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Time was running out.
Monarch switched through the universe of Paris' emotions until a train of sheer desperation almost brought him to his knees.
"I can’t do this anymore.”
No more insignificant Akumas. This one would be his ticket to victory. Oh, what would he give to end this misery.
The Cataclysm draining his magic denied him to use the Miraculous’ full extent – the fraction barely sufficing to bathe in the pool of darkness.
Despair and doubt reaching utter distress.
This one would be perfect.
The Megakuma flew out of the portal, reaching its destination almost immediately.
Once connected, Monarch had to brace himself from the forceful impact of their shared emotions.
“Obscurity, I am Monarch. I sense your feeling of utter despair and pain. You are deeply hurt. Believe me, I know this feeling all too well. I give you the power to-”
“Fuck off, Monarch.”
Cold suffering hidden under tear-thick voice was all too delicious.
“Don’t you want to hear my offer?” Musing charm left his lips.
“Honestly, I don’t care.” Flat, monotonous.
Monarch sat down, he wasn’t going to let this one slip. “Why? Aren’t you willing to free yourself from such, uh-”
Anger, revenge, rage.
This was none of it. Zooming in on the person suddenly becoming so interesting stayed an unsuccessful attempt. Oh, that wretched power corrupting his body, not only eating him alive but the butterfly miraculous, too.
“What happened?” but again, there came no answer. “What did they do to you?” he tried.
“Leave me alone.” Yet they didn’t fight off the Akuma’s bond, clinging to its contact.
“Tell me. I know you want to.”
Then, the sound of metal fidgeting forced Monarch on high alert, bringing a different equation into the situation. His hands froze.
This was no ordinary sadness.
This was serious.
“Where are you?” Monarch urged.
“What does it matter to you?” Despite the hoarseness, they sounded no older than 16. He couldn’t feed this kid to their demons.
Maybe one good deed saved him when he’d meet the last court soon.
“Please,” was all Monarch could think of with the terrible job he did with his own child.
No response, but the desperation rose with every second.
Almost hitting its peak, he braced for what was about to come. Who was he to save a stranger when he couldn’t even protect his own family.
Until, in a last attempt, he called, “wait!” Confusion was soon replaced by curiosity when he continued, “I want to make a deal.”
“Hm?”
“Listen,” Monarch sighed. “Even a villain can’t stand to see a young soul lost like this.” He remembered something Nathalie had told him a long time ago.
When things had been really dark.
“Talk to me for five minutes. Answer my questions,” he repeated her words, “and if you still feel the need to- I won’t stop you.”
A sigh as they contemplated their options. “Okay.”
“What’s your name?”
“Anything but that.”
“Where are you?”
A moment passed, and Monarch wondered, feared, whether they were still there. “I don’t get why you’re doing this, Monarch.”
“Because I care.”
“Ha.” Even if mocking, it was an emotion. “No one has ever cared about what I do as long as I fulfilled my duties.”
“You’re worth more than what you can give to other people,” Nathalie had said to him when his purpose had died with Emilie. Who would he be outside her love?
Gabriel did a terrible job at living. The reminder a growing wound eating his flesh and organs. It had reached his intestines, decaying the ability to digest food. Loss of energy forcing his body to go into emergency mode, draining his already rotting brain. Making him go more and more insane each day.
A horrible feeling, really, losing control of one’s thoughts but still being present enough to realize their actions hurting the people around them.
It might be the reason he was talking to that kid.
“So, where are you?” Another try.
“In the bathroom.” They sounded deflated. “On the floor.”
Do you have someone near you? A sibling? A parent?” Someone to take care of them… or find them, came worst.
“I don’t.” A pause. “I don’t have any family left.”
“What happened?”
“They died. Or are on the verge of dying. They think I don’t notice, but I’m no idiot.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. You must feel excluded.” Images of Adrien’s worried face flashed. They did need to talk to him. Prepare him.
“At some point, an illness gets so bad it’s impossible to hide it anymore. I see them get worse every day, and they still refuse to talk to me. But I’ve seen it before, Monarch, the same fucking thing, and they claimed it was alright until my mom- until she was dead.” Sobbing erupted from the kid. “I- I didn‘t even get to say goodbye.”
“I’m sorry. It was hard on my son when his mother suddenly passed, too.” Monarch squeezed his eyes shut.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Guilt throbbed through the miraculous. “I didn’t know-”
“It’s alright,” Monarch interrupted. This wasn’t about him. “I wanted to say, I understand. The doubt, the… the pain.”
“I think back and wonder what I could’ve done differently. I just- I knew something was wrong the way my father acted and how they always kept secrets. I didn’t think she would die . And now the rest of my family has it, too. But I still don’t know what ‘it’ is! Is it contagious, or does it come from the house? Like asbestos? Or is it cancer, but they don’t want me to know? I’m so sick of this, Monarch.” Their forceful sigh was mingled with shaking. “I’m so sick and tired of this charade.”
“You deserve to know the truth.” Yet so did Adrien. He needed to know they buried an empty coffin while the real body had already been preserved in the tech chamber. That Nathalie’s coughing fits and dizzy spells were to worry about as the peacock Miraculous drained her life force. That his father didn’t just work a lot but was disintegrating from the Power of Destruction he had foolishly forced upon himself. They needed to come clean. Tell the truth as long as they were able to. “They’ve kept you in the dark for-”
Monarch broke the connection when he heard the elevator coming to a halt behind him.
Nathalie.
Checking if he had passed out yet. If she had to carry his unconscious body to the couch. Again.
He could never make up for everything she did.
As she strode forward, Monarch could see her preparing the base for another discussion, even as the imprisoned Kwamis tried to gesture warnings.
Adrien, Miraculous, business, Emilie. They fought about everything these days.
He deserved it. With their future like a piece of grain, they shouldn’t spend the end like this.
Immediately noticing Monarch’s troubled state once she was close enough, Nathalie’s expression softened, and she sat beside him.
“I’m sorry.” He pulls her into his arms, and she lets him. “Words can’t express my regret-”
“I know, Gabriel.” Her body finally melts into the embrace. “We-”
“Monarch?” The mask lit up.
“I’m here.” He assured. “Just, uh, Mayura came to check on me.”
Nathalie looked at him in confusion as there was no Akuma, calming her with a shake of his head.
“Can I… can I talk to her?” Hesitantly, the teen asked.
“One moment.”
Relinquishing the communication, Monarch explained how he stopped them from getting hurt and now tried to save their life, realizing their stories were awfully similar.
Nathalie – empathic as always – leaned closer and put her hand over the butterfly brooch, getting her own telepathic mask. Carefully, slowly, “This is Mayura. How may I help you?
“You’re ill, right?”
She looked at Monarch, who was as puzzled. This hadn’t been a conversation. “I- yes. How do you know?”
“I’ve seen your exhaustion. I mean, on TV. During the battles with Ladybug and Chat Noir.” A few breaths before, “it reminded me of my mom.”
“It hurts to be confronted with the past. If it’s any condolence, I doubt she used a damaged Miraculous like I did.” Nathalie tried lightly, and only someone like Monarch could hear the regret in her voice. As a pitiful attempt at comfort, he runs his hand through the hair on her scalp. It was nothing compared to her sacrifice.
“That sucks. And yeah, I don’t think she had a Miraculous.” A forced chuckle was still better than a cry. “But then she’d be remembered, would she not? ”
“I know it’s hard,” Nathalie said, looking into Monarch’s eyes, “losing the person you love the most.”
“It’s just- I miss her. More than anything. But I know she’ll never come back. I want closure, I need to know what happened.”
“I’m sure your family will tell you everything once they’re ready.”
“But what about me? Didn’t I deserve to know when I was ready to ask? Nobody talks to me! And now I watch it happen all over again, and I don’t even know why! W- what if I could prevent it?”
“Most of the time, there’s nothing we can do, kid.” Nathalie sighed, resting her head against Monarch. This did hit and get close to her, too.
“Chat Noir could!” They retorted almost immediately. “And Ladybug. Their powers could heal them…. Give me my family back.” Monarch and Nathalie shared a look. Theirs too. “Hell, I would help you get them if you promise to give me a wish, too.”
Oh, and the temptation was served on a silver plate. A powerful Akuma to victory, and all this would be over today. However, something kept blocking the Akuma’s transformation. Was it his conscious? Didn’t that already melt along with his sanity? Excessive use of a dark power combined with a Cataclysm and his mind was a war zone.
Just like that kid’s who turned into their own enemy. He couldn’t abuse their trust.
Monarch was many things, but he was no backstabber.
“We can’t let you have a wish,” did the result come.
“What, why?”
“There is nothing we can do.” Because the power of the universe could be too cruel.
“But- but that makes no sense! I know there is a price to pay, Ladybug- uh the Ladyblog said so. I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”
“The price would be too high.”
“I don’t care! I have nothing left to-”
“The price would be your life.” Nathalie interrupted sternly.
“What?”
“To heal a sick, someone else has to get sick. To turn cucumbers red, tomatoes would turn green. And to restore a life, one has to be taken.” They had had this conversation ever since researching the wish. Nathalie had insisted it would be her life for Emilie’s, that it was her job to take care of them in any way possible. Adrien needed his father.
But with Gabriel’s own termination, the situation had shifted. No longer did they need to restore only one life. Three ideally, at least one to prevent Adrien from becoming an orphan at 14.
“I’d give up my life if it meant my family could keep theirs.”
“Please never say things like that,” Nathalie urged when those had been her words before. “You have so much to live for.”
“Ha.” A mocking sound, then tristesse. “Everyone expects me to be perfect all the time. They know what’s best for me. What I like. What my future will be. My friends think I have the perfect life – money, looks, status. To the world, I’m a goddamn hero. At least, that’s what they believe. Claiming they’d love me when in fact, all they care about is themselves.” Their tone turned dark. “No one cares. Hell, my family won’t even notice.
“Adrien?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, Adrien Agreste,” Monarch caught. “The model?”
“Oh, great.” Adrien sighed. “Now you will also tell me how gifted I am and how ungrateful for trying to throw it away. How my mom was the wonderful actress when she lied about the illness that killed her the same way it now takes my second mom. And how my father is the beloved designer when he controls every second of my life, even forbidding my relationship. Who everyone sees as an inspiration when he’s the main reason I’m in this shit.”
Nathalie took his hand when he had failed to realize it was curled into a fist.
Mentally punching himself.
Those outbursts fueled by grief, all the prohibitions to keep Adrien safe – unable to see what they had done to his son.
No, even worse – ignoring how they extinguish the sun shining inside the miracle, leaving a burned-out frame of ashes.
A head shake impossible to reach the target. “No. I understand. People see a facade, they’re blended by the image painted in their minds even if it’s not the real you.”
“I can never be my true self with anyone.”
“Why?”
Ire spiked in Adrien, bitter and frigid. “Wouldn’t it be funny if I told you of all people, Monarch.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Of course not. No one ever understands my jokes. And I can’t blame them, ‘cause how could they? If those are my attempts to be heard, to be seen as who I really am, well, I don’t exactly carry my anguish on my tongue. Gotta keep up appearances, right?” Adrien sighed and his feelings shifted. “Sorry if I don’t make the most sense. My mind has been too loud for thoughts lately. Even my grades dropped, but I haven’t told my parents yet. I’m sure Nathalie will be so disappointed when-”
“Adrien, stop. You’re doing your best.”
Silence wondering if he would connect the dots, and under different circumstances, he might as well have. “What if my best is not good enough?” he said instead. “What am I good for if I can’t save the people I love?”
Nathalie struggled to comprehend the velocity of his spinning thoughts. “Their suffering is not your fault,” but their own , “and they still love you” even though they hate themselves .
“Sometimes love is not enough,” Adrien murmured, and they felt a pang in their heart so cruel that Nathalie’s grip tightened around the miraculous. “Everything changed and is changing, and I can’t- I don’t want to stick around when it happens.”
Monarch felt the woman shiver from absorbing Adrien’s emotions, and he wondered how he could have been so oblivious, no, apathetic to his son’s suffering. How many hours this kid must’ve spent crying in the bathroom, contemplating unthinkable options. Misunderstood, lonely, hopeless. Trying to figure out where he went wrong
“I can’t be all alone.” The innocent young from two years ago, now marred by blows with his father's hands leaving figurative marks around his throat – a tragedy looking for its way out.
“I can't live like this,” Adrien whispered in a voice so bitter it made Monarch’s stomach turn. “I don't want to.”
The Akuma connection forced them to feel Adrien’s quickened pulse thrumming through their ears, tuning out the environment, the dizzy feeling they knew too well by now, along with the crushing weight of blame and anxiety pushing onto every nerve like an immobilizing cast.
“Adrien, stop!” But not even twisting the amokitized ring could control Adrien at this point. His desperation so deep it flooded their bond with black.
Please, oh, this couldn’t be it.
He would not lose him to his demons.
“Quick!” Pulling the dragon Miraculous from his finger, Monarch tossed it to Nathalie, who immediately called upon Longg’s disguise while he opened a portal to Adrien’s bathroom.
“Stop.” He smacked the object from his son’s shaking hands.
“Monarch?” Teary eyes flickered, then focused on the dragon-powered companion. “...Mayura?” Suddenly panic rises through their bond, Adrien getting irritated. “Please go! Leave! You shouldn’t see me like this. Nobody-” His voice cracks. “Nobody-”
But Monarch was quick to embrace his son, strong arms holding the trembling body erupting sobs. He had never seen Adrien so broken.
The miracle boy, the perfect sunshine child, so ruined by the world. By his father.
Gabriel hadn’t even realized how much he had fucked up.
He had destroyed a lot of lives on his quest to bring Emilie back, but he never meant for Adrien’s to be one. And he wouldn’t be able to make up for it with the little time he had left.
However, he could hug him. As his villain ego, with their Akuma connection still active, he could offer comfort. Let the boy hold Nathalie’s hand while she gives Monarch a look of relief. Adrien was safe, at least for the moment.
The pain in his chest ebbed when Adrien calmed.
“Will you stay?”
Forever , he would’ve wanted to say.
We’d never leave you , Adrien nestled between them, his skin glistening cold from dried sweat.
Everything will be alright , God, he wished that one was true.
“For as long as we can.”