Chapter Text
Adrien pulled his school bag further up his shoulder as he ran. He was so late! The akuma attack had run way longer than he’d anticipated. He and Ladybug had run in circles for hours trying to find the akumatized object and they’d finally been able to do it after trapping the dang akuma inside the Louvre. It shouldn’t have even been that hard, but of course the villain just had to teleport.
He was supposed to be home over an hour ago. Adrien shuddered at the thought of Father’s reaction. He’d never be able to go to school again! Marinette wouldn’t be allowed to visit. Nino was already banned from coming, but the poor guy would probably be tripled banned or something. Adrien picked up his pace just thinking about it.
“Slow down, kid.” Plagg complained. “You’re already late, might as well take your time.” Ignoring the comment, Adrien spotted his house down the block. Hopefully Nathalie wouldn’t be too angry either. Her health had been on the downtick for awhile now and he really didn’t want to stress her out more than she already was.
It was frustrating to not be told what was going on with her. Adrien knew logically he was probably reading too far into it, but he couldn’t help but notice the similarities between Nathalie’s illness and his mom’s. The secret keeping only added to the tightness in his chest every time she stumbled or needed to lay down. He wanted to help her feel better, but wasn’t sure how. Missing his photoshoot and disappearing into thin air probably didn’t help any.
Adrien pushed on the gate, thanking every god in the book that it was unlocked. Quickly, he made his way inside, beelining for Nathalie’s room. He owed her a huge apology and a thanks for keeping the gate open for him. She’d been much more lenient lately and he’d hate to throw that in her face by taking it for granted.
“Nathalie?” Adrien peeked into the room, making sure to keep his steps soft. She’d never admit it, but he could tell that loud noises bothered her more often now. The room was dark, shades pulled fully closed. His eyes traced over Nathalie’s figure on the bed. “Nathalie?” Adrien inched closer, not wanting to disturb her if she was asleep. “Are you awake?”
Nathalie’s head turned to him. “Adrien?” She squinted. “Do you need something? Are you alright?” Oh… maybe she hadn’t noticed he was gone after all. Odd, usually the woman watched him like a hawk. A very caring hawk, but a hawk all the same.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Adrien’s heart clenched as Nathalie struggled to pull herself into a sitting position. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright.” The door crack had cast a small sliver of light directly where Nathalie lay, making the pale hues of her skin stick out. She looked frail… just like mother used to. That thought scared him more than it should’ve. They were different people with different illnesses, he had to remind himself. It wasn’t the same. It wasn’t . “I can go if you’d like to get some more rest. I didn’t mean to disturb you, I’m sorry.”
“That’s alright.” She coughed, “Why don’t you sit down.” Nathalie patted a spot on the bed. Even that small movement seemed strained now. “I need to talk with you for a moment.” Cautiously, Adrien took the suggested spot next to her. He soaked in her slender features for a reason even he didn’t fully understand. “We might not have much more time together, so I wanted to make sure yo–” She cleared her throat, swallowing for a moment. “I wanted to m-make sure you had all the facts.”
“What do you mean?” He didn’t want her to go anywhere. He wanted her to stay. “Where are you going?” Nathalie took his hand giving it a soft squeeze.
“Adrien,” He felt his eyes grow hot at her tone. “I need you to listen to what I tell you now…” Her thumb traced small circles on his hand. “You can’t stay here anymore. I thought I could stop him, but he’s– he’s too far gone.”
“What do you mean? I don’t understand.” What was she talking about?
Nathalie ignored his questions, focusing all her energy on explaining herself. “Adrien, your father is Monarch.” The words washed over him like nails on a chalkboard. Father was… it didn’t make any sense. He– he didn’t understand, that couldn’t be true. All this time? He’d been… but why ? “Adrien your amok is in his ring, you can’t let him keep it, it’s too dangerous for you.”
His amok .
His Amok.
“Focus, Adrien.” Nathalie’s voice struggled to cut through the ringing in his ears. “You have to focus. Get the ring…” The circles stopped. “..and get…” Her eyes found his own teary ones. “...out.” Her voice gave out, blue eyes dulling as she looked at him.
“Nathalie?” Adrien shook her gently, she just stared at him. He shook her again.
Nothing.
Plagg flew in front of his face, blocking his view. “Kid, we gotta go. We can’t stay here.”
“She needs help, Plagg! I can’t leave her.” He was panicking. Why wasn’t she responding? She was looking right at him! Why wasn’t she saying anything? Adrien cupped her face, gently trying to get her attention. “Nathalie?” He whispered. Her eyes didn’t move. They just stared. Why wouldn’t they move? The heat in his own eyes increased, blurring his vision.
“Adrien,” Plagg whispered, hugging his holder’s chest. “She's gone, kid.”
Adrien shook his head. “She’s ok.” His breathing picked up. “She’s ok. She’s fine. She’s just–” Plagg tightened his grip, Adrien could feel the pain of his claws on his chest. “She’s ok…right?”
“Kid, we gotta go, now.” The kwami’s voice was unusually soft. “We can come back to help her later, but we have to find Ladybug.”
The ring. The amok. Everything Nathalie just said finally registered. Adrien’s head spun. This was too much. His father was Monarch. His father was Monarch . “I can’t, Plagg. I can’t leave her here. I–” What was he supposed to do? “Please don’t make me leave her here.”
“We have to kid, I’m sorry.” Plagg pulled his jacket, dragging Adrien to his feet. “We’ll come back with help, I promise.” His body seemed to have a mind of its own as he made his way out of the room and down the staircase. Father was Monarch . “Keep it together, kit. We’re almost there.” The ring. His amok… Adrien halted, locking eyes on his father’s office. He was so close. A few more steps and he could probably find it. “What are you doing?” Plagg stressed. “We gotta go, Adrien, we’re almost there.”
“The amok…” Adrien offered dumbly.
Plagg’s gaze drifted to where he was looking. “It’s too dangerous right now–” But Adrien had already moved to the door, poking his head inside. Plagg flew over to his side, not wanting to leave him alone. A whirring noise sounded from the floor behind the desk, a small hole in the ground opening up. Frantically, Plagg shoved his holder back against the wall. He kept his small paws over Adrien’s mouth, not trusting the kid to keep quiet in his current state. Adrien’s teary eyes were blown impossibly wide, terrified. They both held their breath as Gabriel exited the office. Without turning towards them, the man made his way down the hall toward the kitchen.
Seeing the man leave seemed to snap Adrien out of his daze. Against Plagg’s protests, he slipped his way into the office, heading straight for where the hole used to be. “Kid, come on, we don’t have time! We have to get Ladybug!” Adrien either wasn’t listening, or was still a bit out of it, but either way, he ignored Plagg entirely, choosing to look at the things around him to find a switch or something. The teen’s eyes landed on the painting of his mother. Cautiously, he ran his hands over it, surprised when part of it gave way. Plagg glanced back at the door. He really didn’t want to be doing this right now. Gabriel could come back at any second.
Adrien must have figured something out, ‘cause the next thing Plagg knew, the ground was swallowing up his holder. Plagg darted to his side, keeping his guard up. Who knows what was down here, he wasn’t taking any chances. The journey down took much longer than Plagg anticipated, opening up to a massive walkway leading to a metal casket-like tube thing. The kwami could feel Adrien’s panic now, as his kid took in the sight. Shakily, Adrien stepped out of the elevator. “I’ll check it out, you stay here, kid.” Before Adrien could protest, Plagg was halfway down the walkway. He stopped just before entering the casket, trying to get his head on straight. Whatever was in this didn’t matter in the long run. The only thing that he really cared about was keeping Adrien safe. Curiosity wasn’t going to kill his kitten, not if he could stop it. Sucking in a deep breath, Plagg plunged into the tube. He opened his eyes coming face to face with Adrien’s mom. He couldn’t let the kid see this. If Plagg was freaking out, he couldn’t imagine what Adrien would do.
Quickly, Plagg left the casket, thanking the heavens that the medal covering was in place. Adrien had crossed the pathway now, standing a little ways away from the metal tube. “It’s just a bunch of wires, don’t worry about it. Must be a battery for this place or something.” Plagg’s heart clenched as he watched Adrien relax. The kid was strung tight now, and he really couldn’t blame him. It was sickening to think his kid’s lived above his dead mother’s corpse for who knows how long. “We’ve seen enough, now. Lets go!" Adrien needed to leave. This was all too risky. With his luck, it was bound to get worse.
“What about the miraculous? They have to be here somewhere.” Adrien muttered. He scanned the room, looking for any sign of kwami life. Noticing another entrance, Adrien made his way over. The teen stepped into another elevator, leading them to an entirely different area. It seemed to be some type of dome structure with a big glass window in the center. To his right Adrien came face to face with a wall full of Kwamis. His heart shattered. It really was true. Father really was Monarch. It hadn’t been some crazy joke Nathalie had played. She really was dead. Which meant that he… really wasn’t human . Adrien shook his thoughts away, now wasn’t the time for this. “Do you guys know how to unlock this?” Scanning the small cells, he couldn’t see a way to open them easily.
The kwamis seemed shocked to see him there, not responding till Plagg flew in front of them. “Guys! Focus! We can get you out, but you have to tell us how!”
Snapping out of their surprise, Trixx pointed to the table on the other side of the room. “The miraculous are the rings on the table! He did something to them, but I’m not sure what. Gabriel’s been controlling the cages through that.” They pointed to the tablet on the table behind Adrien. Hurriedly, Adrien grabbed the tablet, shuffling through its contents. Randomly pushing buttons, he got the cages to open.
The kwamis flew out, gathering Plagg in a group hug. “Ok,” The black god pushed them away. “As much as I like reunions, it’s time we get out of here.” Plagg glanced down at his holder, giving him the go ahead.
“Plagg, Claws Out!” The bright green light washed over the boy, leaving Chat Noir in his place. He rushed to fit the rings and Nooroo’s broach in his pocket, hands shaking trying to zip them in. This was really happening, wasn’t it? He had the miraculous and the kwamis. It was too risky to keep searching for the amok. Not wanting to wait a second more, Chat shoved his baton through the window and leapt through. As soon as he made it outside, he took off over the rooftops. He had to get as far away as he could.
But Nathalie was still…
Chat’s heart dropped. He’d left her. He just left her behind, how could he do that? Chat stumbled, crash landing into a chimney. He sat there dazed, reality finally hitting him. His life would never be the same. Nathalie was dead. His father was a terrorist and he… wasn’t even human. Clutching his hand to his chest, he tried to calm down. This was too much. He didn’t know what to do. His hands worked on autopilot, pulling up the phone on his baton. “112, what’s your emergency?”
Chat sucked in a breath, wanting to end this as fast as possible. “This is Chat Noir, I’m calling to tell you that Gabriel Agreste is Monarch. He’s been uh– unarmed and is currently unaware of the situation. Feel free to grab him whenever you want.” As soon as the last sentence was out, he hung up, dialing Ladybug next.
“Chat?” Her voice was shockingly relaxed for how fast his own heart was racing. “Is everything ok? Is there an akuma?” His chest constricted. How was he supposed to tell her? He needed to tell her, he knew, but… saying the words out loud was a lot harder than he thought.
“Eiffel Tower, two minutes.” He croaked. Deciding that was good enough for now, he headed over that direction. He had time to figure out his explanation on the way.