone, Lila.” Adrien said, his voice like ice. “That was the deal, wasn’t it?”

“It was, but deals can change.” Lila replied. “You haven’t really been much of a friend despite promising to be.”

“I let you keep your modelling job, I didn’t tell anyone about your lying and skiving and kept silent about you essentially stealing valuable stock from the set.” Adrien rebutted. “What more could you possibly want from me?”

Lila advanced on him with a hungry look that he didn’t like.

“Oh, you’ll find that I’m a difficult person to satisfy with mere scraps, Adrien.” she said. “I want the full meal. Friends are nice, but we could easily become something more.”

Adrien got her meaning instantly and felt his lunch threaten to come back up at the mere thought.

“No.” he said flatly.

“Adrien,” Lila said warningly, “think very carefully about your next answer because you know how I always get what I want.”

“No.” Adrien repeated. “I would rather date a giant leech than you because at least it would be honest about being a bloodsucking parasite.”

Lila’s expression turned very nasty.

“Why not, Adrien?” she asked, sounding genuinely confused.

“Why not? Easy, you’re a horrible person.” Adrien replied bluntly. “You’re selfish, you’re manipulative, you’re dishonest, you don’t care who gets hurt in the process of getting what you want and you clearly don’t care about me as a person, just as some glorified trophy or arm candy. Why would I ever want to date such a person?”

This blistering rebuttal and effective summation of her character from the previously spineless Adrien utterly floored Lila for a few seconds; never before had anyone ever called her out in such a personally attacking way and she was completely unable to react.

“Fine.” she hissed. “But don’t think you’ll get away with this. I will make sure you are never happy, Adrien Agreste.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” Adrien asked.

“For starters, those friends of yours? Prepare to kiss them goodbye.” Lila replied.

“My friends know that you’re a liar, Lila.” Adrien replied, sounding tired. “Whatever you try with them, it won’t work.”

“Then perhaps I’ll go to your father.” Lila persisted. “One word from me and you’ll be back at home and away from all these ‘bad influences’”

Now it was Adrien’s turn to scoff.

“My father listens to no one, Lila,” he said. “Not even Ladybug and Cat Noir when they were literally trying to save his life, so he certainly won’t listen to you.”

Lila was growing steadily more furious; a great part of her power derived from being able to intimidate or upset people by convincing them (or at least getting them to think) that her threats and claims were ones she could bring about. She loved, no, craved that feeling of seeing people crumble before her in fear and seeing Adrien still standing before her, defiant and proud, was infuriating.

“You think you’re so great, Adrien Agreste, with your money and your status and your friends.” she spat. “Just watch out because soon you won’t have any.”

“My friends are true friends, Lila.” Adrien replied.

“Oh please, you really think they’re friends with you because they like you?” Lila sneered. “Because you’re a nice guy? Please! They’re only your friends because you’re rich and handsome and because they get free stuff out of it!”

“Which you would know, of course. But you’re wrong.” Adrien said.

“I’m never wrong, Adrien.” Lila replied. “Never. If you weren’t rich and handsome, they wouldn’t give you the time of day.”

Now here is where her words began to affect Adrien. At the back of his mind, pushed to the furthest recesses but starting to creep back, had lived exactly the fear that she’d outlined. For all of his life, Adrien had been wealthy, attractive and famous due to being the literal model son of Gabriel Agreste; it was all he had known and was all he was really known for, publicly at least since his activities as Cat Noir were unknown. And it was what he feared was all that people liked about him.

“So you just wait, Adrien Agreste, because one way or another I will destroy your life.” Lila hissed malevolently. “And when I do, you’ll have nothing and no one left.”

And she turned on her heel and stormed out, leaving Adrien behind to contemplate what she’d said. Luka emerged from hiding, trembling with fury at Lila’s actions, only to pause as he saw the expression on his boyfriend’s face.

“I know that look, Sunshine.” he said. “Do not let anything she said get to you because none of it is true.”

Adrien shook his head, trying to banish the negative thoughts.

“Is what she said true, Luka? About the jewellery and money and fame?” he asked. “Is that really the only reason why everyone likes me?”

Luka opened his arms and pulled the smaller boy into a hug.

“No, Sunshine, none of it is true.” he said, kissing the top of Adrien’s head. “I admit that there is a part of me that likes dating Adrien Agreste because of that; the jewellery, the incredibly hot looks, the rush of dating someone famous-”

“How is this supposed to be helping me feel better?” Adrien asked, giving him a stern look.

“I’m getting there.” Luka replied with a gentle smile. “Those things are nice, but that’s not why I fell in love with you.”

“I fell in love with you because you are a kind, loving, generous, warm and unbelievably sweet-hearted person. You smile through even the darkest times, you show nothing but kindness to even those who don’t deserve it, you don’t let your wealth and looks go to your head and you care fiercely for those you love in a way that actually scares me at times. The wealth, the fame, the looks, those are what you are. But who you are is a wonderful, sweet, brave and kind boy who I love with all my heart.”

The intensity of Luka’s declaration was such that Adrien had never experienced before and all he could do in reply was try and fail to stop tears falling before leaning in and kissing his boyfriend on the lips with all the love he could muster.

“I love you, Moonbeam.”

“I love you too, Sunshine.”

Unbeknownst to either of them, however, their intensely comforting and private moment had had a witness. Standing outside the locker room, her phone up and recording everything through the crack in the not-quite-closed door, was Lila Rossi. Her original plan had been to storm away and leave the place altogether but she’d turned back to fire one last spiteful parting shot and seen just enough to start recording the moment Luka and Adrien kissed. A truly evil grin spread across her face as she beheld this moment, this private secret between the two boys, and realised exactly how she could use this to fulfil her promise.

“You doubted my power, Adrien Agreste? Well, enjoy this final moment of peace before I burn your world to the ground!” she hissed in savage triumph. “You and your faggot boyfriend!”

Lila was not actually a prejudiced person in the normal sense, given that she held everyone who wasn’t herself in equal disdain, but she was more than willing to use someone’s traits (ethnicity, cultural affiliation, religious belief, sexuality and so forth) in a negative manner to hurt, demean and humiliate them. She’d already destroyed two people in the past who’d opposed her by outing them, anonymously of course but still in a manner that led to their ruin; Daniela Moreno had been forced to move away and Stefan Schuster had ended up trying to off himself after being sent to a camp to be “corrected”. She was almost giddy imagining the suffering that Adrien and his boytoy would endure once she exposed this; Adrien would probably be locked up to never see the light of day again, separated from his precious friends forever, whilst the pathetic hobo boyfriend would probably be strung up by legions of jealous fangirls. Oh, how she would relish this!

Ignorant of the dark intentions towards them, Adrien and Luka returned to the library and their group of friends. None of them were amused to hear of what Lila had threatened to do and very angry into the bargain.

“I still don’t get how we could have found her so nice, charming and kind.” Alya growled.

“Simple, she’s a very good actress and you’re all nice, kind, helpful people whose first instinct is to trust a person genuinely is as good as they appear.” Marinette bluntly replied. “Even I fell for it at first.”

“True, but there are times when I wish I could reach back in time and smack my past self for falling for her bullshit.” Max said, missing the nervous twitch from Alix as he said that. “I mean, how could I have been so dumb as to believe both a paper napkin could harm me and that you deliberately threw it to hurt Lila?”

“That was dumb, yes, but again you are all good people at heart and had no reason at all to suspect you were being deceived.” Marinette told him.

“You did try to warn us, Marinette.” Kim pointed out. “We were the idiots who didn’t listen.”

A noticeable tremor of guilt slid down several people’s spines at Kim’s reminder.

“Yes, and I was at first very hurt and angry about that.” Marinette replied. “But after reviewing my actions, I didn’t exactly give any of you much reason to believe I was being sincere rather than simply accusing her out of irrational emotion and jealousy.”

“We’re also teenagers and teenagers are idiots.” Nathaniel bluntly remarked.

“No arguments there, but the important thing is that we know now.” Marinette continued. “We know that Lila is a conniving, lying, malicious harpy who pretends to be nice and that’s why she can’t do anything to us. Because we’ll fight back, not alone but together.”

“What if she goes to Damocles or Bustier with some sob story?” Juleka asked, nervously recalling how easily their teachers could be manipulated or folded.

“Then we stand our ground and raise all hell.” Marinette replied. “Lila may have a diplomat for a mother, unless that’s also a lie, but that’s just one woman. We all have parents too.”

“Would that not be sinking to Lila’s level, though?” Rose pointed out.

“There’s a big difference between calling on your parents to weasel out of punishments you deserve and asking them to defend you against accusations for things you haven’t done, Rose.” Marinette replied. “Lila can try to bully, smear and discredit us all she wants but in the end, we’ll have numbers on our side.”

Wanting to discuss something other than Lila, the topic of conversation turned towards devising another class outing/secret date for Adrien and Luka.

“Eiffel Tower?” Rose suggested.

“Nah, too overused.” Marc replied.

“How about the zoo, then?” Mylene asked.

“NO!” Alix vehemently vetoed.

“Geez, you’re still hung up about that last akuma?” Kim asked.

“Well in fairness, she did-” Max began to say.

“Yes, I know, I got eaten by an elephant. Stop bringing it up!” Alix snapped.

Max held up both hands and conceded the point whilst Marc and Nathaniel put their heads together to brainstorm ideas.

“Does it still have to fit in with Mr. Agreste’s conditions?” Marc asked.

“Afraid so, Marc.” Adrien replied. “He won’t sign off on me going anywhere with you guys unless the outing is something productive or could generate good publicity.”

“Miserable buzzard.” Nino muttered disdainfully, still nursing a grudge over the Bubbler incident.

“OK, we’ve done museums mostly so far; Louvre, Grevin, Rodin, along with the Pantheon.” Nathaniel listed off. “We could try Pere-Lachaise Cemetery.”

Marc, Alix and Juleka all looked up excitedly but everyone else grimaced.

“I appreciate the enthusiasm, Nathaniel, but maybe not the most romantic setting.” Adrien said.

“Actually there is a huge romantic plot attached to two people buried in the cemetery who had a forbidden love affair and marriage,” Marc rebutted, “Peter Abelard and his wife Heloise have a tomb there where people leave letters in either tribute to them or in hopes of finding true love.”

“Oh, isn’t that so romantic?” Rose squealed, falling into Juleka’s arms. “We really must do that ourselves, Jules!”

“I’m for it.” Juleka mumbled.

“You seem to know a lot about that story, Marc. Is that a story in itself?” Nathaniel asked slyly.

Marc coughed, his face gaining a pink tinge.

“Well, I might have read about it and left a certain letter there when I had a crush on you,” he admitted.

“Then I guess it came true.” Nathaniel replied.

He grabbed Marc by the front of his hoodie and kissed the tip of his nose, making his boyfriend go scarlet.

“Pere-Lachaise also has its own miniature biosphere thanks to changes in its management practices.” Max read off his tablet. “Numerous species of flora and fauna inhabit the cemetery, which makes it popular for birdwatchers, wildlife enthusiasts and botanists.”

“Does anyone else find it weird that we’re planning a secret romantic outing around visiting a cemetery?” Nino remarked.

“Eh, we’re a weird bunch.” was Alix’s only reply. “Plus, we’re sticking it to Adrien’s old man by plotting behind his back.”

“I’m in!” Nino said immediately.

So plans were made and finalised for everyone to meet at Pere-Lachaise on Saturday once they had all secured permission from their parents.

“Good luck with that, bro.” Nino told Adrien as they left the school.

“Yeah, I guess I’ll need it.” Adrien replied.

“It’s just visiting a cemetery, I don’t know why your father would see fit not to let you go.” Marc remarked.

“It’s not the cemetery that’s the issue, Marc, it’s you guys.” Adrien replied. “Father’s never really approved of you all because he thinks you’re bad influences.”

“Bad influences?” Nathaniel echoed with a scoff. “What do I look like, the Oyz in the Hood?”

“It’s probably because we encourage you to think and act for yourself instead of just doing what Mr. Control-Freak Daddy says all the time.” Nino said. “But we’ll always be here for you, bro. Even if I have to break into your house and kidnap you.”

“Yeah, please don’t do that.” Adrien told him. “Seriously, don’t. My father upgraded our security system after Simon Says and it involves lasers as one poor stray cat found out the hard way.”

Nino thought it best not to pry any further on that topic. Laser security system? Geez, what did Mr. Agreste think that place was, a house or a supervillain lair?

“Talk to you later, bro?” he asked.

“Sure.” Adrien replied.

They fist-bumped before splitting off, Nino heading to where Marinette, Alya and Luka were waiting whilst Adrien walked over to where his bodyguard stood waiting by the open car door. Adrien turned back to glance once more at his boyfriend, just in time to see Luka wink and blow him a kiss. Adrien flushed, waved, smiled awkwardly and then, making sure that nobody was watching, blew a kiss back. His bodyguard let out a confused grunt and looked at him.

“Just waving goodbye to my friends,” he said.

“Hrm.” was the only reply.

Adrien did occasionally wonder if the big man knew more than he let on (though that wasn’t much, in fairness) about Adrien and his friends, but never pried out of respect; the man let Adrien have his secrets and so Adrien would do the same. He got into the car and buckled his seatbelt as the Gorilla started the engine and pulled the car away from the curb. Marinette and the others waved as it drove past and Adrien waved back in reflex despite knowing they wouldn’t see it through the tinted glass. As the car stopped at the traffic lights by the Place des Vosges, Adrien glanced out and saw Marc and Nathaniel sitting on the edge of the fountain looking at something. As the lights turned green, Adrien saw them lean in and kiss before going back to whatever they were doing and his heart ached; he wished he could be like them, able to hold hands and kiss Luka in public instead of sneaking around pretending to be mere friends.

When he got home the first thing he did was head to his father’s office, though it was Nathalie who answered the door.

“What is it, Adrien? Your father is very busy at the moment.” she said.

“I know, but this will only take a second. It’s about a class outing.” Adrien replied.

Nathalie withdrew inside for a moment, then opened the door wide enough for him to enter. As usual his father was working at his computer, barely glancing up from his work.

“What is it, Adrien? Can’t you see I’m busy?” he snapped.

“Sorry, Father, I just wanted to say that my friends are planning a class outing to Pere-Lachaise Cemetery on Saturday and I wanted to get your permission.”

His father made a convulsive movement, causing one of his fingernails to scratch the screen of his computer.

“Pere-Lachaise?” he said. “Why? Has something happened to your mother’s grave?”

Adrien felt his stomach contract. Of course, Pere-Lachaise was where his mother was buried. How could he possibly have forgotten that?

“N-No, Father, not that I’m aware of,” he said. “We were planning an outing to see the mini-ecosystem present in the cemetery, though I can call them and suggest a different place if you don’t want us going there.”

His father didn’t reply for a long moment, his mind clearly elsewhere as one hand rose to reflexively stroke his wedding ring.

“No.” he said eventually. “Fine, you may accompany your……friends….on this outing but only on the condition that your bodyguard goes with you and that you keep them away from where your mother is buried. I will not have her resting place disturbed by…….people like them.”

He sneered the last few words with considerable disdain and Adrien felt a spike of anger in defence of his friends.

“My friends are good people, Father,” he said. “They would not do anything disrespectful to the grave if they knew. I don’t know why you still don’t like them.”

“Adrien, you and I are exceptional people and exceptional people should only associate with their like, which your friends are not.” his father replied.

Adrien wanted to argue, to speak up and defend his friends, but if he did that then his father would forbid him to go on the outing and probably ground him into the bargain, if not remove him from school altogether.

“Nevertheless, if it means that much to you then you can go.” his father continued. “But I expect you to remain on top of your commitments and if this outing causes you to slip then you will be forbidden from further ones. Do you understand me, Adrien?”

“Yes, Father.” Adrien replied.

“Good. You may leave me now.”

Adrien left the room; Nathalie closed the door behind him before turning a disapproving look onto Gabriel.

“I know you don’t approve of his friends because they’re not of the same class, but they make him happy and he needs as much of that as possible after what happened to Emilie.” she said sternly.

“Perhaps, but it is no matter.” Gabriel replied. “Soon I will have the Miraculous of Ladybug and Cat Noir and make my wish. Emilie will be restored to us and this world that dared to take her away from me will no longer exist.”

Nathalie pursed her lips in disapproval but said nothing further, returning to her own work.

“Sir, there’s an email here from the board of directors for the Gabriel company.” she said. “They’re demanding a meeting with you tomorrow morning at the Tour Montparnasse.”

“Demanding?” Gabriel snapped. “Who are they to demand anything of me?”

“Your company’s board of directors, sir,” Nathalie replied bluntly. “And they are very insistent that you attend in person.”

“In person?!” Gabriel seethed.

“Sir, you have not made any personal or public appearances since Emilie’s…….disappearance and the quality and regularity of your work has slipped since beginning your activities as Shadow Moth.” Nathalie said. “They are thus wondering if you are able to run it or if they should move to take command.”

Gabriel felt molten fury rising in him. The insolence of those wretches, questioning him, doubting his competence, daring to think they could take control of his brand away from him! Him! Gabriel Agreste, the man without whom they wouldn’t have jobs at all!

“Sir, they only want reassurances from you in person that you are still able to run the brand effectively or if they should ease your workload.” Nathalie reassured him. “All you need to do is go to the meeting and prove that you are still up to the task and they’ll back down.”

Gabriel was still furious but conceded the point.

“Very well,” he said. “Tell them I will be there at 8:00 am sharp tomorrow morning……and that I will not soon forget this display of disloyalty.”

Nathalie simply rolled her eyes before typing and sending the reply, making sure to leave out the disloyalty part. The board and company shareholders were already suspicious enough of her boss’ sanity, no need to compound that by making him sound like a bloody supervillain. Even if he was, in fairness.

Adrien, meanwhile, returned to his room and tossed his bag onto his bed as Plagg emerged from within his jacket.

“Has your father always been so cold?” he asked as Adrien sat down and took out his phone.

“Not always but since Mum died, he’s been…….well, let’s just say that grief changes people.” Adrien replied.

“You don’t have to tell me, Adrien. And pray I don’t ever have to tell you.” Plagg remarked darkly.

Adrien didn’t ask Plagg to elaborate, knowing that he was thinking of some of his past holders. He found Luka’s number and dialled it; Luka picked up on the second ring.

“ Hey, Sunshine. What’s the story in Balamory? ” he asked.

“He-he-he-he. You always say the cutest things.” Adrien giggled. “Great news, Luka. My father agreed to let me go on the outing.”

“ That’s wonderful news. ” Luka said. “ I’ll let everyone else know. ”

“OK, but there’s something else you should know and please don’t tell the others.” Adrien said.

“ What is it? ” Luka asked.

“When we were planning the outing, I somehow forgot that Pere-Lachaise is where my mother is buried. Father agreed to let me go, but only if my bodyguard comes along and we all stay away from where her grave is located.” Adrien replied.

There was silence on the other end of the line.

“ I see .” Luka eventually said. “ If it’s going to be a problem, I can ask to change the outing to somewhere else. ”

Adrien felt a rush of warming emotion; they had so few opportunities for dates and here Luka’s first instinct was to change it simply for the sake of Adrien’s feelings.

“No, no problem.” he said. “It’s just………well, I could hardly pretend everything was normal because you’d instantly notice I was acting weird.”

“ You are an open book, Sunshine. ” Luka chuckled. “ Don’t worry, I’ll make sure everyone stays away from that area. And if you want to sneak away to put some flowers there or something, just let me know. ”

“Thanks, Luka. What did I ever do to deserve you?”

“ Well, you’re a good boy and good boys deserve a reward. Ugh, that sounded a lot better in my head. ”

Adrien giggled but before he could reply, Plagg swooped down.

“If you start on that sappy stuff again, I will eat that phone and spit it up all over your dinner.” he threatened. “And trust me, you don’t want to see what comes back up out of my stomach!”

“Sorry, Luka, but I’ve got a psychotic kwami threatening to eat my phone if I say anything too sappy.” Adrien said.

“ Say no more. I knew that there would be risks involved when I agreed to date you, Cat Noir. ” Luka replied. “ Tell Plagg I said hi. ”

“Luka says hi, Plagg.” Adrien said, holding the phone up to his kwami.

“Hello, boy who makes my holder sickeningly happy.” Plagg said in the phone’s direction. “And who’d better continue to make him happy if he doesn’t want me to Cataclysm his houseboat.”

“Plagg says hi back.” Adrien said. “See you tomorrow, Moonbeam. Love you.”

“ Love you too, Sunshine. ”

Meanwhile on the other side of town, Lila Rossi had just arrived at the offices of Paris-Flash , the most notorious celebrity magazine tabloid in Paris. Though popular, it was renowned for being sensationalist at best and poison-pen at worst and generally was only read just to see how over-the-top it could get. But they paid well for any tidbits of information or photographs of celebrities and stood the best chance of making sure that what she had on Adrien would spread quickly.

“Yes, can I help you?” asked a bored-looking receptionist.

“I’m here to speak with the editor.” Lila replied. “I have some juicy information for him about Adrien Agreste.”

Fifteen minutes later she was heading home, leafing through a fat wad of euros and glimmering with malicious triumph.

“By breakfast time tomorrow, everyone in Paris will know your secret, Adrien. You never should have crossed me.” she said to herself.

======================================================================

The next day dawned bright and sunny as usual, people rising to go about their daily business of work and school. On the Liberty, Luka and Juleka were getting ready for school.

“Has Adrien texted you yet?” Juleka asked her brother.

“No, not yet.” Luka replied. “We can function separately without talking to each other every waking minute, you know.”

Juleka simply turned and raised one eyebrow at her brother, clearly recalling the hour-long phone conversations filled with lovey-dovey exchanges; Luka coughed awkwardly.

“Besides, is that not the pot calling the kettle black, little sister? Considering the endless texts between you and a certain lovely Rose?” he asked, raising an eyebrow of his own.

Now it was Juleka’s turn to blush and look away, though she couldn’t quite hide a fond smile.

“Love makes you silly, Jules, but if it makes you happy into the bargain then that’s a good deal.” Luka said. “Rose makes you happy, Adrien makes me happy and there we are.”

“But what if I don’t make Rose happy?” Juleka asked. “Have you ever felt like you’re not good enough for Adrien, because I have with Rose.”

Luka’s calm smile faded somewhat. He might be known as the empath of the family but Juleka had hit the nail right on the head here; there had been times where, even now, he felt like he wasn’t good enough for Adrien. Luka had never been ashamed of who he was, but there were times when he took note of his dyed hair or piercings or tatty clothes or even relative lack of wealth and felt………less than adequate when next to Adrien. It was something that he’d never told Adrien himself, because he knew the blond boy would blame himself for it even though it was in no way his fault, and it was honestly silly but emotions could be silly and irrational.

“Yes, I have felt like that sometimes,” he admitted. “But it’s natural to feel that way even if it makes no sense. Rose loves you with every fibre of her being because of who you are, Juleka, and you should never feel like you’re not good enough for her.”

“Thanks, Luka.” Juleka mumbled.

“Any time, little sister.” Luka replied. “Now, come on. We’ll be late if we don’t leave now.”

They unlocked their bikes from the rack, climbed on and biked to school. As they placed them at the school racks and locked them with chains, however, they became aware of something.

“Luka, is it just me or is everyone staring at you?” Juleka mumbled.

Luka had noticed it, too. People around them were definitely staring at him, some looking from their phones or magazines to him and back, and some of those stares were decidedly unfriendly.

“Yes, they are staring.” Luka replied, feeling distinctly uneasy. “Let’s get inside, shall we?”

As they walked over to the front steps, however, a girl around their age came storming over looking absolutely furious.

“YOU!” she shrieked, pointing directly at Luka. “YOU FILTHY FAGGOT! SEDUCER! PAEDOPHILE! HOW DARE YOU DEFILE HIM!”

Luka just stared blankly at her in shock.

“Wha-?” he began.

Then her arm lashed out and his head snapped to the side as her hand connected sharply with the side of his face with a loud crack like a gunshot. There were several horrified gasps from onlookers but also more than a few cheers, mainly from the group of people that the girl had been a part of. Luka raised one hand to his flaming cheek, utterly unable to comprehend what had just happened as the girl pulled her hand back for another blow. Before it could connect, however, Juleka stepped in front of her brother and caught the girl’s fist in her own hand. Her face was scarlet with fury and her teeth bared in a snarl as she squeezed the girl’s fist hard enough to cause pain before violently pushing her back, hard enough that the girl staggered a good couple of feet backwards before falling on her backside with a yelp.

“Back. Off.” Juleka growled like an angry tigress defending her young.

The girl looked ready to snarl back but Juleka simply pulled her hair back to reveal the whole of her face, her red eyes burning with rage; the girl quickly lost all courage, scrambling back on the ground before getting to her feet and backing away. Once certain that nobody else was going to try anything, Juleka grabbed Luka by the wrist and began dragging him up the front steps.

“Thanks, Jules.” Luka said, wincing at the sting from where he’d been slapped. “I don’t know what that was about.”

They entered the quad and a similar scene to outside began to develop; students looked up and saw them, pointing and whispering whilst checking their phones. Juleka moved in front of Luka protectively, but a welcome interruption caught their attention.

“Luka! Thank goodness, you’ve got to come quickly, the class is in chaos right now!”

Rose grabbed Juleka by the wrist and dragged her along as Juleka did the same with Luka, pulling them up the stairs and along the mezzanine towards Ms. Bustier’s classroom where, true enough, the place was in chaos.

“How could this have happened?” Marinette was saying, clearly on the verge of spiralling into a full-blown panic attack. “We were always so careful, making sure that no one was around to see them. We haven’t heard from Adrien at all, which is not like him. Maybe we should - Luka!”

“Oh my gosh, you’re bleeding!” Mylene exclaimed. “What happened to you?”

Luka put a hand to his face where the girl had slapped him and his fingers came away with red on them; clearly her nails must have scratched him when she slapped him. Mylene took out some antiseptic wipes and began cleaning the wound.

“Thanks, Mylene.” he said gratefully, wincing at the slight sting from the antiseptic.

“I concur with Mylene. What happened to you?” Alya asked.

“Some girl slapped me in the street.” Luka replied. “She would have done it twice, only Juleka stopped her.”

“She also called him a faggot and a paedophile.” Juleka said, face twisting in anger.

Several people’s faces darkened with rage on hearing that.

“I hate people.” Nathaniel spat disdainfully.

“I don’t get it.” Kim remarked. “Luka’s only one year older than Adrien so how can he be a-”

“Wait, hold on! What’s this about Adrien?” Luka asked.

Everyone stared at him.

“You mean you don’t know?” Nino asked.

“Know what?” Luka snapped, now getting annoyed.

“You and Adrien are all over the news!” Alya said. “ Paris-Flash posted an expose of you and Luka kissing in the locker room and saying you love each other. Social media’s blowing up and they even mentioned it on Face-to-Face .”

Luka felt his stomach contract in horror. How could that be possible?

“Where’s Adrien?” he asked.

“He must still be at home.” Marinette replied, wringing her hands nervously. “I’ve tried calling but there’s no answer.”

“We’re super worried about him, dude. You know what his old man is like, he’ll have seen this by now and be furious.” Nino said.

Luka was already pulling out his phone and dialling Adrien’s number, but all he got was an automated voice saying that the number was unavailable.

“Please be OK, Sunshine.” he pleaded, pressing the phone against his forehead.

Across town, Adrien’s morning had gotten off to a similar start. Wake up, get showered and dressed, ready for breakfast.

“So, are you going to make some more plans for yourself and Luka?” Plagg asked as he watched Adrien pack his schoolbag.

“Maybe.” Adrien replied. “I was thinking of trying to track down Andre and his ice cream cart for some sweetheart’s ice cream. Would it be an abuse of my powers to use Cat Noir for that?”

“Compared to what some of my past holders have used my Miraculous for? No.” Plagg replied. “You are allowed to bend the rules every now and then. Live a little!”

“Thanks, Plagg.” Adrien said. “You know-”

“ADRIEN! GET DOWN HERE! NOW!”

His father’s yell made both of them jump, Plagg actually dropping the piece of Camembert he’d been eating.

“Oh, he sounds really angry.” Adrien said worriedly. “What can have happened?”

He left his room and proceeded down the stairs into the foyer before approaching the door to his father’s office, which stood slightly ajar. Entering the room, he found his father standing with his back to him and Nathalie and the Gorilla standing off to the side, both looking extremely tense.

“Yes, Father?” he asked nervously.

His father turned around and Adrien flinched at the look of pure, black thunderous fury on his face.

“Explain.” he hissed.

“Explain what, Father?” Adrien asked, genuinely confused.

“Do not play ignorant with me, boy! Do you know what you have done to me by doing this?”

Adrien had absolutely no idea what he meant and Gabriel seemed to realise it; he typed something into his workscreen and an image immediately displayed itself on the nearby flatscreen TV.

“Explain this.”

Adrien looked at the screen and his heart twisted itself into knots in horror; the image on the screen was that of himself and Luka, arms wrapped around each other and kissing. How was that possible?

“I……I….” he stammered.

“These disgusting images have been circulating throughout Paris since late last night.” his father almost snarled. “It is present on every major news website and social media site and has been printed in every morning edition of Paris-Flash. It is everywhere!”

Adrien was terrified; he could do nothing more than shake in his shoes before his thunderously angry father. Gabriel closed his eyes and took several deep breaths in a clearly monumental effort to calm himself down.

“Fortunately, the situation is salvageable.” he said. “I was planning to announce this at a later date, but Tsurugi-san will understand.”

“You will make an announcement on your social media proclaiming this to be a one-off thing, a silly teenage experiment, nothing more. Compounding this will be an official announcement of your relationship with Kagami Tsurugi-”

“Kagami?” Adrien said.

“Silence! Do not interrupt me again, Adrien!” Gabriel snapped. “As I was saying, you and her will announce your formal relationship, make public appearances together as a couple and eventually will release and discuss plans for a formal engagement.”

Adrien stared at his father like he’d suddenly transformed into a giant ice cream cone.

“Engagement?” he finally managed to say. “You mean married?”

“That is generally the end result of an engagement, Adrien.” his father replied. “The arrangement has been formalised since you were very young, this will simply make it official.”

“B-But I can’t marry Kagami!” Adrien spluttered in disbelief. “I’m only fifteen!”

“You may still get married as long as consent is given by at least one parent or guardian.” his father replied. “Myself and Kagami’s mother have both given our consent to do so.”

Adrien was horrified.

“But I don’t love Kagami!” he protested. “You can’t force someone to fall in love, that’s not how it works!”

“Love is not necessary for a successful betrothal.” Gabriel replied. “The two of you are perfect for each other; you have always gotten along before now.”

“As friends, Father!” Adrien said. “I do care for Kagami and we did get along well when we dated, but it was only as a friend. I don’t love her that way, I love Luka.”

A dark look crossed his father’s face.

“You are confused, Adrien,” he said. “No doubt hanging around with your friends who are in…….alternate relationships has given you cause to think you are the same, but you are not. This silly dalliance will stop.”

“It’s not a silly dalliance, Father.” Adrien retorted, feeling anger rising inside him. “I love him. And I’m not confused either, I’m gay. I realised it a long time ago but never accepted it until now, and if you-”

“Enough!” Gabriel half-shouted. “Adrien, I forbid you to speak of this or see that boy again. Do you understand me?”

His thumb stroked his wedding ring as he said this and Adrien felt something pressing in the back of his head, heard a voice compelling him to obey; it sounded like his father’s voice, which he always seemed to hear whenever he thought of disobeying his father’s commands. He felt himself prepare to give into it, easily like all the time before, but suddenly there came a new voice. It sounded like Luka’s, and Nino’s and Marinette’s and all of his other friends, shouting for him to resist. Why had he never heard it before now?

“ Obey. ” said his father’s voice.

“ I won’t .” said the other voices in reply.

“ You will obey me !” his father’s voice said, more forcefully this time.

“ I won’t! ”

“ You will obey! ”

“I WON’T!”

That time it was his own voice and it took Adrien a few seconds to realise that he had said it aloud, the room still echoing with it. His father staggered back, looking utterly flabbergasted.

“W-What? How? That’s impossible!” he said.

Adrien was panting heavily as though he had just run a race; despite the sudden inexplicable feeling of exhaustion, however, he remained upright and defiant. Gabriel quickly recovered from his shock, clenching the fingers of his right hand around his left ring finger and the ring he wore on it.

“Adrien, I order you to obey me!” Gabriel said, squeezing it hard.

The feeling of compulsion to obey returned, stronger than ever, but there too was the mixed voice of his friends telling him otherwise. Adrien clenched his teeth, screwed his eyes shut and with a monumental effort, threw it off.

“I. Will. Not!” he choked out.

Gabriel was completely stunned; this was impossible!

“You heard me!” Adrien said, all of a sudden filled with a kind of reckless bravery. “I won’t do this! I won’t throw Luka aside to marry a girl I don’t love.”

He raised one arm and pointed it at Gabriel in dire accusation.

“All of my life, I’ve done every single thing that you’ve asked me to, or rather ordered me to, without complaint, without resistance.” he said. “The modelling, the fencing, the piano and Chinese and Japanese lessons, every last thing. But this, I cannot - no, I will not let you dictate who I can and cannot fall in love with! I will not do it!”

Father and son stared at each other, both trembling with fury, before Gabriel acted first.

“Very well.” he said in a voice like frozen steel. “It would seem my decision to allow you to attend public school was a folly if it has resulted in this. I have allowed those friends of yours too much influence over you, but that will change.”

He drew himself up to his full height.

“From this day forth you will no longer be permitted to attend that school,” he said. “I will be withdrawing you from it with immediate effect, you will return to being homeschooled here with Nathalie so as to be completely free of any corrupting influences, you will not be leaving the house at all except for modelling and you will never again be permitted to see those so-called friends of yours, least of all that……boy.”

Adrien stared at his father in horror.

“You cannot do that!” he exclaimed.

“Oh, yes I can!” Gabriel retorted. “I am your father and you will do what I say, willingly or otherwise.”

Again there was that mysterious mental compulsion to obey and again he fought it off.

“N-No! You can’t lock me away again!” Adrien said. “I’ll phone my friends, the police, the news!”

“No. You won’t.” Gabriel replied coldly before gesturing to the Gorilla. “You, take his phone.”

The Gorilla looked incredibly conflicted for a second, then nodded grimly and walked over to Adrien, reached into his jacket pocket and took out his phone before crushing it into shards with one massive hand. Adrien let out a horrified gasp as the pieces of his phone dropped to the floor whilst Gabriel jerked in surprise at the action, then dismissed it.

“I said take his phone, not crush it!” he said in exasperation. “No matter.”

“You can’t just lock me up and throw away the key, Father!” Adrien protested. “My friends will get worried if they don’t hear from me. People will ask questions.”

“It is none of their business,” Gabriel replied coldly. “You are my son and what happens with you under this roof is my prerogative and mine alone.”

“Then I’ll run away!” Adrien declared. “I’ll find a way to escape, I don’t care how long it takes!”

Gabriel’s face paled with rage.

“Take my son to his room and make sure he stays there.” he ordered the Gorilla.

The huge man nodded before taking Adrien by the arm and dragging him from the office even as he protested loudly.

“Stop this!” he begged the huge man as he was practically dragged up the main staircase. “Please! You know this isn’t right!”

The Gorilla didn’t reply but merely pulled Adrien’s bedroom door open and pushed him inside, filling the doorway with his huge frame so the boy couldn’t squeeze past and run. As he prepared to shut the door and turn around, however, he cleared his throat and jerked his head meaningfully downwards; Adrien followed this and saw the man’s own mobile phone conspicuously sticking out of his pocket, just ripe for the taking, and suddenly understood.

“Thank you.” he whispered.

The Gorilla gave the tiniest of nods before turning around and pulling the door closed, giving Adrien just enough time to reach out and grab the phone. Quickly opening the keypad, he dialled Luka’s number and held it to his ear.

“Please pick up.” he whispered. “Please, please, please.”

At Francoise Dupont, Luka’s phone began to ring with an unknown number and he almost dropped it in his haste to answer.

“Hello?”

“ Luka! Thank goodness! ”

“Adrien!”

That brought everyone to his side instantly, crowding around Luka to hear Adrien’s voice.

“Are you all right?” Luka asked, putting the phone on speakerphone so everyone could hear Adrien’s voice.

“ No ,” Adrien replied, his voice trembling. “ Someone’s released pictures of us together and now Father says I can’t come to school or see you anymore .”

Rose clapped both hands over her mouth in horror; Lila did the same, but in her case it was to conceal a smug grin rather than express shock.

“I feared that was the case, Sunshine.” Luka replied in a commendably level voice. “I’ve seen the pictures and the video, it’s all that Paris is talking about right now.”

“ Father’s gone completely nuts. ” Adrien said. “ He started ranting about forcing me to marry Kagami as part of some crazy arrangement he made with Kagami’s mother, then he destroyed my phone and locked me up in my room !”

Several people gasped in horror.

“He can’t do that!” Nino exclaimed, scandalised. “That’s just not right!”

“Plus it’s blatantly illegal under both national and international law!” Max chimed in, utterly shocked.

“ I’ve told him I won’t go through with it but it only made things worse. ” Adrien said. “ He’s pulling me out of school and says that I won’t be able to leave the house unless it’s for modelling. Right now I’m locked in my room and the only reason I can talk to right now is because my bodyguard deliberately let me steal his phone. ”

Unseen by everyone else, Lila took out her own phone and sent a quick text message to Gabriel Agreste. The man himself was preparing to leave for the meeting when he received the text and instantly turned on his heel, marching up the front steps in a renewed fury with Nathalie in pursuit. The Gorilla looked nervous as they approached but did not step away from the door.

“Get out of my way whilst you still have a job!” Gabriel snapped.

The huge man reluctantly obeyed and Gabriel pushed the door open and stormed inside, making Adrien yelp in fear and almost drop the phone he was holding.

“Give me that phone, Adrien! Now!” he demanded.

Not waiting for an acquiescence, he reached out and seized it from Adrien’s hand, a clamour of voices coming through on the other end.

“ Adrien? Are you there? What’s going on? ”

“Adrien is no longer your concern.” Gabriel replied. “Suffice to say that none of you will ever again get the chance to pollute him with your presence and if I ever hear of you attempting to contact him again, I will have you arrested and sued for harassment. Goodbye.”

And he hung up the phone before snapping it in half and tossing the pieces aside into the rubbish bin, glaring at a very nervous Adrien.

“It seems I will also have to find you additional security, one that will not be so permissive with you.” he said with a pointed glare in the Gorilla’s direction. “In the meantime, you will use this confinement constructively. I expect you to have brushed up considerably on your piano skills by the time I return from the shareholders’ meeting; failure to do so will merit severe punishment.”

“You’ve already taken away everything that makes me happy, Father.” Adrien replied defiantly. “What more can you possibly do to punish me?”

“I will figure something out, believe me.” Gabriel hissed coldly. “And just in case you get any ideas about leaving…….”

He took out a remote control and pressed a button; metal shutters slammed down over the windows with a loud clang. The instant Gabriel left the room, metal bars shot up through the floor in front of the door, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. Adrien ran to the barred door and banged hard on it, but the cold metal refused to yield.

“No! NO! NO, LET ME OUT!” he screamed, trapped in his worst nightmare. “LET ME OUT!”

Gabriel paid no attention to the muffled but still audible screams of his son from within his prison, striding calmly down the stairs and back towards his car.

“Come along, Nathalie, we can ill-afford to be late.” he called over his shoulder.

Nathalie remained where she was for a long moment, clearly wrestling with indecision and internal torment, before following her boss with great reluctance.

“That was not the right thing to do, Gabriel.” she said as she fell into step with him.

“It will not be permanent, only until Adrien learns to do as he’s told.” Gabriel replied. “That is what he was made to be, after all.”

“Interfering with his love life is wrong.” Nathalie said as they approached the car.

“It is not love, it is mere confusion.” Gabriel replied. “In time he will learn and come to accept that. Now, enough of this. I refuse to give those ungrateful cads any further ammunition against me by being late.”

“As you say, sir, but I still believe it to be wrong.” Nathalie said, adding in an undertone, “and Emilie would agree.”

If Gabriel heard that he pretended not to, instead getting into the back seat of the car whilst Nathalie got in the driver’s seat and started the engine. The car pulled smoothly away from the mansion and out the gates, leaving no hint of anything wrong within the building.

At Francois Dupont, on the other hand, action was taking place. They had all listened in shock and horror as Adrien was discovered on the phone, which quickly turned to rage and protectiveness in response to Gabriel’s threat. Even the normally meek Mylene, gentle-natured Ivan and sweet Rose were filled to the brim with anger and a desire to storm the mansion, rescue Adrien and impale Gabriel on his own fence.

“Guys, I understand your anger but we are NOT reenacting the Storming of the Bastille with Adrien’s house.” Marinette said.

“Why not? They took the Bastille, we can take the Agreste Mansion! Vive la revolution!” Nino exclaimed, punching the air.

“One of my dads drives a bus, we can use that to break down the gates!” Kim suggested, a slightly deranged gleam in his eye.

Marinette decided to take charge before the collective emotion reached a fever pitch and resulted in them all doing something illegal.

“OK, no!” she said. “First thing’s first, we’re taking this to Mr. Damocles. We have that call on record, we can ask him to contact social services because the whole arranged marriage thing is definitely a red flag.”

“Do we have to?” Nino whined. “I wanted to drive a bus through Old Man Agreste’s front door.”

“Yes.” Alya said in a firm voice. “But we’ll put a pin in the bus plan for later.”

“I’ll take it. To Mr. Damocles’ office!” Nino proclaimed.

There was a mass exodus towards the door, the only exception being Luka. The blue-haired boy had not said a single word since the end of the phone call, merely stared at the phone in his hand as though trying to perceive Adrien through it. He was completely numb with shock and disbelief that any man, any parent, could possibly treat their child like that. Pulling them out of a school they enjoyed attending, forbidding them to see friends they cherished and forcing them into a relationship with someone they didn’t love in order to control them. It was horrendous, it was unthinkable!

“Oh, such a shame. Poor Adrien, locked away from everything he loves.”

He hadn’t realised that he wasn’t alone in the room; Lila was still there, leaning against the wall with a very smug look on her face.

“A shame, really. He was quite the catch, but that’s just the price you pay for crossing me.”

Her words didn’t quite register with Luka at first, but when they did it was like being hit with a sledgehammer.

“Y-You.” he said. “You were the one who sent those images to the media. You did this.”

Lila smirked and clapped her hands together slowly.

“Bravo.” she said in a mocking tone. “You figured it out.”

“Y-Y-You…….” Luka tried to say, too overcome with emotion to form a coherent sentence.

“I did warn you, you know.” Lila went on, clearly relishing this. “You only have yourself to blame for this. Adrien should have just fallen in line; now, he’ll never see you again.”

And with a satisfied little “hmph”, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room, leaving Luka behind to contemplate her words. Because of her, the love of his life and the sweetest, nicest, kindest boy in the world was locked away behind bars, a beautiful songbird confined to a cage. And this cruel, selfish girl did not care at all, merely gloating about the pain and suffering she’d caused. Rage and grief rose within Luka like magma within a volcano, pressing against the fragile crust and threatening to burst free in a deadly eruption.

Having just arrived at the Tour Montparnasse, Gabriel felt a surge of emotion so powerful that the Butterfly Miraculous actually flared with heat. The moment he was alone in the lift, he closed his eyes and focused on the source.

“I can feel a rare emotion, desire to protect merged with righteous fury and punishment of those who harmed the one he loves,” he said. “This one will make a fine akuma.”

“Gabriel, you cannot miss this meeting.” Nathalie sternly informed him. “If you do, then any confidence they have in you will be shattered.”

“I cannot afford to miss this opportunity either.” Gabriel replied. “The emotions this boy is feeling will not last forever and would make him one of my finest akumas yet.”

The moment the lift reached the assigned floor, he strode out of it and up to the rather startled receptionist.

“Where is the nearest bathroom?” he demanded.

“Down there and to the left, sir.” she replied. “But aren’t you-?”

He was already striding off in the direction she’d indicated, leaving the woman slightly miffed at his rudeness. Once inside he made sure that he was alone before hiding himself in the stall furthest from the door.

“Nooroo, Dark Wings Rise!”

A flash of dark purple energy transformed him from Gabriel Agreste to Hawk Moth; the second his cane materialised, the top popped open and released his emergency akuma.

“Fly, my little akuma, and give rise to that boy’s darkened soul!”

At Francoise Dupont, Luka was just coming to his senses and preparing to storm after Lila when the akuma arrived, settling itself in the phone he was still clutching.

“ Cage-Master, I am Hawk Moth. The one you love has been locked away from the world by the cruel actions of a selfish girl, so I will give you the power to inflict the same fate upon her and anyone else who stands in your way. Anyone you trap within your magical cages will be under your complete control! And all I ask in return are the Miraculous of Ladybug and Cat Noir. Do we have a deal? ”

“Yes, Hawk Moth.”

Blackish-purple aether spread over him, transforming him from Luka into Cage-Master; now twice as tall as Luka had been, he also now possessed a silvery-grey hooded tailcoat beneath a shiny silver breastplate, a belt whose buckle was shaped like a cage and numerous keys dangling from it and tall grey leather boots with chains. His phone, meanwhile, had become a long swagger stick with the end shaped like the teeth of a key. Grinning, he stalked out of the classroom in search of his first victim whilst Hawk Moth, satisfied that things would go his way, de-transformed for now.

“Did you just duck in there to akumatise someone?” Nathalie asked him the moment he was out of the bathroom.

“Of course, Nathalie.” Gabriel replied. “I told you, such an opportunity was not one I could let pass by.”

“Yet you will not be able to command or keep track of what the akuma does because you’re not transformed.” Nathalie pointed out.

“A calculated risk, but worth it.” Gabriel replied. “The akuma happens to be that boy who Adrien claimed was his boyfriend, and his sole ire is with Lila Rossi whose loss, if it gains me the Miraculous, is no great one.”

Lila had thought herself clever, but Gabriel knew that it was she who had sent those scandalous images to the media. Acting outwith his authority was not something Gabriel appreciated, and if setting an akuma on Ms. Rossi was necessary to remind her of her place then so be it.

“As you say, sir.” Nathalie said, though she was clearly unconvinced.

Back at Francoise Dupont, Mr. Damocles had just had his office stormed by the entire roster of Ms. Bustier’s class, all of them clamouring and caterwauling until he had to use a confiscated firework to get the room quiet enough for him to understand what it was they were saying.

“This is a very serious accusation.” he said when Nino and Marinette had explained what had happened. “Though Mr. Agreste is within his rights as a parent to withdraw Adrien from school if he wishes, if there is evidence of an abusive situation then we can inform social services to investigate.”

This news was received very well indeed for the most part, though Nino, Kim and Lila all looked rather sullen (the former two because they still wanted to take the path of breaking into the house and the latter because this threatened to undo Adrien and Luka’s suffering) but none of them said anything. Before anyone could say anything else, however, there came a knock on the door.

“Yes?” Mr. Damocles called.

The door was suddenly kicked in with such force that it broke almost completely in half, held together only by a few splinters and hanging drunkenly from its hinges. A tall, horrifically altered figure stood in the doorway, a long stick held like a sword in one hand.

“I did knock,” he said.

As he stepped into the room, his hood fell back just enough for his face to be visible and Juleka gasped.

“Luka?”

“Not quite, little sister.” he replied, smiling at her. “I am now Cage-Master, and I have a special one lined up for a certain little liar.”

His gaze turned to Lila, who was trying to make herself small and inconspicuous, and his friends flinched in terror at the truly murderous look in his eyes.

“M-Me?” Lila whimpered tremulously. “Why do you want me? What have I done to you?”

That was the wrong thing to say. Cage-Master’s fist lashed out, crashing into the bookcase above Lila’s head hard enough to punch clean through it and into the wall behind it.

“What have you done, Lila?” he hissed like an enraged rattlesnake. “You have destroyed something pure and beautiful, ruined it out of selfishness and spite! You have caused a wonderful golden eagle to be clipped of his wings and placed in a cage, so now you will be subject to that fate.”

Mr. Damocles decided to interject at that moment.

“Ahem, Mr……..Cage-Master, was it? I understand that you are upset over this situation with young Mister Agreste but I’m afraid that I cannot permit you to attack one of my students over it.” he said, sounding a lot braver than he felt.

“Then it’s a good thing I don’t require your permission, isn’t it?”

Cage-Master pointed his swagger stick at the headmaster; there was a flash of white light and when it cleared, Mr. Damocles was sitting inside a huge birdcage atop his desk.

“What? Hey! Let me out of this thing!” he demanded, rattling the bars in vain.

“Behold, the rare caged owl.” Cage-Master remarked.

There was a sudden laugh from Kim.

“Oh, I get it! Mr. Damocles looks like an owl and he calls himself the Owl and now…..he’s…in..a…cage.” he said, trailing off as he realised everyone was staring at him.

“Not the time, Kim.” Max told him.

Lila took the opportunity to try and make a dash for the door, but Cage-Master was too fast for her; another flash of light, a shriek and Lila was in a cage as well, except this one was a tall, narrow gibbet cage with spikes and just barely enough room for her to move her arms up to grip the bars.

“You’re not getting away that easily, Lila.” he said, giving her a shark-like grin.

“Let me out of here!” Lila screeched. “Someone help me! Get me out!”

“No one’s going to help you, Lila.” Cage-Master taunted her. “But we’re not quite done yet.”

He squeezed his hand shut; the cage, and Lila, shrank to the size of an apple, allowing him to attach it to his belt before turning to his sister and her friends.

“I really hate to do this, but I can’t risk you trying to stop me and you will be safe.”

A third flash of light, a horrified cry from Marinette and suddenly the giant birdcage was large enough to fill the office and all of them were inside it, now equipped with two large trays of water and food.

“Now I must go and free my Sunshine from his cage, and then…….”

He left the office and took off over the rooftops, quickly vanishing from sight. Kim and Ivan immediately began trying to pry the bars of the cage apart, but the metal was too strong.

“Damn it, I can’t bust these open!” Kim said angrily before getting distracted by the food tray. “Oooh, snacks!”

He grabbed a handful of what looked like yellow popcorn and stuffed it into his mouth.

“Mmmmm, buttery!”

Max clapped a hand to his forehead in exasperation; leave it to Kim to prioritise his stomach over getting them out. Ivan would have tried again but he was now focused on Mylene, who was hugging her knees to her chest and hyperventilating; she didn’t do well in confined spaces. Alix, in the meantime, had produced a screwdriver and a nail file and was fiddling about with the lock on the cage door.

“Alix, what are you doing?” Nathaniel asked her.

“Getting us out of here.” Alix replied. “Now shut up and let me concentrate.”

A couple of minutes passed before there was a loud click and the cage door opened.

“Voila!”

They scrambled out, Kim stuffing a handful of popcorn into his mouth before doing so; Mr. Damocles gave Alix a stern look.

“Since when did you know how to pick locks, Miss Kubdel?” he asked, one bushy eyebrow raised.

“No comment.” was Alix’s reply, though Juleka gave her a quick wink.

Marinette quickly decided to take control.

“OK, everyone, you know the drill.” she said. “Head home or to the nearest safe zone until Ladybug and Cat Noir sort all this out.”

“Miss Dupain-Cheng is right. Everyone head for safety immediately.” Mr. Damocles ordered.

Marinette took advantage of the scramble for evacuation to sneak off to hide in the basement.

“Let’s hope we get to Adrien’s house before Luka does, or we’ll have no Cat Noir.” she said. “Tikki, Spots On!”

======================================================================

Adrien had tried in vain to break out of his room, wrestling and beating on the bars until his hands were numb but to no avail. This was worse than the time with Sandboy’s nightmare because this time he couldn’t just bust his way out with Cataclysm since it might risk his secret identity. He finally slumped down on his bed, knees drawn in and crying silently to himself.

“This isn’t fair, Plagg.” he sniffled.

“No, it isn’t.” his kwami agreed furiously. “My offer to Cataclysm that miserable excuse of a father still stands.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, Plagg, but- wait, what was that?”

A sound of groaning metal reached his ears, muffled at first but then louder and louder until it became a screech. Then there was the sound of crumbling masonry and suddenly the entire wall of shuttered windows was wrenched clean away from the building to fall with a deafening crash into the garden, burying the perfectly manicured flowerbeds and causing part of the huge curtain wall to collapse into the street outside, crushing more than a few cars in the process if the sudden chorus of wailing alarms was any indication.

Through the gaping hole where most of the rear wall of his house had been floated a tall, hooded figure that it took Adrien a few horrified seconds to recognise.

“Luka?”

His akumatised boyfriend merely smiled.

“Not quite, my Sunshine. I am now Cage-Master.” he said. “And I brought you a little gift.”

He snapped his fingers and a cage suddenly appeared from thin air, tall, narrow, spiked and with one very grumpy-looking Italian girl inside it.

“Adrien!” she said, instantly turning on the waterworks at the sight of him. “Please, you have to help me! Tell him that this is all a misunderstanding!”

“Misunderstanding, my arse!” Cage-Master snarled. “It was you who sold those images to the tabloids, exposing our love and getting my beautiful golden eagle shut away like this! So now you will suffer the same fate!”

Various emotions rose in Adrien, mainly a combination of rage at Lila and confusion mixed with affection for being called a golden eagle.

“Luka, I am honestly flattered and touched by this but you have to stop.” he said. “Torturing and killing people, even Lila, is not right nor is it who you are.”

“Who I am,” Cage-Master replied, “is someone who will never let you get hurt, abused or used again! Not by anyone!”

There was a flash of light, golden this time, and when it cleared Adrien was in a cage of his own. In contrast to the torturous confinement of Lila’s gibbet, this cage was a work of art; made of pure gold that glowed with a soft, comforting, warming light, its bars were beautifully wrought in an intricate lattice style and it was topped by a golden cherub whilst the interior was furnished with white cushions shaped like clouds.

“My angel,” Cage-Master said fondly. “In here, no one will be able to harm you again. You will be safe, happy, protected.”

“Why is his cage nicer than mine?” Lila whined. “I should be the one to-”

“SILENCE!”

Lila’s mouth sealed shut and then seemed to vanish completely off her face, leaving only completely smooth skin. She grasped futilely at where her mouth had been, making muffled noises of mingled terror and rage.

“That’s better.” Cage-Master remarked.

“Um, what exactly are you planning to do to Lila?” Adrien asked, fiddling with the ring on his finger as he did so.

“You will see soon enough, my Sunshine.” Cage-Master replied. “But first, there’s someone else who I must collect before we can truly begin.”

With this ominous remark, he shrank both cages down once again and left, not noticing the slight tinkling noise made by a silver ring hitting the floor from where it had been tossed out of Adrien’s cage just before it shrank. Five minutes later, Ladybug swooped in through the gaping hole and cursed angrily on seeing no sign of Adrien.

“Whoa, Sugarcube! Where’d you learn such words?”

Ladybug yelped in surprise, yo-yo flying upwards on reflex, then sighed.

“Plagg, what happened?” she asked without preamble.

“What, did the giant hole in the house not tip you off? Blue-Hair showed up as an akuma with Lie-La in a cage, said something sappy, put Adrien in a literal gilded cage of his own and left.” Plagg explained.

“Oh. Wonderful.” Ladybug deadpanned as she accepted the ring Plagg was holding. “Any thoughts on where he’s gone?”

“He said something about collecting someone else before beginning the main event.” Plagg replied. “Probably Adrien’s sorry sad sack father.”

“Hmm. Well, no time to wonder.” Ladybug said, slipping the ring onto her finger. “I’ll need a new Cat Noir first, I’m not blundering into this without back-up.”

But who could she select? Naturally Luka was out because he was the akumatised villain, but perhaps Alya or Nino? No. Then it hit her.

“Of course!”

At the same time, Juleka Couffaine was engaged in something very important indeed. Namely, helping her mother turn their houseboat upside down searching for a disembowelling cutlass to use on Lila whilst Rose sat near the porthole, keeping an eye out in case Cage-Master came their way.

“Where in Morgan’s name did I put that thing?” Anarka muttered to herself as she flipped up the sofa to look underneath it. “Blackguard thinks she can hurt my son and get away with it? Ha! I’ll make chum out of her guts!”

“Then you’d go to jail for poisoning sharks.” Juleka muttered.

“It would be - AHA! There’s the devil!” Anarka proclaimed, triumphantly holding a large sword up in the air. “Ah yes, rusty and dull! That’ll do the trick.”

As she said this, there was a loud thud and the boat dipped slightly as something landed on the upper deck. Juleka quickly grabbed the nearest things to hand, a can of hairspray and a lighter whilst Rose seized a microphone stand and held it like a bat.

“Who dares board me vessel without permission?” Anarka said. “Declare yourself or be prepared to walk the plank!”

Ladybug descended the stairs, hands held up in surrender.

“I come in peace, Captain.” she said. “Sorry about boarding without permission but time’s of the essence.”

“Ladybug! Thank Teach ye’re here, did ye save my son yet?” Anarka demanded.

“Not yet, ma’am, but that’s why I’m here.” Ladybug replied. “I need your daughter’s help.”

“Me?” Juleka mumbled. “What for?”

“Cat Noir is unexpectedly out of commission and I don’t fancy going up against your brother without help.”

Ladybug held out one hand and it took Juleka a few minutes to realise what was in it.

“Juleka Couffaine, here is the Miraculous of the Black Cat which grants the power of Destruction. You will use it for the greater good to save your brother.”

Juleka’s eyes (both of them) widened to the size of saucers; her, wield a Miraculous? And not just any Miraculous but Cat Noir’s, the one that allowed you to destroy anything you touched?

“Um, are you sure you want to use me?” she said, bashfully hiding her face. “I mean, I’m no good at anything, I’ll probably just mess it up and-”

Ladybug laid her other hand on Juleka’s shoulder comfortingly.

“I know it’s a lot to take in, but trust me when I say that you are the right one for this.” she said. “Before I got my Miraculous, I felt the same way about myself; awkward, clumsy, uncoordinated and in no way cut out to be a hero, but you’d be surprised at the potential these things can unlock within you.”

“The lass is right, Juleka.” Anarka chimed in. “Juleka, yer always sellin’ yerself short believin’ you’re no good, but you’re my daughter! You aren’t nothing, not to me and not to anyone else worth listenin’ to! Ladybug, yer brother and all of Paris needs yer help, so go for it!”

“You’ll make an awesome hero, Juleka!” Rose said. “I know you can do it, I believe in you!”

Emboldened by the words of her mother and girlfriend, Juleka nodded confidently and took the ring from Ladybug’s hand. It immediately glowed green, making Juleka shield her eyes as Plagg materialised in front of her.

“I remember you, you were the one that got akumatised into that horrendous hot pink monstrosity!” he exclaimed. “Don’t worry, though, with my Miraculous you’ll look a thousand times better than that.”

“Is that…….a flying, talking cat plushie?” Anarka asked, craning her head forwards to get a better look at Plagg.

“Again with the plushie? No, I’m a kwami!” Plagg replied.

“Awwww, you’re so cute!” Rose gushed. “Can I put a bow on you?”

“Try it and you’ll lose a finger, pinky! The last guy who tried learned that the hard way!”

Rose jerked her hand back in fearful reflex.

“Plagg, don’t be mean to Rose.” Ladybug scolded him. “She just likes making cute things even cuter.”

“I am not cute!” Plagg exclaimed. “I am a millennia-old, all-powerful tiny god of destruction who has smote entire civilisations!”

“Still adorable.” Rose said. “Can I at least stroke you?”

“Hmmmmm…….OK, but just a quick one.” Plagg conceded.

Rose scratched his ears, making the kwami purr in pleasure.

“Never tell Cat Noir I made that sound!” he said. “I mean it!”

“OK, so I just put the ring on and then…..?” Juleka asked.

“Say Claws Out to transform, Claws In to de-transform. Cataclysm activates your power, but you only get one use and then it’s five minutes until you transform back.” Plagg reeled off. “Now, let’s get this show on the road!”

Juleka slipped the ring onto the middle finger of her right hand and it transformed into a band made of black jade.

“Plagg, Claws Out!”

Plagg was sucked into the ring and Juleka was engulfed by greenish-black energy, transforming her. When the light cleared, Juleka now looked very different; instead of Cat Noir’s black leather catsuit, her motif involved a lot of black lace along with calf-length heeled boots, black lace leggings, a long strategically slit skirt for maximum ease of leg movement and a spiderweb-patterned corset. Her hair had transformed from bangs to a single long plait and her eyes were now an eerie silver with slitted pupils. Ladybug let out an impressed whistle.

“Wow!” she said. “Very Bellatrix, I have to say.”

“You look awesome, Juleka!” Rose squealed, snapping a quick picture on her phone.

“Mmm-thanks, I guess.” Juleka mumbled, going a bit red in the face.

“You look the part of a true pirate, me lass!” Anarka said.

“Now all you need is a name.” Ladybug said.

Juleka thought hard to herself about what name to pick. Black Widow? Obsidian? Pantheress?

“Ahkari.” she finally decided. “Call me Ahkari.”

“Got it.” Ladybug said. “Let’s go then, Ahkari.”

Before they could leave, however, Rose’s phone let out a loud ping as it received a notification.

“It’s about Luka!” she said as she read the notification. “He’s at the TVi studios and……he’s got Adrien’s father as well!”

“Mr. Agreste? That must have been what he meant by collecting another person.” Ladybug realised. “At least we know where he is now! Let’s go!”

======================================================================

The meeting had been going well enough even with Gabriel’s obvious anger at the board members for questioning his competency, mainly thanks to the elected chairperson, Sophie Trenet, being singularly unimpressed and unintimidated by him.

“Gabriel, this is not about disloyalty nor usurpation.” she told him firmly, looking him dead in the eyes. “Rather, it is a simple statement of fact. You have made very few face-to-face meetings since your late wife’s death, even fewer public appearances and there has been a noticeable decline in the quality, quantity and regularity of your work as head designer and chief executive officer. As the board of directors for your brand, we are professionally and legally obligated to submit you to a performance evaluation for the good of the business itself.”

“My wife’s disappearance as you so bluntly put it, Ms. Trenet, has affected me considerably.” Gabriel replied. “I find that I work better in a more isolated environment and with my dear Emilie gone, work is the only thing I have to throw myself into.”

“As may be, but the fact remains that we are not convinced that you are able to handle all of these duties.” Trenet said. “That is why you are here; to allay our doubts.”

Gabriel opened his mouth to reply, only to shut it as the sound of a great commotion came from outside the office; crashing, screaming and the sounds of people running.

“Nathalie, see what’s going on out there.” he ordered.

Before Nathalie could move, however, the doors to the conference room burst open to hit the wall with such force that the plaster cracked. Through them strode what was unmistakably an akumatised villain, accompanied by two floating cages.

“Excuse me, this is a private meeting.” said Herve Quemar, head of the legal department. “Who are you?”

“Ah, how rude of me. I am Cage-Master, and I have an appointment with Gabriel Agreste.” the akuma replied before his tone took on a noticeably darker tone. “Or rather, he has an appointment with me.”

He cracked his knuckles threateningly. Gabriel drew himself up to his full height.

“I will not be intimidated by the likes of you.” he said imperiously.

“We’ll see.” Cage-Master replied ominously.

Guillaume Beylier, another board member, craned his head at one of the cages.

“Is that young Adrien I see?” he asked.

Gabriel glanced at the cage in question and blanched in shock; it was indeed Adrien.

“Hi, Mr. Beylier.” he said, waving at the man. “How are you today?”

“Fine, my boy, but perhaps I should be asking you that considering your current predicament.” Beylier replied.

Cage-Master now began advancing on Gabriel, the cages (the other contained an oddly silent Lila Rossi) floating just behind him.

“You think you can just lock my precious angel, my wonderful ray of sunshine, away in a cage without consequences, just because he wishes to act according to his own will?” he snarled. “Well, now you will know exactly how that feels!”

Nathalie suddenly sprang into action, swinging a chair at Cage-Master. The villain merely grinned, parried the attack and slashed at Nathalie with his swagger stick, trapping her in a gibbet identical to Lila’s.

“Pitiful,” he remarked.

Gabriel was starting to get nervous; the last time he’d ended up on the wrong side of one of his akumas, he’d ended up almost jumping off a twenty story building (and thoroughly humiliating himself into the bargain).

“Now, look here,” he said. “I am certain the powers you’ve been granted have given you the belief that you are justified in these actions, but I will not stand here and-”

Cage-Master moved faster than blinking; a flash of light and Gabriel was now confined within a gibbet. He wrestled angrily with the bars, the cage only just large enough for him to do so.

“How dare you!” he stormed.

“Not so fun with the cuffs on the other wrist, huh?” Cage-Master gloated.

“I order you to release me at once!” Gabriel demanded. “This is outrageous! I demand-”

“I FORBID YOU TO SPEAK!”

Gabriel’s mouth vanished mid-tirade, leaving the man utterly shocked. Within his jacket, Nooroo (who had had this exact fate inflicted on him twice before by Gabriel) couldn’t quite help but feel a surge of satisfaction at this karmic payback.

“You are no longer in any position to dictate anything to anyone.” Cage-Master silkily declared. “But for my plan to come to fruition, we will need a more public locale. Ladies and gentlemen of the board, I bid you good day.”

And pausing only to once again shrink the cages down to portable size, he left. His arrival at the TVi studios building caused no small amount of commotion and fear, but Nadja Chamack remained as professionally composed as always, merely apologising to her scheduled guests for the inconvenience.

“Don’t be bemused, it’s just the news! I’m Nadja Chamack, presenting a very special episode of Face-to-Face with akumatised villain Cage-Master.” she said. “What brings you to our studio today, and with such high-profile…guests…..in tow?”

“I’m very glad you asked, Nadja.” Cage-Master replied. “It begins with Adrien, my wonderful Sunshine.”

Adrien gave an awkward little wave from within his cage.

“Ah yes, this must tie in with the images that have been circulating throughout Paris since early this morning.” Nadja remarked.

She flinched as Cage-Master glared at her, but apart from that nothing happened.

“Yes.” he said in a bitter tone. “Which brings me to the first of my guests.”

He clapped his hands and Lila’s gibbet moved forwards.

“Meet Lila Rossi,” he said. “Say hello, Lila.”

Obviously she couldn’t since her mouth was still vanished, so she just glared angrily.

“Nothing to say? Good, because it would probably be nothing but lies.” Cage-Master said. “Lila here is the reason why those images are in the public domain to begin with.”

“And why did she do that?” Nadja asked, genuinely curious.

“Ask her yourself.” Cage-Master replied.

He snapped his fingers and Lila’s mouth reappeared; she let out a noise between a gasp and a sharp intake of breath, hands going to her newly restored mouth as though expecting it to just as suddenly vanish again.

“Go ahead, Lila. Tell the nice public why you released those images.” Cage-Master said.

Lila opened her mouth, one of her trademark and very convincing claims of innocence on the tip of her tongue.

“Because I hated that you had Adrien and I wanted to make you both suffer!”

There were gasps of shock from the studio audience and Lila clapped her hands over her mouth in shock; why had she said that? Cage-Master smirked.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I forget to mention?” he said. “You are under my complete and total control as long as you’re in that cage. No matter how badly you try or want to lie, only the truth will come forth if I will it. So please, do go on.”

“Adrien should be mine!” Lila continued obligingly but unwillingly, clenching the bars with the effort of trying to resist the magical compulsion. “He belongs to me and me alone! If he won’t be with me, then I’ll make sure that he’ll never be happy again!”

The audience began booing and a few even threw things.

“How awful.” Nadja said, giving Lila a look of disgust.

“But wait, there’s more!” Cage-Master said in a sing-song voice. “Lila here is also a liar of the first order, seemingly so incapable of telling the truth that I suspect it might literally kill her if she tried. Care to tell everyone, Lila? Oh wait, you don’t have a choice.”

Her face blazing with rage, Lila was forced against her will to spell out every single lie she’d ever told; being Ladybug’s best friend, claiming she was overseas on charity work whilst actually hiding in her room plotting revenge against those who’d refused to believe her, framing Marinette for theft and assault so she’d get expelled and many other things besides.

“A consummate liar indeed.” Nadja remarked, clenching her clipboard hard enough to almost snap it in half. “So you have framed people for things they haven’t done in the past because they tried to expose you?”

“Yes.” Lila replied. “I framed them for stealing, assault, made false accusations, spread rumours. I even slipped tomatoes into the food of a boy who was allergic because he was asking too many questions; a real pity they got his Epi-pen to him in time.”

Nadja actually did snap her clipboard in half at that one.

“So none of it is true? You are not Ladybug’s best friend, then?”

Lila laughed and this time it was genuine.

“Friend? I despise her!” she spat. “I wish she would die! I even set that ugly horned Oni-Chan on her to murder her in exchange for leaving Adrien alone and I teamed up with Hawk Moth on Heroes’ Day to discredit her.”

There was dead silence in the studio.

“Y-You’re working with Hawk Moth?” Nadja asked, utterly flabbergasted.flabbergasted.

“Yes, and I don’t regret any of it!” Lila replied. “He gives me power and the chance to destroy that bratty, goody two-shoes heroine who dared to call me a liar!”

Nadja looked as though she wanted to throw up; a man in the audience got to his feet.

“I say kill that wretched brat!” he shouted.

“All in due time, my good man.” Cage-Master told him. “Anything else, Lila?”

“I also work for Gabriel Agreste,” Lila replied. “He hired me as a model to spy on Adrien at school to get rid of any negative influences from those stupid friends of his.”

Several people in the audience exclaimed in disgust whilst Adrien turned a kind of sickly-green.

“Is…..Is that true, Father?” he asked in a trembling voice.

Cage-Master snapped his fingers and Gabriel’s mouth reappeared.

“Yes. It is true.” Gabriel answered against his will.

Adrien looked completely betrayed; school was the one place where he felt like he could be himself without the shadow of his father looming over him and even there, Gabriel had found some way to control him. He honestly wasn’t sure how to describe how he was feeling, though the word “violated” came close.

“You really are a control freak, aren’t you?” Cage-Master spat in disgust before turning back to Lila. “I think we’ve heard enough from you. Now, it’s time to shut you up…..permanently.”

He began clenching the fingers of his right hand inwards towards his palm; there was a terrible sound of groaning metal and the bars of the gibbet began to contract inwards.

“No! Stop! You’ll crush me!” Lila screamed in real panic.

“That’s the idea.” was the blunt reply.

“Stop! STOP! HAWK MOTH, STOP HIM! YOU OWE ME!” Lila shrieked.

“I don’t owe you anything.”

Time stopped dead as those words escaped the mouth of Gabriel Agreste, here in the studio and all across Paris where people were watching the broadcast. Apparently the cages could make people reply truthfully to anyone.

“What did you say?” Cage-Master asked, for once completely flat-footed.

Before Gabriel could answer, the doors burst open and Ladybug and Ahkari leapt into the room, brandishing their weapons.

“Caught you!” Ladybug exclaimed.

“It’s time to break you free, L- I mean, Cage-Master!” Ahkari said, catching herself just in time.

Cage-Master rounded on them with absolute fury.

“NO! You will not stop me from learning his secrets!” he said, brandishing his swagger stick at them.

“That must be where the akuma is.” Ladybug noted.

“Ready when you are, Ladybug.” Ahkari replied.

“Wait! There’s something you should-!”

Nadja’s cry was lost as the heroes leapt at Cage-Master, who roared in anger before responding in kind. Each attempt by the heroes to snag or break the swagger stick was met with frenzied anger, as Cage-master was desperate not to let them break his akumatised object before making Gabriel elaborate on what he’d said.

“Luka, please, this is not you!” Ladybug pleaded as she tried to ensnare his legs with her yo-yo. “Hawk Moth has corrupted you!”

“I know he has, but that was his mistake!” Cage-Master snarled in reply. “You don’t realise it, but he’s sealed his own doom!”

“You’re damn right he has!” Ahkari snarled, furious at what had been done to her brother.

“Just let us de-akumatise you and it’ll all be fine!” Ladybug said.

“No! You don’t understand, if you take my akuma then he’ll be free!” Cage-Master replied, sounding genuinely terrified as he pointed at Gabriel.

“We know what he’s done to his son, Luka!” Ahkari said, grunting with effort as she swung her quarterstaff at her akumatised brother. “We will get him out of it, but you have to give up your akuma!”

She caught him with a lucky strike to the ankles that sent him to the floor, where both heroes quickly jumped on and pinned him.

“Now! Cataclysm the stick!”

“NO!!!!!!!”

With a monumental effort, Cage-Master threw them both off; his swagger stick connected with them in mid-air and in a flash of light, both were imprisoned in a large birdcage. A bit inconvenient, but nothing that couldn’t be solved thanks to-

“Cataclysm!” Ahkari cried.

But nothing happened. Ahkari stared at her hand in confusion, wondering why no blistering black ball of destructive energy had formed in her palm.

“What happened?” she asked aloud, tapping the ring against the bars like it was malfunctioning. “What’s wrong with this thing?”

“A side-effect of my cages, I’m afraid.” Cage-Master replied, getting to his feet and brushing himself off. “Nothing magical or electrical will work inside them. That means no transformations, no Cataclysm and no Lucky Charm.”

Unseen behind him, Gabriel’s face went pale; his trump card, if this rogue akuma got round to interrogating him about his identity, had been to suddenly transform into Hawk Moth, break his way out and flee before anyone could react since he could always revoke the akuma once safely away and in hiding. But if Cage-Master was telling the truth, he wouldn’t be able to transform inside this cage. He was trapped, in more ways than one, and gulped audibly in fear as Cage-Master turned back to him.

“Now where was I? Ah, yes.” Cage-Master said. “On to you, Mr. Agreste. What secrets are you hiding?”

Gabriel tried to resist, but it was no use.

“I am Hawk Moth.”

Ladybug and Ahkari, who’d been trying to pry the bars open with the latter’s quarterstaff, froze.

“What?” Ladybug squeaked.

Adrien had gone white as chalk in his cage, staring with wide eyes through the bars at his father.

“Prove it.” Cage-Master ordered. “Your Miraculous, where is it?”

“Under my ascot.” Gabriel replied.

Cage-Master reached into the cage and tore the offending accessory from Gabriel’s neck; there, sure enough, was a small purple brooch pinned just beneath his collarbone. He reached out and plucked it off before holding it up to the light.

“Such a small little thing to cause so much damage in the wrong hands.” he remarked before looking back at Gabriel. “So, you are Hawk Moth. Why?”

“To lure out Ladybug and Cat Noir so I can acquire their Miraculouses.” Gabriel replied.

“And why do you need them?”

“My wife, Emilie. She used the damaged Peacock Miraculous and it eventually rendered her comatose. I need the Miraculous Absolute Power to heal her.”

Adrien had now gone a sickly grey, like old porridge.

“You mean…….Mother’s…still alive?” he choked out.

“Yes.” Gabriel replied. “She is comatose in a repository beneath my house, but her time is running out. Only the Absolute Power can bring her back.”

Unseen by everyone, Ahkari had produced a hairpin from within her hair and was fiddling with the cage lock.

“You can pick locks too?” Ladybug whispered to her.

“Mum says it’s in case I ever end up in handcuffs.” Ahkari replied.

Cage-Master’s attention was still firmly fixed on Gabriel.

“How did Mother end up in a coma?” Adrien asked.

“She used the Peacock Miraculous when it was broken.” Gabriel replied.

“Why?” Adrien asked, though there was a sensation of horrified realisation growing within him.

“To create you.”

Ahkari jerked the hairpin in the lock hard enough that it almost broke; Ladybug’s jaw dropped rapidly enough that there was a loud click of bone; Cage-Master almost dropped the Butterfly Miraculous.

“What?” Cage-Master said.

“You mean I’m a………….a……sentimonster?” Adrien whispered.

“You are.” Gabriel replied. “Your mother could not have children but we both desired an heir, so the Peacock was used to create you.”

The studio audience were recovering from their shock, muttering to each other, and all across Paris the people watching were doing the same thing; the cages made their prisoners tell the truth and nobody was doubting that, but they were having a hard time equating the sentimonsters they were familiar with (the purple moth, the giant lollipop, the frog thing) with the normal-looking Adrien.

“So…..so all this time, my entire life even, I’ve been nothing but a puppet?” Adrien choked out. “I’m not real?”

Cage-Master was at his side in an instant, reaching through the bars to softly stroke his boyfriend’s face and hair.

“You are real, Sunshine.” he said. “You are real to me and you will still be real to me because this, this……revelation changes nothing between us. Nothing, you hear me!”

He pressed something into Adrien’s hands, something small with smooth edges; the Butterfly Miraculous.

“Hold onto this for me, my love.” Cage-Master said softly. “I’ll be back in just a moment.”

He moved away from Adrien’s cage and back towards Gabriel’s.

“So, you’re Hawk Moth and you’ve been terrorising Paris for the past year to get the Miraculouses of Ladybug and Cat Noir so you can resurrect your wife from a coma she’s in because she used the broken Peacock Miraculous to create Adrien.” he reeled off. “Rather cliche in many ways, but there you are.”

A thought occurred to him and he turned to Nathalie, who up until that moment had been completely ignored.

“Did you know about any of this?” he demanded.

“Yes, I did.” Nathalie replied.

“And how have you been helping?”

“I was Catalyst on Heroes’ Day, empowering Hawk Moth to akumatise everyone. And when that failed, I used the Peacock Miraculous to become Mayura.”

Ladybug froze, listening with interest; Mayura? That made a lot of sense.

“But he said the Peacock Miraculous is broken, which is why his wife is in her coma.” Cage-Master said, jerking his head in Gabriel’s direction. “You used it despite knowing this?”

“Yes.” Nathalie replied. “I knew the risks, the cost it would take, but I did not care.”

“Why?” Cage-Master asked, genuinely baffled.

“Because I love Gabriel and I want, above all else, for him to be happy.” Nathalie replied.

It sounded very romantic and indeed it might have been, if you ignored the fact that she’d been a willing accomplice to mass terrorism.

“Personally, I think you could do a lot better.” Cage-Master remarked with a sour expression.

He moved back to Gabriel’s cage.

“I’ve heard all I need to hear,” he said. “I’m certain this is not the outcome you predicted when you akumatised me, but life has an annoying habit of not going according to plan, doesn’t it?”

Gabriel glared at him defiantly.

“Time to be rid of you, I think, Hawk Moth.” Cage-Master snarled. “I highly doubt anyone will step forward to save you considering all the grief you’ve caused for the past year. I might even get medals, but that’s besides the point.”

He snapped his fingers and chains appeared around Gabriel’s neck; a squeeze of the fingers made the chains start to contract. Gabriel clawed at his neck, unable to breathe.

“You will never hurt or control Adrien again!” Cage-Master vowed.

“LUKA, STOP!”

Cage-Master whipped around on his heel to find Ladybug and Ahkari standing there, free of the cage he’d trapped them in.

“Impossible!” he exclaimed. “How did you get out of there?”

“Your cage prevents magical means of escape, but my hairpin isn’t magical.” Ahkari replied, holding up the item in question.

“Grrrrr! Why are you still trying to fight me?” Cage-Master demanded. “I captured Hawk Moth, I have his Miraculous and now I am about to make sure he suffers due punishment for his crimes! Stand down!”

“We can’t! This isn’t right, Luka, and you know it!” Ladybug said. “You’ve done enough, now stop before you go too far!”

“Too far? In comparison to them?!” Cage-Master raged, gesturing at his three imprisoned victims. “You yourself know what they’ve done, all the akumas they’ve caused or directly created without caring for the damage it causes! If it weren’t for your own power, Ladybug, think about what state Paris would be in now!”

Many people were in agreement here; the Eiffel Tower alone had been damaged or outright destroyed in at least a dozen akuma battles before now and it was a major historical landmark. The Louvre, Notre-Dame de Paris, Tour Montparnasse, Conciergerie, Les Invalides, the Luxembourg Palace, Hotel de Ville, University of Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, all had been damaged or destroyed during akuma attacks as well and that wasn’t even counting the huge amounts of property damage to ordinary homes and businesses. If it weren’t for Ladybug’s literal all-in-one magical repair, the city would be a desolate ruin by now.

“I know they’ve done wrong, terrible wrongs, and they will be made to pay for it.” Ladybug acknowledged. “But you have to stop this now.”

“And why should I do that?” Cage-Master asked.

“Because you’ve become someone you’re not!” Ahkari replied. “Worse, you risk becoming exactly like them!”

“I AM NOTHING LIKE THEM!” Cage-Master bellowed, so loudly that cracks appeared in the ceiling. “All I have done is to protect Adrien!”

“By doing exactly what they did, locking him away in a literal gilded cage thinking it was the best thing for him!” Ahkari pointed out.

Cage-Master went rigid, the colour draining from his face as this realisation hit. He stole a horrified glance at Adrien and the gilded cage he’d put him in, then looked down at his hands as they began to shake.

“Oh no.” he whispered. “No! What have I done? What have I become?”

His swagger stick fell to the floor with a clatter as he dashed over to Adrien’s cage; with a gargantuan scream of mixed pain and rage, he grasped the bars of the cage and tore it apart. Adrien flinched back at the display of superhuman strength tearing apart magically enhanced metal like it was paper, but when Cage-Master took him in his arms it was with all the gentleness of handling a newborn baby. Tears flowed down his face like miniature waterfalls and he seemed hesitant to even touch Adrien for fear he would shatter like glass or vanish in a puff of smoke.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” he said almost non-stop. “I wanted to protect you and instead I…..I….I did what they did, I locked you in a cage and tried to control you! I’m so sorry!”

Adrien was still struggling to process the literally life-upending revelations he’d just learned, but his kind and loving heart won through and he wrapped his arms around his akumatised boyfriend, letting him sob helplessly into his shoulder.

“Shhh. Shhh, it’s OK.” he said softly into his ear. “I forgive you.”

Over Cage-Master’s shoulder, Adrien saw Ladybug summon a Lucky Charm and Ahkari pick up the swagger stick.

“Cataclysm!”

The stick calcified and crumbled in Ahkari’s grip, freeing the wicked little akuma from within. Ladybug snared it with her yo-yo and purified it.

“The last one.” she remarked. “Miraculous Ladybug!”

The Lucky Charm dissolved into the usual swarm of magical ladybirds that swooped around Paris, seeking out the damage caused by Luka’s rampage and repairing it. The cages holding Lila, Gabriel and Nathalie vanished, dumping them all unceremoniously to the floor; finally the ladybirds washed over Cage-Master, leaving a restored but rather dazed Luka in his place.

“Wha-? Where?”

Woozy from the post-de-akumatisation mind fuzziness, he shook his head to clear it.

“Why am I at the TV station?” he asked, then realised whose arms he was cradled in. “Adrien!”

His first instinct was to surge up and hug him, but then he remembered why he was likely here and not at school where he last remembered being.

“Oh no, I was akumatised, wasn’t I?” he asked. “Please tell me I didn’t hurt you.”

Adrien gave him a reassuring smile, though it was tinged with a hint of melancholy.

“Not hurt, per se.” he admitted. “You just stuck me in a luxurious golden cage whilst vowing to destroy anyone who tried to hurt or control me. Romantic, if extreme.”

The colour drained from Luka’s face.

“I’m sorry, Sunshine.” he said. “I just…..”

“And you also caught Hawk Moth.”

Luka went silent.

“I did what?” he asked.

But everyone’s attention was focused on the three people now pulling themselves to their feet; Lila, Gabriel and Nathalie, all of them swiftly realising just where they were and what situation they were now in.

“So we finally meet, Hawk Moth.” Ladybug said in a very cold voice.

“So lovely to finally know the face behind the mask.” Ahkari said, flexing her sharp claws.

Gabriel didn’t even bother with the pretence.

“Nooroo, Dark Wings Rise!”

But nothing happened.

“What?! Nooroo, transform me!” Gabriel stormed. “That is an order! Nooroo!”

Ahkari was confused but Ladybug quickly cottoned on.

“See, that’s the funny thing about the Miraculous.” she remarked. “Unless they’re outright destroyed, the Miraculous Cure doesn’t do anything to them. So if it was removed from you or it gets dropped somewhere, it stays where it is.”

Gabriel yanked off his ascot and, sure enough, there was no little purple brooch pinned to his shirt. Oh, dear.

“And where it is is with me, Father.”

Adrien was now on his feet, glaring furiously at his father, the Butterfly Miraculous clutched tightly in his hand. The boy was clearly enraged and hurt in equal measure, but Gabriel only saw his own opportunity.

“Adrien, give me the Miraculous now!” he said.

Once again, Adrien felt that strange compulsion to obey. Except now he knew why.

“N-No!” he said. “I won’t! I am not your puppet!”

“You will hand it over!” Gabriel said. “To obey is in your nature! You cannot refuse!”

Adrien was trying his damned well best to, and it was clearly causing him considerable agony to do so. Ladybug’s eyes fell on Gabriel’s hand, saw how he was stroking his wedding ring and realisation struck.

“Get his ring!” she shouted to the room at large. “His wedding ring, that’s what he’s using! Get the ring!”

There was an answering flurry of movement as studio crew and audience members alike charged at the fashion designer/supervillain. Nathalie attempted to fend them off, knocking a few to the ground with some surprising martial arts moves, but fell as a heavily-built cameraman tackled her to the floor in a bearhug. Gabriel found himself tackled as well (who knew Nadja Chamack could wrestle?) and pinned down by at least a dozen people; Ladybug knelt down and grabbed his free hand.

“I’ll just relieve you of that, if you don’t mind.” she said in a faux-cheerful voice as she pulled the wedding ring clean off his finger.

Making sure that he was properly restrained, Ladybug walked over to Adrien and handed the ring to him.

“Here.” she said. “Now you’re free, as everyone should be.”

“Thank you, Ladybug.” Adrien replied, filled with some undefinable emotion as he placed the ring shakily on his own finger. “And since one good turn deserves another.”

He held out the Butterfly Miraculous; Ladybug took it and held it up, the object that had been the source of so much trouble for so long.

“No more evildoing for you, little Butterfly Miraculous.” she said half to herself. “Now or ever.”

Nathalie and Gabriel were heaved to their feet, hands hastily bound with spare extension cords until the police could arrive.

“We’re missing one. Where’s Lila?” Ladybug asked, looking around for the girl in question.

“Don’t tell me she got away!” Luka exclaimed.

“Oh, she didn’t.”

Everyone turned to see Ahkari walking over, pushing a very disgruntled Lila in front of her.

“Look who I caught trying to sneak away through the fire door.” the black-clad heroine said cheerfully. “Why be shy, Lila? Come and join your friends!”

“They’re not my friends, I was coerced!” Lila wailed, clearly trying to pretend she was innocent. “They forced me to help them by threatening to hurt me and my mother!”

“A likely story!” Ladybug scoffed.

“You were literally caught on tape admitting you supported Hawk Moth willingly!” one audience member shouted.

“Live to millions of people, too!” a stagehand chimed in.

“None of it was true!” Lila said. “I was being forced to lie!”

Ladybug let out a hysterical cackle.

“You, forced to lie?! Yeah, right!” she scoffed. “The day that happens will be the day rhinos lay eggs!”

“It’s true!” Lila wailed.

“No, it isn’t.”

Heads whipped around towards Gabriel Agreste.

“Ms. Rossi was not forced to help me, she volunteered.” he said. “And far from being terrified or reluctant, she was downright gleeful at the chance to hurt Ladybug.”

Heads turned back to Lila, who had gone white with shock.

“W-Why?” she stammered.

“Simple.” Gabriel replied. “If I’m going down, Ms. Rossi, then you’re coming with me.”

Human pettiness, Ladybug would later reflect on, was not something to ever be underestimated. It was of no benefit to Gabriel Agreste to confirm these things about Lila, whose guilt was already proven, other than to claim some small petty satisfaction of knowing that her fate wouldn’t be any different from his. Honestly, she was too disappointed and tired to be disgusted or surprised. What did jolt her, however, was the microphone that was suddenly pushed in front of her face.

“Ladybug, is this truly the end of Hawk Moth? Is that really his Miraculous that he’s been using to turn people into villains?” Nadja Chamack asked.

Belatedly, Ladybug realised she was still holding the Butterfly Miraculous in her hand. If she concentrated hard like Wayzz and Tikki had taught her, she could just about feel the telltale aura of a kwami within the brooch; yes, this was the real Butterfly Miraculous.

“Yes, Nadja.” she said, beaming because she just couldn’t help it. “Paris is finally free of Hawk Moth; there will be no more akumatisations wreaking havoc and life can finally get back to normal.”

The resultant outpouring of joy in response to this nearly overloaded the Butterfly Miraculous with positive emotion. Spouses, couples, casual acquaintances and even complete strangers hugged each other, the bells of Notre-Dame began ringing, someone took over the Eiffel Tower and launched endless streams of fireworks from it, school and work days were cut short and the entire Champs-Elysees was closed off for a huge party that lasted well into the night and beyond as people celebrated the end of Hawk Moth. One thing many were especially jubilant about was the fact that they would now be able to “feel” again, to get angry and sad and jealous and afraid without worrying if it was going to result in a madman corrupting them with evil butterflies.

The Agreste Mansion was naturally subjected to an instant police raid, assisted by the full roster of Team Miraculous; The place was turned upside-down and inside out in the process of searching it (the discovery of the missile-filled lair in the attic was a memorable highlight, and added to the long list of charges against Gabriel because it was illegal to own military-grade weapons as a private citizen); in the process was found the Peacock Miraculous, which was summarily repaired and returned to the Miracle Box, and the body of Emilie Agreste in a life support capsule beneath the mansion. In spite of the best efforts of both the Miraculous team and mundane doctors, there was nothing that could be done to awaken her and she was quietly interred in the plot she’d supposedly been buried in months ago.

ONE MONTH LATER

Most people had tried to talk him out of this course of action, but Adrien was determined, for the sake of closure if nothing else. At first he’d been a spiralling mess, not wanting to talk to or see anyone in light of what had happened because not only was his father the supervillain who’d been terrorising Paris for over a year, he himself was not even a naturally-conceived human but one literally born of magic. That had led to a knotty little situation whilst his legal status was debated, re-examined and then finally codified, but with that all taken care of there remained only one thing to do.

“Adrien.”

The room looked exactly like any other interrogation room seen on crime programmes; bare except for a table, a few chairs, a large mirror along one wall and lit by overly bright and harsh fluorescent lamps. Seated at the table with his hands cuffed and the cuffs themselves chained to the table, was his father.

“Father,” he said coldly, taking the seat opposite him.

“You…..look well.” Gabriel began.

Adrien looked his father up and down; La Sante might be known for holding criminals of a higher class than others but it was still a prison. Gone was the immaculate clothing and sharply styled hair, the finely manicured nails and perfectly moisturised skin, all the things that his father had prided himself on having to reinforce his status as a wealthy fashion designer. A shabby orange prison jumpsuit, white rubber-soled slip-on shoes and a pair of prescription glasses rather than his custom designed ones. A far cry from what he used to be.

“You as well, I suppose.” Adrien replied, still in that cold voice.

Gabriel glanced at the two-way mirror.

“I suppose Ladybug and Cat Noir are watching this.” he said, more a statement of fact than a question.

“Naturally.” Adrien replied. “She didn’t want me to come, nobody did, but I have to do this.”

Ladybug was indeed watching, as was Luka; the inactive Snake Miraculous was on his wrist and Sass floated next to him, in case Viperion and Second Chance should be needed.

“I still don’t think this is a good idea.” Ladybug remarked, her eyes on Gabriel.

“Neither do I, but it’s Adrien’s choice and his choice alone.” Luka replied. “Now, more than ever, we have to respect his decisions.”

Ladybug conceded the point with a stiff nod of the head. In the room, Gabriel was still talking.

“I see you’re wearing both the twin rings.” he said, glancing at Adrien’s left hand.

“Yes. I am now my own person.” Adrien replied. “As much as I ever can be, at least.”

“How did you get the other one back from Felix?” Gabriel asked.

“With some……persuasion.” Adrien replied, refusing to elaborate.

Ladybug grimaced; Felix had not been very accommodating at first, refusing to hand over the ring unless he was given the Peacock Miraculous in return. Turns out Felix himself was a sentibeing as well, which Ladybug honestly wasn’t surprised by, and desired the Peacock Miraculous so it wouldn’t be used to destroy him. Whilst Ladybug could understand and sympathise with him, her earlier experience with him made her highly reluctant to hand over any Miraculous to him and it was only thanks to Adrien and Luka that any agreement was reached. Felix’s own origins were concealed and an official story concocted stating that he was born naturally and Adrien modelled on him. Felix was now living part-time in Paris with Adrien, ostensibly to restore their relationship to what it was when they were younger, but Ladybug still didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him and recalled with quite a bit of pleasure how he turned a sickly pale-green when she threatened him:

“If you take advantage of Adrien to steal the Peacock Miraculous from me, or any other Miraculous for that matter, then I will come after you, make no mistake about it. And it doesn’t matter how far you go or how well you hide, I will find you and I will take back the Miraculous you stole from me and I will change you from a peacock to a peahen with a rusty spoon!”

“The Peacock is now repaired and back in the box,” Adrien went on. “Nathalie is healed, more or less, but it’s small comfort considering she’s facing a life sentence in prison for helping you and murdering people with that Robostus sentimonster.”

“And……what of your mother?” Gabriel asked.

Adrien closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, composing himself.

“We tried our best, but the damage was too severe to be reversed,” he said. “She’s gone, for good now.”

Gabriel did not take this news well.

“If Ladybug and Cat Noir had only given me the Miraculous at the very beginning, none of this would have been necessary!” he said.

“None of this was necessary at all!” Adrien fired back. “Do not dare attempt to justify your actions by blaming us!”

“I will- wait, us? What do you mean by us?” Gabriel demanded.

Adrien smiled mischievously; very rarely did he ever get to reveal a long kept secret like this.

“When I said Ladybug and Cat Noir were witnessing this, I was right.” he said. “She’s in there and I’m in here.”

It took Gabriel a few moments to connect the dots.

“You were Cat Noir this whole time?” he said.

“Were? I am still Cat Noir.” Adrien replied. “I was literally under your nose the whole time and you didn’t. have. a. clue. Shows how well you knew me, doesn’t it, if I could live a whole other life as a superhero and one half of your mortal enemy without you noticing anything.”

It was a little petty of him to gloat like this, sure, but even he had his limits.

“But this is perfect!” Gabriel exclaimed, his face gleaming. “If you just use your Miraculous to take Ladybug’s from her, we can use them to make the wish and bring your mother back. Where is the ring? Give it to me!”

Adrien just folded his arms.

“No.” he said. “I will not. I will not abuse the power of my Miraculous for that.”

Gabriel stared at him like he’d grown a second head.

“But it’s your mother, Adrien!” he said, trying to cajole him.

“I know, and don’t think I haven’t been tempted.” Adrien replied. “I love her and I miss her and I always will miss her, but I will not go through with this mad plan of yours.”

Gabriel’s hands curled into fists.

“You ungrateful, selfish wretch!” he began.

Adrien threw his head back and laughed.

“ I’m selfish?!” he said, almost hysterically deranged. “This from the man who was willing to cause the literal end of the world to get what he wanted? Who’s taken advantage of emotionally compromised people to turn them into insane superpowered villains that have destroyed this city more times than you can count and launched a freaking nuclear missile in an attempt to force our surrender? I hardly think you are in any position to call anyone selfish right now!”

“Your mother literally gave her life to create you!” Gabriel fired back.

“I know!” Adrien retorted. “I know, I’ve seen the videos that she left and the letters she wrote. She knew the risks, the potential consequences and what her eventual fate would be and she accepted it. You didn’t. No, you refused to respect her last wishes that you stop chasing the Miraculous and focus on family and instead abused the powers of the Butterfly Miraculous, powers you had no right to, to get your way!”

“Who deserves what is irrelevant!” Gabriel snapped. “I took what was owed, what I earned, and I used it for a righteous-”

“YOU EARNED NOTHING!”

Gabriel jerked back in his seat and, on the other side of the mirror, Ladybug and Luka both flinched; Adrien was on his feet, hands curled into fists atop the table, breathing like he’d run a race.

“Don’t you dare try and pretend that you were anything but a villain in this narrative! And you didn’t earn your powers, you just stumbled across!” he snarled. “You weren’t forced into villainy, you chose it! You chose to misuse Nooroo’s Miraculous to hurt people, to spread fear and terror where there should have been courage and hope!”

“Your mother was gone, Adrien!” Gabriel retorted, finding his voice. “I was desperate to get her back, to do anything to get her back!”

“Exactly! You were desperate, you were willing to do anything! Because it’s always about YOU!” Adrien fired back. “All the stuff you made me do - Chinese and Japanese lessons, fencing, piano, the modelling, it was stuff I grew to like but ultimately it was about you , so I could make you look good by having this marvellously talented son! All the behavioural conditioning so I wouldn’t make you look bad, or tarnish the image of the brand with your name! Even using the Butterfly Miraculous - one that’s explicitly for empowering others - was about you in the end!”

“I had to use it that way!” Gabriel protested. “It was the only way to lure out the heroes who wielded the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses!”

“And once you had done that, why did you not think of some other method to get our attention?” Adrien asked. “You didn’t need to keep attacking the city and hurting innocent people, you could have just approached us, explained your problem and asked for our help. Did you never consider that?”

It was clear that Gabriel hadn’t.

“There……there was no other way to bring your mother back-” he began.

“No, you never considered any other method is what you mean!” Adrien snapped. “Of course you would never think to ask; you never ask for anything, you just issue demands and expect everyone else to go along with them. The fact that Ladybug and I refused to kowtow to you is probably what spurred you on to ramping up the akuma attacks for daring to reject your commands. Even your plan involved literally forcing the universe to destroy and recreate itself around your whims.”

“I wasn’t aware of that particular cost when I started this!” Gabriel claimed.

“But you didn’t stop even after learning about it!” Adrien fired back. “Did you also know that in order for Mother to be brought back from her coma, someone else would have to take her place? Some poor, completely innocent person would lose their life in exchange?”

Gabriel shifted uncomfortably in his seat and refused to meet his son’s eyes.

“I…….I did know,” he said eventually. “But I deemed it a sufficient cost to restore your mother to us.”

Adrien’s green eyes flared with fire.

“You disgust me.” he said; Ladybug and Luka flinched, having never heard Adrien speak with so much contempt in his voice and Gabriel seemed to shrink a little. “You don’t care, then, about what innocent person gets their life destroyed, their family left with a gaping hole in it from the loss of a loved one. Their suffering is perfectly acceptable, so long as you get what you want in the end?”

Gabriel did not say anything but Adrien knew the answer anyway.

“Well, it hasn’t gone that way at all, has it?” he remarked. “Rather than gain back what you lost, you’ve lost everything that you still had. Your precious fashion brand, your wealth, your status, your reputation………and me.”

Gabriel jerked in his seat.

“You heard me.” Adrien said coldly. “As much as you didn’t deserve it, I would have been willing to forgive all the other horrible stuff you did because I thought you cared about me in some twisted way but what you did with Luka……that crossed the line.”

“You tried to make me break his heart by forcing me to break up with him, and when that failed you took advantage of what Lila did to force us apart and turn him into a villain. I am too permissive and forgiving for my own good; I freely acknowledge that, it’s part of who I am, but there is one line that I cannot forgive if crossed and that is hurting the people I love.”

Sass let out a venomous hiss and bared his fangs through the mirror at Gabriel; he might be a bit more mature and composed than most of his fellow kwamis, but he was no less protective and slightly possessive of his holder than the rest and he hadn’t been aware of this particular detail.

“Sass, calm down.” Plagg warned him. “I know you want to bite him but it’s probably not a good idea considering what happened the last time.”

“Yes, that was rather ugly but he deserved it!” Sass replied. “As does this crawling piece of vermin!”

“Do I want to know, Sass?” Luka asked his kwami.

“Let’s just say that there’s a reason Jack the Ripper never claimed a sixth victim and leave it at that.” Sass replied, folding his arms with an air of great satisfaction. "After all, kind of hard to be a methodical killer after your brain's been turned to soup."

Ladybug glanced at Sass in astonishment, but was prevented from inquiring further as Gabriel began to speak.

“So, you still are continuing to see that……boy?” he asked, trying to keep the sneer out of his voice.

“That boy, dear father, has shown me more love and affection in two short months than you have in an entire year.” Adrien replied coldly. “It’s not a silly infatuation or confused experimentation of feelings, I love him.”

“But he’s…..” Gabriel began, struggling to find the right words.

“A boy? Yes, I am aware of that.” Adrien replied.

“He’s not of the same class.” Gabriel said.

Luka let out a choked noise of mingled rage and offence.

“Neither were you when you married Mother, you filthy hypocrite!” Adrien pointed out. “She was heir to a very wealthy British noble family and you were the son of two fry cooks when you first met but that didn’t stop you, so why should it be different for me?”

“Because you were created to be exceptional!” Gabriel retorted. “Exceptional should be paired with exceptional, not mediocrity.”

Luka’s hands curled into fists and Ladybug was having to bite the string of her own yo-yo lest she risk giving in to her rage and use it to strangle Gabriel.

“Luka is not mediocre!” Adrien fired back. “I could talk until I’m blue in the face about how wonderful he is, but I might as well be speaking to a brick wall for all the good it would do.”

He got to his feet with an air of finality.

“I can see this isn’t going to go any further,” he said. “I came here hoping to see a flicker of remorse from you, some small acknowledgement that what you’ve done is wrong, but I see that’s pointless. Whatever good that was in you died a long time ago, replaced by a selfish hypocrite who doesn’t care who he hurts or what damage he causes as long as he gets what he wants in the end. So I’m through with you. Goodbye……. Gabriel .”

He spat the final word like it was an especially sour grape before turning on his heel and storming from the room, leaving a genuinely stunned Gabriel behind. The two guards who’d been outside the room entered and carted Gabriel away as Adrien entered the observation room.

“Adrien?” Are you-?” Luka began.

“Hug me.” Adrien said.

Luka didn’t waste time asking, just pulled Adrien into a hug. The blond wrapped his arms around his taller boyfriend, quaking with suppressed emotions.

“I…….I don’t know how to feel.” he said, voice slightly muffled as his face was pressed against Luka’s chest.

“I don’t think there’s any wrong way to feel about this, Sunshine.” Luka told him comfortingly. “So, what do you feel?”

“Angry, sad, triumphant, sickened, take your pick.” Adrien replied.

“Wanna go binge on ice cream and talk about it?” Luka asked.

“Mmmm……OK!” Adrien replied, sounding a bit more cheerful. “I’ll buy it since I’m not quite dirt poor.”

Naturally the moment Gabriel had been confirmed as Hawk Moth, his fashion brand had pretty much collapsed instantly; the stock had tanked and hundreds of employees jumped ship, horrified that they had been unwittingly working for the most wanted terrorist in the world. Gabriel’s own assets had been frozen aside from a separate trust fund set up for Adrien; enough to comfortably live on if he was careful, but still a far cry from the former obscene wealth of the Agreste name. He had also donated the mansion to the city, not caring at all what they did with the place, and now lived in a small but comfortable flat with his bodyguard, who had been contracted by his Aunt Amelie to look after Adrien; she had initially wanted him to come and live in London with her and Felix, as his only remaining family and now legal guardian, but Adrien hadn’t wanted to leave Paris and Luka behind so she had made the alternative arrangements, though he still had to check in with her every now and then.

The trials of Lila Rossi and Gabriel Agreste took place a month later; Lila’s defence was pretty much token, since the pile of evidence against her was massive and it turned out that this was far from the first time she’d committed criminal acts via her lies. The French authorities were ultimately happy to hand her over to their German counterparts, who had a still-open investigation into Lila regarding charity fraud and attempted murder of a classmate who’d begun asking a few too many questions for her liking.

Gabriel, on the other hand, was extremely lucky to escape a death sentence; the American and Chinese governments both wanted his head on a platter (or a spike, they weren’t particularly picky) for his actions in New York and Shanghai and ultimately the only reason the death penalty was dropped at all is because all the damage he caused was fixed by Ladybug during the incidents. Under normal circumstances the charges would have included mass murder, considering how many people had died as a direct result of his akuma attacks (Syren’s flooding of Paris had a casualty estimation in the thousands), but it was successfully argued by the defence that since Ladybug’s powers had negated those deaths, he wasn’t technically guilty of murder. Mere technicalities aside, however, he was guilty as sin and only a fool would deny that. Nooroo was ultimately called upon to testify and though Gabriel’s lawyer attempted to discredit said testimony first on the grounds of Nooroo being biassed and then on the grounds that he wasn’t a human, that argument sank like a lead-lined coffin once it was proven that kwamis could not lie unless ordered to. Nooroo took quite a bit of pleasure watching as his testimony sent his abusive asshole of a former holder down the river, to never again see the light of day.

A month later, Adrien (transformed as Cat Noir) sat atop the northern bell tower of Notre-Dame, watching the sunset without really seeing it, deep in thought. His ears twitched as he heard a small noise behind him but he didn’t turn around.

“I figured I’d find you here.”

Adrien smiled in spite of himself.

“Am I really that predictable?” he asked, turning around.

Luka (or rather Viperion, for there was no other way he could have gotten to the top of the bell tower) smiled.

“Only to me, Sunshine.” he said. “What’s on your mind?”

Cat Noir patted the piece of ledge next to where he was sitting and Luka joined him; he didn’t speak for a few long moments, simply stared at the orange-red sky.

“I was just thinking,” he said, “about……us.”

Viperion froze.

“In what way?” he asked, not liking the sound of this.

“Not about breaking up or anything!” Cat Noir hastily clarified, reading his tone. “Dear kwami, no! Just……..how us having a relationship is what led to the defeat of Hawk Moth.”

“Oh.” Viperion said, sighing with relief. “Well, I don’t think it’s quite as simple as that, Sunshine. There were other factors at play; Lila exposing us in the way that she did, your father having to attend a meeting where my akumatised form could capture him instead of him being safely locked away in his lair, the powers that he gave me and so on.”

“Good point.” Cat Noir conceded. “Though when you think about it, my father was really the one who caused his downfall that way. If he hadn’t tried to do what he did……well, I don’t know if he’d never be defeated but he sure as hell wouldn’t have been defeated like that.”

“You reap what you sow, Sunshine.” Viperion replied. “And your father sowed some bad seeds……metaphorically speaking.”

Cat Noir giggled.

“It’s funny, though.” he said after a while. “Ladybug and Master Fu warned that being in love whilst being a superhero could lead to Hawk Moth winning, yet it was precisely us being in love that led to his downfall.”

“Love is a powerful force that should not be meddled with nor taken lightly.” Viperion counselled. “I don’t mean in the cheesy way where it can deflect bullets and stop death rays, but in how it can motivate people to act. Look at what your father’s love for your mother drove him to do in order to try and get her back, for example.”

“Pfft! I don’t think that was love, in the end.” Cat Noir scoffed. “More like an obsession, a refusal to give up or be beaten and clinging on to the past.”

“OK, then look at how your father took advantage of the love I have for you to corrupt and twist me into something I wasn’t.” Viperion pointed out. “When I was Cage-Master, I locked you away in a gilded cage thinking it was out of love but I’d been warped into thinking that way. I loved you and wanted to protect you, but went about it the wrong way.”

“Yeah. Although, it was kind of romantic seeing the lengths you’d be willing to go to for me.” Cat Noir remarked.

“Oh, that was nothing, Sunshine.” Viperion replied. “I would lasso the moon from the sky and present it to you if that’s what it took to make you smile.”

“Really?” Cat Noir asked, smiling mischievously. “And how would you do that?”

Viperion had no reply available at first.

“I’m sure Ladybug would consent to lending me her yo-yo.” he said after a while.

“Yeah, not likely.” Cat Noir scoffed. “You could try using the Bee Miraculous’ trompo to accomplish it since it functions like Ladybug’s yo-yo. Plus, I think you’d look hot in yellow and black.”

“Yeah, nah. I don’t think Sass would approve of sharing me with Pollen.” Viperion replied with a smirk.

“Fair enough.” Cat Noir conceded, recalling how possessive Plagg was about him.

They sat in silence for a long while, watching the final rays of the setting sun steal across the sky.

“The end of another day.” Cat Noir remarked.

“Everything ends, Sunshine.” Viperion replied.

“A pity my father never realised that.” Cat Noir remarked bitterly.

“That’s on him, not you.” Viperion told him firmly. “I know this may seem hypocritical of me considering my power, but you can’t turn the clock back to how things were.”

“I guess not.” Cat Noir agreed, sounding melancholy.

“But it depends on how you’re willing to see things.”

Viperion lowered his hand to rest it gently atop Cat Noir’s, making the blond hero look up at him.

“What I’m saying is that while we may not be able to go back, going forward isn’t necessarily an ending.” Viperion said. “We have a chance to make what your father refused to see; a new beginning.”

Cat Noir looked up at his snake-themed boyfriend, green eyes shining with unshed tears and indefinable emotion, then he leaned in and their lips met. Beneath them the mighty bells of Notre-Dame began to toll, shaking the cathedral with the force of their sound, and the two broke apart.

“I love you, Moonbeam.” Cat Noir whispered.

“I love you too, Sunshine.” Viperion replied.

They sat there well into the night, watching the stars begin to appear and the moon climb high into the sky over the City of Light. Soon, the sun would rise and a new day would begin, a new dawn for Paris, for the world and for them.

Notes:

Luka's a pretty chill guy but he won't tolerate anyone hurting those he loves, as "Silencer" and "Migration" demonstrated even if he never got akumatised in the latter.
I do firmly believe in the power of love as a wonderful thing, but also something to tread carefully with as it can very easily drive people to commit terrible acts. Case in point with Gabriel, his love for his wife became twisted and corrupted into something impure and destructive by his own selfishness; the events of "Evolution" proved that by this point in time, he's become so obsessed with his own power and beating Ladybug that he willingly gave up a guaranteed chance at saving Emilie with minimal harm in favour of a risky gamble to get Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses, a gamble that resulted in him not only losing that easy chance but the Rabbit Miraculous and the support of Nathalie because she realised that he's become consumed by power-hungry and selfish megalomania.
The positive message of love is drawn from Harry Potter, how love is an overriding theme in it that can bring out the best in people, whilst the negative side comes from Star Wars, specifically crossing Anakin Skywalker's actions with Gabriel's; Anakin remains a sore spot for me because even though he redeemed himself in the end, he still turned to the dark side of his own free will, murdered scores of his fellow Jedi and condemned the galaxy and billions of innocents to two decades of tyranny under the Empire in order to get what he wanted. Gabriel is fully aware of the cost that his wish will demand but he doesn't care, perfectly willing to put millions of innocent people in danger via his akuma attacks and sacrifice someone so his wife will be restored. His controlling and abusive treatment of Adrien also borrows from Anakin's depiction in Matthew Stover's wonderful novelisation of Revenge of the Sith; Anakin gradually comes to see Padme less as a person with her own agency and more as a possession he owns.
Continuing in the theme of dark side corruption of pure intentions, Luka is akumatised using his anger at Adrien's treatment and desire to protect him, placing him in a cage out of a misguided desire to do that without realising that he's doing exactly what Gabriel did; slapped him in a gilded cage out of the misguided belief that it's protecting him.
My sudden 180 with Gabriel from tolerant of Adrien's relationship with Luka in "SUN'S WRATH" to completely unaccepting might seem unexpected and contrived, but after having watched several episodes of Series 5 I have concluded that Gabriel is a deeply narrow-minded and incredibly classist man; his treatment of Nino all the way back in "The Bubbler" was clearly rooted in classism and he would not deem Luka an appropriate partner for his son at all due to that. Even if he learned that Luka was the son of Jagged Stone and thus a celebrity, he still would disdain him since he probably wouldn't count a rock star as high-class and Jagged himself is implied to have come from a less privileged background before he became famous.
I know Cage-Master isn't exactly the most imaginative akuma name or design, but both of Luka's akumatised forms in canon have been pretty straightforward so it's just kind of continuing a theme. His outfit is based off one from Assassin's Creed: Unity, namely the Legendary Napoleonic Armour set which evokes a kind of military jailer type whilst remaining very stylish. Some may spot a couple of other AC: Unity references in there as well but I won't spoil.
In regards to Sass mentioning having bitten Jack the Ripper, Master Fu spent a brief time in London when the Whitechapel Murders began and it led to Sass biting the infamous murderer in defence of an intended sixth victim. When Sass bites a person, it causes an internal version of what happened when he used Second Chance on his own; namely, every moment of time up to that point taking place within the bitten person's brain. End result, not pretty.

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