Flashback Cutscene: Ending on Bad Terms

9 months and 5 months ago...

It was over. Lila's reign as the 'New Hawkmoth' may have only lasted three months, but it had been in many ways far more terrifying than Gabriel's tenure. She had been more vicious with her Akumas, and seemed to revel in the collateral damage.

Looking into her hand, Ladybug marvelled at the simple beauty of the Butterfly Miraculous. Four slender, delicate looking wings, centred around a dark gemstone. How could something so beautiful be used to commit such hideous acts of terror?

Lila's last stand had been brutal. Over half the city had been destroyed. The Eiffel Tower had been cut down, Notre Dame was left a hollowed out shell, and the Louvre Museum left blazing. The heroes didn't fare much better either.

Almost all of them were involved. Some were directly included in the fighting, however most were simply trying to protect the citizens of Paris as best they could. Everyone was injured in some way, more than a few quite severely. Even Ladybug herself had suffered a broken arm during the battle.

Ultimately, it was the combination of Pigella's 'Gift' and Vesperia's 'Venom' that finally overpowered Lila. The heroes managed to fight their way close enough to her for Pigella to distract her, which allowed Vesperia to sneak in that one lucky strike. After that it was all over.

Ladybug took a moment to chuckle to herself. She had seen Lila's 'heart's desire'. It was to defeat Ladybug and unmask her as Marinette to all of Paris. Oh, the irony.

Now, Ladybug was relishing the feeling of escorting a struggling, handcuffed Lila to the back seat of a police cruiser. Placing her in the car, she may have neglected her due diligence and let Lila's head hit the roof. Oops.

Feeling better than she had in months, she looked across the square to where Chat Noir was escorting the 'other' detainee into a different police cruiser. It was unbelievable, Gabriel Agreste was back. How was that even possible? She had seen him make the wish. She had seen him disappear. It should not have been possible. She was definitely going to have to speak with Su-Han and the Guardians about this.

Gabriel was back, though not unscathed. He looked haggard, with a filthy beard and his clothes were rotting rags. But the most telling sign of his 'ordeal' was the fact that his entire left arm was missing. Ladybug remembered that was the arm that Chat had hit with his cataclysm, all those months ago.

As she watched, Gabriel and Chat Noir reached the cruiser, Gabriel turning to sit in the car and Chat grabbing his shoulder. They appeared to exchange several words with each other, none of which seemed to please Gabriel. Good. With a final nod, Gabriel sat in the car and Chat Noir slammed the door shut behind him.

Chat turned around and his eyes locked with Ladybugs. Her good feelings evaporated instantly. Chat Noir was staring at her with such fire in his eyes, she could practically feel the heat blistering her skin. If looks could kill, she'd just been hit with a Tsar Bomba. She had some explaining to do, she knew that. She would take Chat Noir to their spot and explain everything to him. She just hoped he would understand.

Taking a few steps in his direction, Ladybug stopped when she saw her partner shake his head at her. She gave him a questioning look, but he shook his head again. Peering closely, she had just about made out his tears, when Chat Noir turned and leapt onto a nearby building and raced off. She launched herself after him, but by the time she reached the rooftops he was gone. Checking her yo-yo's locator, Chat Noir's signal was missing.

Panicking now, Ladybug set off in what she hoped was the right direction. She had to make this right. She had to find her Chaton, her partner, her best friend. She had to find him. She had to.

*****

Side Mission: Treating Old Wounds

Present Day ...

"Cat? Adrien... don't tell me you've brought a cat home!"

"Honey, I'm going to have to call you back, my father has decided to visit." Adrien ended the call with his usual goodbye before crossing his arms in front of himself.

"Give me a reason, right this second, as to why I shouldn't throw you out of my home?"

"You're not even curious to question how I know about your little side endeavour?"

"What I really want to ask you, is why you think it's okay to come back into my life? If you had any respect, knowing who I am, you would have taken the maximum prison sentence and stayed there to rot."

Adrien refused to sit down, standing over his father right now was the only power he had. Gabriel was taller than him, though Adrien had matured in body mass and made those last couple of inches seem worthless.

"I can see you're still a little angry."

Adrien scoffed, Plagg flying out to hover beside him and defend his kitten.

"A little angry? I was a little angry when Adrien gave me that shitty cheese on his honeymoon, this is far more than 'a little angry'."

"Understandable. I also understand that you, Plagg, are also quite enraged with me." Gabriel shot a knowing look at Plagg, "But the fact that you haven't even threatened to cataclysm me yet, proves that even you feel Adrien and I need to talk."

The tiny god opened his mouth to voice his denial, then promptly shut it. Gabriel's smug expression caused the kwami to growl and move away, closer to Adrien. Gabriel returned his attention to his son, who was studying him warily.

"Please, Adrien. I could detail a dozen reasons why you need to sit down and talk to me, but this isn't about me. It's for your mother's sake," Gabriel's tone was almost pleading.

Adrien stared down at him for several seconds, then finally relented. "Fine," he bit out. "For Mother's sake, I'll listen. For now." Gabriel visibly deflated in relief.

Today seemed to be a day of conversations. First Ladybug, now Gabriel... who else was going to appear? Mr Pigeon?

"Thank you. Now, again, would you like some wine?" Gabriel offered, indicating the bottle standing on the side table next to him. Nodding, Adrien sat down opposite his father, observing the elder Agreste pour a glass of wine for him.

It was no simple task for the one-armed man. Placing the keys down, he arranged the glasses so he could more easily reach them. Then he grasped the bottle, held it in front of himself whilst eyeing the cork. Gabriel hesitated for a moment, and Adrien couldn't resist.

"Need a hand?"

Smiling thinly, Gabriel rested the bottle on his thigh. "I see your sense of humour hasn't changed," he commented as he manipulated the cork, freeing it from the bottle.

"If it ain't broke," Adrien quipped back.

Pouring two glasses, Gabriel replaced the cork in the bottle. "I would have thought you would have learnt of better strategies to deal with stress during your degree. Congratulations for that, by the way," he said, offering one of the glasses to Adrien.

"Thank you, and deflective humour is a recognised and highly effective method." Adrien accepted the offered glass, taking a sip as he reclined into his seat.

"You wanted to talk, so, talk. There's nothing I want to say."

Sipping from his own glass, Gabriel took a moment to collect himself. Then he began. "To begin, I want to apologise." He held up a finger, forestalling Adrien's interruption. "I am not asking for your forgiveness, nor do I ever expect it. I am apologising because I need to, and this is the first opportunity I've had." He took a breath.

"I want to apologise to you. Not Chat Noir, you. It was you I hurt, whilst I was convincing myself that what I was doing was for your benefit. I believed that when I achieved my goal, none of my actions would matter, that it would all be erased, or at the very least justified. I know now that I was wrong."

"Oh, well. As long as you know now that you were wrong, then all is forgiven and we can all carry on with our lives." Adrien's words were saturated in spiteful sarcasm.

"Adrien, please. I-"

"DON'T YOU DARE 'PLEASE' ME!" Adrien's anger launched him to his feet.

"You attacked my friends. You tried to keep me hidden away, not letting me get close to anyone else, while at the same time ignoring my existence until you needed my face to show off. I wasn't a son in your eyes, I was a fucking marketing tool," He angrily started pointing at Gabriel, spilling his wine onto the carpet. He didn't even notice.

"You say you were doing this for my benefit, yet it was you that was hurting me. Killing me. Do you have any idea how many times I died as Chat Noir, putting a stop to your Akumas and their rampages!?"

Gabriel sat there, stony faced, just like Adrien remembered, except...

A tear slipped from Gabriel's eye, trailing down his cheek. This was the first time Adrien had ever seen his father cry. Any other day, Adrien may have been moved by such a display. But today had been an overwhelmingly emotional day for Adrien, and his father's tears had zero effect. He didn't care. He doubted he ever would again.

"Every single hit I took, I thought I was sacrificing myself in the fight against a great evil. But it was just you. You and your pathetic need to get what you want." Feeling his energy flagging, Adrien sank back down into his seat. His anger had burned through him, and now he was tired. He wasn't finished, though.

"But getting what you want has always been your specialty, hasn't it? Even with Ladybug and I- hell the whole world- fighting against you, you still managed to get what you wanted. You brought Mother back, and all it cost you was your life. That's barely what I'd call a great exchange."

Adrien leant forward, a hateful sneer twisting his lips, "And even then, only a year of it. However, if that had been the end, I might have forgiven you, despicable as you are. But that wasn't the end, was it? You just had to take one more shot at me, didn't you? You just had to take both of the girls I loved down with you."

At this, Gabriel's face finally broke. "What?" A look of utter confusion distorted his features. Still unfazed, Adrien ploughed on.

"You forced Ladybug to lie to the world about you, forcing her to make you out to be a hero – allowing them to build a statue to celebrate your greatness. You are a cruel, twisted man, but it at least made sense. I can understand that. What I don't understand is why Marinette, father, why her too? She was nothing to you, but everything to me. Why did you have to include her, break her? Was my happiness so wrong you had to ruin it, ruin us?" he leaned back again.

"You want to know the worst part. It worked, you got that too. That lie you forced her to carry eventually wore her down, and she broke up with me." he paused for a moment to steady his voice, to steady his nerves. "That is why I'll never forgive you. That is why I want nothing to do with you."

The silence after his declaration stretched on, each man looking at the other. One with determination, the other, confusion and shock. The confused and shocked spoke first.

"You don't know, do you?" Gabriel asked, breathlessly. Confusion began to mix with Adrien's determination.

"I know that both Ladybug and Marinette were there when you made the wish," he stated, unsure now. Gabriel nodded at that, and smiled sadly.

"Indeed, Marinette was there, Though that was never my intent. If it had truly been up to me, she would have been with you." It was now Adrien's turn to be confused. "I knew how much she meant to you, even then. It was because of my deal with Tomoe Tsurugi that I was pushing you apart. I wanted you to be happy, but I was running out of time," he looked to where his left arm should be, "and I needed her help to save your mother." Gabriel sighed deeply.

"Adrien, if I could go back and do things differently, I absolutely would. I would change so much of what I did, all the things I did that hurt you. As long as those changes still meant your mother was saved." The two men shared a look at that last statement. "I'm so sorry for everything I did. But, if it was the only way to get your mother back, I would do it all again, everytime."

Adrien stared at his father, a shiver running up his spine as he saw the coldness in his father's eyes. "Why?" was all he could ask.

"Because I love my family, and I will do anything to protect and save it. Even become a monster, if need be."

Adrien pondered his father's words for quite a while. On some deep, baser level he could understand where his father was coming from. Would he do the same, given similar circumstances? He shuddered, remembering just how close he came today to those circumstances. Oh shit, my wife! Suddenly remembering what he was doing before his father's intrusion, he stood up out of his chair. Sensing the younger man's urgency, Gabriel stood with him.

"You have to leave."

"I can let myself out. I'll make arrangements in the morning for someone to come and clean the carpet." Gabriel said. Adrien suddenly turned around and noticed the wine stain for the first time.

"Uh, thanks." Adrien watched his father struggle to stand with his one arm, a slight thought crossed his mind as to whether to help him or not, the latter winning. Gabriel moved his way to the front door, looking more fragile than he ever remembered.

"Son?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we talk again, soon?"

Adrien nodded, "Yeah. You can tell me how, and when, you found out about me."

With one last prolonged stare, Gabriel left the apartment and Adrien headed to the bedroom. All energy drained and a colossal need to sleep.