ᴄʜᴀᴘɪᴛʀᴇ ɴᴇᴜꜰ - ᴄʀᴀɪɴᴅʀᴇ
Chapter Nine - Fear

Quick side note(s)
Confession here: I can't write kiss/romance scenes to save my life — feel free to butcher me if they're terrible. I won't blame you. Also, love how I haven't watch the show [I tap out after the end of season four] to know there's some aspects of the show I was right on [won't say here for plot reasons], but yeah! Anyways... Onto the story!

Note: I do not own the following characters
Rey Lopez/Snow Drift, Gilla, necklace of renewal, Iris Lopez, Amy Lopez, Shawn Lopez and Reina Hunter-Lopez - Sci-Briana14

Bernadette "Betty" Fontaine, Celestia Lesbianne, Queen Katie Agreste [mentioned], King Zeth Agreste [mentioned], the kingdom of Brighton [mentioned], Rayan's crown-shaped birthmark [mentioned], the letter written by Katie and Zeth Agreste [mentioned], and Terrance Dupain-Cheng [mentioned] - GeekyCookie1

Jasmine Dupain-Cheng [mentioned] - Pokemon_Fan1789

Language checkpoint
"Ich bin ein schlechter Vater." - "I'm a terrible father."

"Du bist kein schrecklicher Vater, Papa, nur fehlgeleitet." - "You're not a terrible father, Dad, just misguided."

"Si tu me touches, je te tue." - "If you touch me, I will kill you."

"Tu la blesses et je te tuerai moi-même." - "You hurt her, I will kill you myself."

"Ma chérie, tu es si belle." - "Sweetheart, you look beautiful."

"Je t'ai maintenant." - "I got you now."

Trigger Warnings
Explicit display of gaslighting (medium to high; moderate at best)
Explicit display of physical, emotional and verbal abuse (medium to high)

~~~~~~~~

"Sir, I think it's time you —"

"No!"

Immediately, the assistant stopped talking as her boss took a deep, exhausted sigh before looking at her.

"Nathalie, I can still get their miraculouses. I can fix this, all of it," Gabriel stubbornly stated as his assistant sighed. "Gabriel, no. You can't fix what has already been done. I know you miss Emilie but—" his assistant gently begin, but when her boss started to laugh, Nathalie found herself confused.

"Emilie? No. I was talking about the potential exposure situation. We can blackmail the girls into staying quiet and then, I would be able to focus on getting those three heroes' miraculouses at last! Once their miraculouses are in my possession, I will be able to use the absolute power to wish a new world in my image."

"W... What? I... I thought you were doing all of this for your wife! That's why I agree to help you and keep your identity a secret!" Nathalie exclaimed in shock as Gabriel not only tricked her, but kept his true intentions hidden from her until now.

"Oh, Nathalie. At one point, I was doing this for Emilie and I had plans to use my wish on bringing her back to life. But over the two years I've had the moth miraculous, I've learned power was better. Why should André be in charge over Paris when he's such a incompetent politician? No, Paris needs real change and I'm here to deliver."

"So, this was never about bringing Emilie back but your obsessive need for power?" she followed up, a detection of anger in her tone. "Oh, Nathalie, come on. Don't give me that look. Besides, why do you care?" Gabriel bluntly continued as his assistant glared at him in frustration and annoyance.

"Emilie was my best friend and oh, I don't know, perhaps, the mother to your sons!" she sharply but sarcastically snapped as Gabriel rolled his eyes at her until he spotted the safe. As Gabriel went to unlock the safe, Nathalie crossed her arms as she awaited his next answer.

"Rayan isn't her son."

"What are you talking about? Of course he is. That's why Rayan has blonde hair like you and Adrien," Nathalie modestly answered, believing Gabriel was simply messing with her until she heard a chuckle. "What's so funny?" she puzzlingly followed up as Gabriel turned to face her.

"His hair is brown, Nat, not blonde. I get his hair dyed by a stylist whose willing to keep her mouth shut for extra money," Gabriel briefly told her as the woman's eyes widened.

Another secret kept from her.

"Brown? B... But..." Nathalie started, only to trailed off as she vaguely recalled the time she saw Rayan with brown hair and when she had asked, the boy-in-transition [as he was a girl during this time] said nothing of the sort, persisting that his hair was always blonde.

"Okay, if he's not you and Emilie's kid, then what is he doing here?"

"His home was caught in the mist. So my lovely brother and my sister-in-law chose to entrust Rayan with Emilie and only her until the mist situation was addressed. When the mist issue was resolved in Brighton, Zeth and Katie made plans with Emilie to take him back," Gabriel began but the man spoke, Nathalie could sense his resentful nature towards the two... no, three.

"Oh, well that's great! If the Kingdom of Brighton went back to normal, then why—"

"She did, oh, Emilie had every single intention to take Rayan back to his parents. She was even going to take Adrien and his friends, Chloé and Rey, along to go see Brighton as some kind of trip," Gabriel sharply continued, his voice getting lower and darker as Nathalie could sense where this was going.

"But I was resentful against my brother and his wife for using my wife against me, so we had a fight over their kid. As we fought, I snapped and..." Gabriel started, only to trail off as he was unable to finish the rest in the midst of enduring the incident in his mind.

"Y... You pushed her over the railing in what would become your lair," Nathalie slowly finished as she could recall a faint scream. "You killed her... and you had the nerves to tell me she was dying of a illness! A illness, you told me, a... and I b... believed you like an idiot," she angrily snapped as Gabriel glared at her.

"You were still new to your role as assistant then and I couldn't have you know the truth so soon," he coldly said as she began to shake. "So you chose to lie to me and suppress the memory w... with the moth miraculous," she finished, as if recalling the incident all too well.

"Yes, but you see, this is why I need you. The boys can never know the truth of how she really died just like Rayan can never know about the truth of his crown-shaped birth mark or his true heritage as the prince for the Kingdom of Brighton," Gabriel calmly continued as he shook his head.

"Prince. Emilie got the last laugh with that one. My alibi was good since Rayan left Zeth and Katie as a girl under Eileen, but she just had to tell them that their child was trans and transitioning into a boy, so they naturally made new murals to show their support for him," Gabriel bitterly continued. "My wife even told them his name and his parents updated the murals to reflect this," Gabriel added with a spiteful tone.

"But, no matter," he continued with a sigh before looking at her. "Adrien doesn't need to get involved in matters that don't concern him and Rayan especially does not need to know any of this, so we will keep it as such. Got it?" he added. "Neither of them need to know anything," Gabriel sharply finished.

As Nathalie looked at Gabriel in disgust and disbelief, her face fell as she remembered the gentle and sweet side of him. "How did you get like this?" she mumbled to herself, before she replaced her look with one of determination. If that side of him was never coming back, then she would avenge her best friend.

Nathalie would finish what Emilie started.

"I'll tell the boys everything. I'll tell both of them the truth and I'll show them the letter Zeth and Katie wrote for Rayan. Then, I'll quit working for you and I'll deliver Rayan to Brighton myself. I'll finish what Emi started and make sure her efforts weren't done in vain. I'll even take Adrien and his childhood best friends, Chloé and Rey, should the trio want to accompany me and Rayan just like she would have intended."

"Ha, you'll never find it. After the mist and the attack of their kingdom, Zeth and Katie made their kingdom invisible at the cost of trapping themselves and their citizens in the kingdom. Only real and true Brightonians can see through their magic shield and that would require you to get Rayan to leave, which he'll never do, so long as he remains in my control," Gabriel darkly continued.

"Besides, you can't leave because you're now bound to me as the holder of the peacock miraculous," he sharply added as Nathalie stared at the cracked dark blue fan in both horror and shock. Before, the woman would have been honored by the opportunity to help him, because that meant it was a step forward towards bringing back Emilie but now? Now, this was just a hollow gesture of control.

"No. No, no, no. Gabriel, no. I'm not doing this. You can't control me like the boys," she firmly and stubbornly insisted, but there was fear in her. Fear followed her in the way she spoke and in each step she took as he came close. Fear was his greatest ally and she made the mistake of being afraid.

"Oh, Nat. I didn't want to do this to you, but I will do whatever it takes to ensure the miraculouses' are mine. If I can kill my own wife and trick my brother and his wife into thinking Ray was taken, then I can control you. In fact, you'll become the easiest thing I've done yet," Gabriel darkly whispered as he revealed a sliver ring.

To the common eye, the ring was relatively harmless, but Nathalie knew better because she had help him create the rings back when she thought the two's interests were align with the common goal of bringing back Emilie. Nathalie knew once the ring was placed on her, she would lose all aspects of free will.

Her thoughts, her voice, her mindset — everything that ever made Nathalie the way she was — would be lost to Gabriel, who would have full control over her. She would look the same, but she wouldn't act the same. She would become a shell; a blank canvas for her boss to use — to manipulate in his vision. She would just become a mindless puppet for him to control.

"No!"

As Nathalie kicked him, she proceeded to run only to get caught by his security guard as she began to desperately frail in an effort to become free. "Gorilla! Gorilla, please! You have to let me go and listen! Gabriel isn't looking out for us, he's—" she hastily told him, only to stop when she found the sliver ring on his hand, now a dark purple shade.

In that moment, her heart shattered as she felt the last flickers of her freedom fluttering away from her. "Oh, Placide... I'm so sorry," Nathalie remorsefully told him as the man mutely stared at her. "I... I should have never dragged you into this and now we're both screwed," she sorrowfully told him, looking up as she heard her boss' smug low chuckle.

"Nice job, Gorilla," Gabriel proudly complimented as he forcibly grabbed his assistant's hand and began to pull out the sliver ring. "I hope your secrets get exposed, so everyone can know the kind of person you really are," she sharply told him, spitting in his face as Gabriel wiped off the saliva with ease.

"Oh, Nat, you and I had a good partnership going, but I should have known your simple mind wouldn't be able to comprehend my vision," Gabriel remorselessly told her, now mocking his assistant's intelligence. "Your vision will fail and your reign as Hawkmoth will come to an end," she flatly told him as he merely shook his head and scoffed at her claim.

"No. I intend to be Hawkmoth as long as possible."

As Gabriel slid the sliver ring on Nathalie, her eyes quickly flicker to a dark purple color before returning back to normal. Glancing at her ring, the sliver turn to a dark purple, now signaling to him, she was now under his control. "Gorilla, you can drop her now," he ordered as Gorilla mutely obeyed.

"What can I do for you, sir?" Nathalie robotically asked as Gabriel smugly smirked. "I need you to become Mayura," he instructed, giving her the peacock miraculous as she blankly nodded. "Yes, sir," she answered. "I will tell you when to transform and when the task is done, you'll return the miraculous to me," he further added as she merely nodded once more.

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now, go transform and meet me in the lair."

As Nathalie left and Gorilla blankly took his leave, Gabriel distinctively heard a pair of feet scurrying upstairs. Knowing the only one being here was the eldest Agreste, Gabriel quickly made his way upstairs and upon arriving in Rayan's room, he found the emerald green eyed and blonde-haired boy dressed in a floral-printed T-shirt with black leggings and matching shoes obtaining his symbol in the back of the sole. There in his room, the boy was working diligently on his studies.

"Oh? Sorry, father," the boy spoke upon taking out his earbud, now looking at him. "Did you need me?" he politely followed up as Gabriel quietly studied him before realizing he wouldn't have heard anything, because he had a tendency of blasting his music into his ears. So, he decided to dismiss the sound he heard.

"No, Ray. I was just checking in to see how you were doing, but you can go back to your studies now," Gabriel briefly answered upon ending his mental study on the boy, who nodded at his response. "I am doing well. Thank you, father," Rayan respectfully told him and with a satisfied smile, Gabriel closed his door.

Upon making his way to his own lair, Gabriel revealed his moth brooch as a light-purple kwami meekly stared at him. "Today is going to be the day, Nooroo. I can feel it. I will get their miraculouses at last," he confidently told him as Nooroo solemnly stared at the man.

"S... Sir, m... maybe y... you s... should —"

"Silence!"

Taking a small wooden spoon, Gabriel proceeded to smack the kwami for speaking out of line, giving him "advice" that the kwami knew better than to do. "You are here to aid me and only me. I do not take orders from a small being like you and as such, you and I are not equals. You are here to serve, do that," Gabriel cruelly told his kwami, who had timidly held his head down in shame.

"Y... Yes, m... master."

As Nooroo continued looking down in shame, Gabriel smirked at the kwami's defeated state. He was in better spirits now and he wanted to keep this energy going. After all, if he wanted to catch the heroes by surprise, he would need to be at his best.

"Nooroo, Dark Wings Rise!"

As Gabriel spoke the words, Nooroo (reluctantly) went into the moth brooch as a light purple glow enter into the brooch. Moments later, the miraculous began to glow and as Gabriel smirked, he saw his outfit change. When the transformation was complete, he was now wearing a high dark purple dress shirt without a collar, over which he wears a darker purple jacket with a black butterfly-shaped lapel.

"I'm here."

Glancing over his shoulder, Gabriel saw his assistant with light indigo skin as she now has short, strong blue hair, part of which now curls up underneath her left eye. Her eyes were light magenta irises and vivid violet sclerae while she had black liner around her eyes, resembling glasses.

Now wearing a peacock-feather-like cocktail hat, she worn a blue coat with a fuzzy blue collar and sleeves that end in a point on the back of her hand. The coat appears to have a set hexagonal texture as the miraculous was now worn in the center of her upper torso as she held a blue hand fan.

"Mayura, I'm glad you could join me."

"It is my honor, Hawkmoth, to work alongside you," the villain spoke as Hawkmoth grin at her response. "So, what is your strategy today, my liege?" she followed as Hawkmoth stared at the open window, a sense of possibility and renewal surging through him. He could feel his victory being in reach.

The only problem? Hawkmoth felt like this every, single day and the end result remain the same: he lost every time to those three meddling heroes. Only recently, did he start to feel his secret identity being at risk with one [possibly two] teenage girls [outside of Lila and her friends] knowing his secret.

While the moth knew Lila and her friends enough to know they would keep his secret in exchange for permanently keeping their miraculouses, he did not know about the girl known as Cleo Monroe, the one who cunningly tricked him into speaking long enough to get a reading on his voice.

But while Cleo obtain physical images of his lair connecting to the mansion [and got a picture of him as Hawkmoth, no doubt], he did not know the girl had an accomplice to join her. So as of now, Cleo and the [potential] girl named Bernadette were also a threat to him alongside the heroes.

Yet this time, Hawkmoth chose to go after the girls when he finished the first task that was at large: retrieving the miraculouses belonging to Miraculous Ladybug, Chat Noir and Snow Drift. Then, and only then, would he able to go relentlessly pursuit the girls into giving up the information they now possessed.

"Today? Today, my strategy is simple. I am going to introduce the heroes and the world to my secret weapon... you," Hawkmoth briefly answered as Mayura gave a malicious smirk. "I am ready to help in any way I can," she firmly stated as Hawkmoth grinned, only to smirk as he felt the underlying senses of negative emotions somewhere within Paris.

"A potential akuma. This should be fun," Hawkmoth mumbled, his smirk evolving as he turned to his latest ally. "Well, Mayura, today is your lucky day to test out your powers," he told her as he faced the outer view of his lair.

"Today, the heroes will know, what real fear is."

———————————

"So, you not only lost to a commoner but you got caught cheating as well."

"S... Sir, I... I —"

"We are the Schindlers, Lorelei!"

As she heard the table slam beneath her father's clenched fist, Lorelei winced and flinch at the sound. "I... I... I..." she started, only to stop as he scoffed.

"You're so pathetic, Lei. Why can't you be like Rey Lopez and be useful for once? Huh? You have one job; that is to win, no matter the cost! But you can't even do that! You can't beat a commoner, much less our rivals' youngest daughter!" her father had harshly snapped as Lorelei looked down in shame.

So when she saw her father raised his arm, she only flinched, anticipating the hit... That never came.

"That's enough, Dad."

As Lorelei looked up, she saw Emery holding their father's arm and for a brief moment, she was appreciative of having a older brother. "Emerson, let go," their father strictly ordered, but her brother refused.

"No. If you want to get upset with my sister, get upset with yourself for making her feel like she has to resort to cheating and foul play just to please you and mom. But don't think for a second you can lay a hand on my little sister just because of your unrealistic standards," Emery firmly stared as he was harshly slapped by their father's other hand, focusing the eldest to fall onto the ground.

"This isn't your battle, son. Now leave before you make things worse for you and your sister," their father snapped as Lorelei went to help her brother. "Just go, Emery," she whispered, but Emery stubbornly shook his head.

"No, I'm staying and I'm going to defend my sister because this has always been my battle, father," Emery sharply stated as he stood in front of him. "In fact, if you want to get upset at someone, get upset at me," he sharply continued, to which their father scoffed.

"You're pushing my buttons, but you haven't done much."

"You'll be switching your tune once you find out what he did," Lorelei quietly mumbled, to which Emery shot her a keep-quiet look. "Sorry," she later said, causing their father to stare at the two siblings. "What did you do, Emerson?" their father sharply (almost aggressively) asked, to which Emery had a exaggerated lie planned out but... his sister clearly had different plans.

"I—"

"He was trying to befriend our rivals!" Lorelei blurted out as Emery reluctantly sighed, his lie now out of the window as his sister ruined whatever he was going to say. "I'm sorry, but I really needed a win here and your screw up was just really tempting," she quietly whispered to Emery, who glared at her.

"Oh? Was it —"

"No, Dad, it wasn't for manipulative gains. He just genuinely wanted to befriend them," Lorelei chimed in as Emery nudged the girl, the closest he would ever get to hitting the girl. Regardless, Lorelei got the hint and tried to stop herself. Their father laughed but once he saw the two were serious, his face fell — quickly becoming replaced with pure rage.

"YOU CHOSE TO DO WHAT!"

As his loud tone and slamming the table with his fist caught the siblings off-guard, the two siblings tensely glanced at each other. "Did you forget our history with them? Did you forget what they did to us! Our name — our history — is all tainted, thanks to the those good-for-nothing Lopez's!" their father angrily snapped.

"Dad, it's not his fault —"

"SILENCE!"

As Lorelei meekly gave a frightened cry, she quickly went to hide behind Emery, afraid to look her father in the eye. "Why do we need to persist in this pointless rivalry? Why can't we just come together and I don't know... become friends?" Emery confidently started, only to gradually become nervous as he saw his father's death-like stare in his direction.

"Friends? Ha! I never thought I would say this, but I'm sorry for the way I treated you, my little Lei Lei. Clearly, I needed to be reminded of what a failure your older brother is for believing he could genuinely be friends with the enemies!" their father sharply said, [though they all knew the apology meant nothing — just another case of hollow words] before turning to Emery.

"We want the Lopez's family to fear us. They deserve to pay! I thought you would understand this, but you're soft and weak like your mother. You're a disgrace and I regret ever naming you as my favorite," their father harshly told Emery, who only stared at him in silence.

"You want someone to blame? Go blame yourself for turning into the people you hate. But don't you dare go and blame Emery for attempting to befriend our rivals because he has something you actually lack: a heart," she aggressively continued, but when Emery had nudged her, Lorelei could see she struck a nerve in her father... which made her feel more guilty than proud about standing up to him.

So when their father silently stared at the two, a look of regret and realization dawn on him but rather than apologize, he simply walked away from his kids, slammed the front door on the way out and stormed off. While Emery and Lorelei looked at each other in guilt and disbelief at standing up to their father, their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a high-pitch triumphant laugh.

"I say good riddance."

As Emery and Lorelei looked at her coyote kwami, Kaydee, the two stared at her. "We have to go after him," the two siblings insisted as Kaydee scoffed. "No, you don't. Just let Hawkmoth and Mayura have Gredorius," Kaydee casually said as Emery stared at his younger sister in confusion.

"Mayura?"

"Oh, right! Well, Mayura is this blue peacock lady who can create real-life living beings called sentimonsters by simply using a magically charged blue feather called an amok, which can be used on people with strong emotions," she briefly explained, unaware of the two siblings looking at each other as Kaydee was speaking.

"Though, I'm surprised Duusu and his miraculous were reactivated again, considering his miraculous was cracked from the last person who held it," Kaydee briefly continued [more so, to herself than to the siblings] as Lorelei and Emery look at each other, their eyes widen upon hearing the part of "people with strong emotions."

"Dad!"

———————————-

On the other side of Paris, a window sill opened as a light purple glow could be seen in the distance. In the dark, shadowy part of the room, a secluded older male resembling an actual moth gripped onto his cane with a smirk.

"Ah, the betrayal and frustration from his loved ones with the inner desire to make his opponents fear him. Perfect emotions for my latest akuma," the mystery man quietly spoke as he turned to his new ally. "Mayura," the man briefly spoke, to which, Mayura produced a magically charged blue feather as she grin at him moments later. 

"Ready, Hawkmoth."

"Perfect. Let's see how well fear and chaos come together," Hawkmoth continued as he touched a pure, white butterfly which was now corrupt with dark, purple energy as the butterfly mindlessly flapped its wings. "Go to him, my little akuma and infect his dark heart," Hawkmoth ordered as the akuma began to fly out of his lair. Then as he turn to Mayura, he gave a nod.

"Fly away, beautiful amok, and enhance and hone that frustration!" Mayura exclaimed as the feather began to fly, joining the akuma in the direction of the individual with the strong emotions. Once the akuma and the amok were out of sight, Hawkmoth and his new ally, Mayura, looked at each other with a mix of anticipation and curiosity in their eyes.

"Let the discord begin."

————————————-

"We have to go after him!"

"Well, technically, both of you could just follow my advice and—"

"Kaydee!"

Kaydee was still getting used to Emery yelling at her, but as she saw her mistress glaring at her, the kwami reluctantly sighed, choosing to stop.  "Ugh, fine!" the kwami whined, placing her tiny crown down, now looking at her owner and the girl's brother, who were about to leave as she chuckled.

"You know, it's faster if you transform into Rieka. You'll never catch him on your own in your civilian form," Kaydee followed up as Lorelei stared at Emery, who shrugged. "It's your call, sis, but you need to pick a option. Given how we angered Dad though, I think we might have accidentally accelerated the process for the akuma and the amok finding him," Emery stated as Lorelei stared at her kwami.

"Kaydee, claws of chaos!"

As Lorelei said those words, her outfit had transformed into a light orange hoodie with a light auburn dress [with matching leather leggings] and fur combat boots as a 'R' was engraved on the left side of her boots. On her side pocket, she held her cards and on her back, the girl held a stack of electric bow-and-arrows.

"You don't stick with a consistent outfit, do you?" Emery pointed out, pulling down her hoodie, only to gasp when his sister bare her canine teeth [than her own natural human teeth] while her eyes resembled one of an actual coyote.

However, it was the fact his sister had gain actual coyote ears that caught him off guard. In response, he quickly placed her hoodie back on as Rieka smugly grinned, flashing the pointy side of her teeth. "Boo," she said as Emery glared at her. "Ugh, fine. Let's go find dad before my annoying boss and his new ally get ahold of him," she annoyingly said, to which she had dragged her brother along.

"Ah!"

As Rieka jumped across rooftop to rooftop with her older brother [after finally calming down from the fifth rooftop jump he endured with Rieka] searched for their father to no luck. It also did not help how Rieka would impatiently ask "Any sign of him?" every five minutes to her older brother, who kept looking.

"No! Quit asking!" Emery irritatedly snapped at last, to which Rieka only scoffed [but he could see her eyes flinch, which made him feel terrible]. The two never addressed it as Rieka wanted to focus on the objective at hand. So when Emery finally found a glimpse of a lavender scarf, his eyes widened.

"There!"

As Rieka saw the direction her brother was pointing in, she went to the nearest rooftop and gently landed on the ground, where Emery was greatly relieved [but also somewhat sad] to be on the ground again. As the two approached the end of the building, the two saw their father leaning against the wall, desperately trying to call his wife. But the two could see his defeated look with each missed call he got.

Hi! This is Millie! If you are receiving this, then I am currently unavailable to answer any calls at the moment! Please —

"Damn it!"

As the older light-skinned man with short jet-black hair [that was slowly turning gray as he aged], a light beige bow tie on his light gray business suit man and black professional business shoes threw his phone as he solemnly clenched onto the lavender scarf — a gift from his wife and kids.

"... I never wanted to hurt 'em. I never wanted to be this. I never wanted any of this," the father solemnly mumbled, the truth dawning on him as Rieka and Emery saw the man who prided himself on "being tough" break down right before their eyes.

Hearing their father's sorrowful cries made Emery's heart sink as it became clear: their father was just a product of a generation that drill hatred and resentment into his heart. Even if Emery didn't quite agree with what his father said [some part of him still believe his father meant to hurt them], it was nice to see their father take ownership of his own actions for a change.

"We have to go do something," Emery sympathetically but determinedly stated, only to turn behind him to see Rieka record the incident. "Ri!" he sharply but quietly exclaimed as the supervillain rolled her eyes and stopped the recording. "Forgive me for trying to get emotional blackmail on our dad in the event he tries to hit us again," Rieka sharply mumbled as Emery sighed.

"There's a time and a place for everything, Rieka, but this is not one of those times nor is this the place to get your 'emotional blackmail,'" Emery gently but firmly scold her, much to the supervillain's annoyance.

"You know, I'm really starting to think I should have never detransformed in your room that one, stormy late night, because I can't think of any aspiring supervillain who gets lectured by their own brother!" Rieka quietly but very aggressively snapped at Emery, who only shook his head and laughed.

"Consider me the first then. You'll have stories for the next aspiring supervillains who have siblings know their secret," Emery teasingly said, much to Rieka's annoyance as the girl exaggeratedly lashes out in frustration. "Ah! I wish you could just forget!" she exclaimed as Emery rolled his eyes.

"No, but really though, we need to do something about dad before his emotions get the best of him and poof! He's now the latest victim for Hawkmoth and the first victim for Mayura," Emery pointed out, trying to get his sister back on track, but she was too busy trying to get her brother to realize that Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth. She, then, sigh and shook her head, realizing it wasn't the place nor the time to correct him. She would tell him some other time instead.

"Well, don't jinx us," Rieka briefly mumbled. However when she saw an akuma flying to their father, she quickly jumped out of their hiding spot as the supervillain shot at the akuma using one of her arrows.

Almost immediately, she saw her father stand up and Rieka reluctantly held her hands, expecting the older man to be frightened by her arrival... like everyone else in this city that only appreciated the heroes. Instead, he empathically stared at her. "Y... You saved my life," he sincerely spoke as Rieka bashfully smiled, caught off-guard by the pure joy in his voice.

"Ah, well it was no problem, da..." Rieka began, only to catch herself and adjust her act with a finger salute. "Sir," she corrected, awkwardly grinning afterwards as the villain silently screamed at her near-fatal mistake. "But um... what made this akuma come to you?" she gently followed up, pointing at the arrow-struck akuma as Rieka glanced at her surroundings to ensure the amok wasn't in her sights.

"I... I..." her father began, stammering slightly as she saw the man heavily sigh. "Ich bin ein schlechter Vater," he bluntly said and for once, Rieka wanted to tear up at the sound of her father acknowledging what a terrible father he's been to her and Emery. But she couldn't say these things [because she was not Lorelei in the moment], so Emery had to take her place.

"Du bist kein schrecklicher Vater, Papa, nur fehlgeleitet."

"Emerson!" their father exclaimed upon seeing him as he affectionately hugged his son, while Rieka quietly watch. "I'm so, so sorry for the way I treated you and your sister all of these years. I was ignorant, spiteful and I allowed my generational anger to fester and consume me," their father hastily continued, soon confessing a string of insults on what a terrible person he was.

With each insult their father gave himself, Rieka noticed the akuma beginning to absorb her arrow [which was both frightening, disturbing and downright annoying as that was the fifth arrow she would lose to these akumas] and as her arrow grew smaller, the tiny akuma was able to start moving freely again.

As her eyes widened, Rieka attempted to get Emery's attention who was busy trying to comfort their father. "Em! Em!" she quietly yelled, but when he didn't respond, the girl grabbed a small pebble, aim and hit the back of her brother's head. When Emery look up, Rieka quickly gesture toward the akuma now moving freely.

While Rieka attempted to deal with the akuma situation solo, Emery worked vigorously to calm their father down before the man became yet another number in Paris' akuma-rating statistics system [which is projected to increase within the next five years — who would have possibly guessed that?]

"Papa, it's okay. Look, you're a product of a longstanding feud between our family and the Lopez's. I'm sure the Lopez family feel the same way you do right now, because they too are dealing with the expectations of being perfect just like us," Emery calmly said, though he wasn't sure if he was being honest towards the end.

Were the Lopez family secretly struggling with the expectations of being perfect too? He wasn't completely sure on that account, but it felt true... so maybe?

"These unrealistic expectations are something that's been ingrained in all of us, Papa, even you. But that doesn't mean there's time to fix it and make amends before the next generation is doomed to repeat the same mistakes as we did," Emery confidently told him as he smiled.

"We can still be the ones who take the first steps to a new, brighter future, one where the next generation won't have to worry about being perfect," Emery passionately told their father, which made Rieka reflect on her rivalry with the youngest Lopez.

Deep down, Lorelei knew she didn't love Adrien, so why was she fighting for a pointless cause? She didn't even want him! The guy was too basic and bland for her interests, so why was she so dead-set on ensuring Adrien never got with Rey? She saw the looks Rey gave him time-to-time. Her own rival was genuinely love in him while she only faked the love she had for him [some would say she was doing this for materialistic purposes but it wasn't completely true... just slightly true].

Lorelei knew her need to have Adrien was only because of her own desire to make her parents proud. But still...

Why couldn't — no, shouldn't— she [Lorelei] be allowed to have Adrien if Rey couldn't even stand up to Lila? Her rival was pathetic and it wasn't her fault if Little Miss Perfect lack the confidence needed to tell Adrien how she really felt about him. She was so lost in her thoughts, the supervillain momentarily forgot about the akuma and the amok... which was now heading in her direction.

"Lor... Rieka!"

Caught off-guard by her brother almost saying her name out-loud, Rieka was ready to scold Emery until she saw the akuma and the amok heading to her. She took out her arrows with the pure intentions of striking the akuma and the amok down, but as the two items grew closer, she felt herself beginning to give into her anger.

"Rieka!"

With a shove, Rieka felt her anger fade away and in a shock, she saw their father in her place. As he looked at her, there was almost a knowing aspect that her father knew who she was underneath the mask. Then, he proceeded to look away, now throwing a pebble in the akuma's direction.

"Come and get me!" their father angrily shouted, directly his anger onto the path of the akuma and the amok. "I'm what you want, not them!" he continued, now retrieving his (now) cracked phone as their father held his phone high for the akuma to reach.

"What is he doing?" Emery puzzling asked upon joining Rieka, whose face fell upon the question being asked. "He's going to sacrifice himself and become a pawn to Hawkmoth and Mayura," Rieka quietly answered her oldest brother, the truth now dawning on her as Emery's eyes widen... which she noticed. "Em, no. Em, just let—" she pleaded, but he didn't listen.

He hardly did.

"Papa!"

As Emery ran to stop his father from making a mistake, the boy was distraught to know he was too late when the akuma made its way to his father's phone while the amok went into his father's scarf.

"No!"

"Twister, I am Hawkmoth—" the voice began, only to get stopped as Gredorius heard a woman chuckle. "—and I am Mayura," he heard the woman speak to him in a calm and quiet voice.

"Together, we can help you show your opponents their twisted realities of fear through their own nightmare and desire—" Hawkmoth continued, only to get cut off. "With the help of your own sentimonster, Storm, who will not only keep you protected and act as a shield but if anyone gets too close to you, their eyes will glow and your opponent will be paralyzed," Mayura further explained.

"But in exchange, you need to retrieve the miraculouses of Miraculous Ladybug, Chat Noir and Snow Drift. When this task is complete, you may go after Cleo Monroe and Bernadette Fontaine. Do we have a deal?" Hawkmoth followed up.

While Gredorius didn't know where the two girls lived [the father heard of the two from his daughter], he was determined to try and find the heroes', get their miraculouses and so on... But still, a part nagged at him that this was wrong. Still, in the end, his need for revenge and fear outweigh the doubt as a smirk came over him.

"Dad!"

For a brief moment through the static in his mind, Gredorius heard his son's voice as he saw Emery, he smiled softly. "Please, please don't do this," Emery desperately pleaded as Gredorius's smile only softened. He was so kind, so earnest like his mother. Why did it take till now for him to notice?

"Emerson, you know I don't have a choice. They'll both override me soon, so I need you to promise that you'll protect your sister, no matter what happens or what becomes of me," Gredorius firmly told him as Emery felt tears swell in his eyes. But in the end, the father saw a nod from his son, who was less-than-thrilled.

"Okay. I'll protect her."

"Good," Gredorius softly said and as he saw the self-aspiring supervillain run to him, he modestly shook his head. He wanted to tell his daughter [yes, he knew; like how was he not supposed to know when his daughter arrives late during the night with bruises and scars on her body?] so many things, but time... time simply got the best of him.

As their father screamed from the pain, Rieka and Emery tried to approach him, but by then, Hawkmoth and his new ally got full control of him. So when Gredorius raised his head, the akuma and amok outline symbol appeared on his head, causing Emery's face to fall as Rieka reluctantly pulled her brother back.

"We have a deal."

"No!" Emery cried, trying to run to him but Rieka stubbornly kept his grip on him. "It's too late now. Hawkmoth and Mayura have our dad," she solemnly mumbled and as the two watch the purple goo cover their father, he now donned a black cloak with various cravings, he held a black mask for his mouth and as he glanced down, he found a sack fill with blue, sandy dust and right to his left side was a shadow-wielding sword which could be used to trap the souls of his opponents.

As he glanced at his arms, he found two sliver slots, which would allow him to aim at his opponents with the dust already built in. Then when the two heard a ferocious roar, the two glanced up to see a large electric blue flying dragon with his stormy grey eyes as the siblings raised their eyebrows.

Then Emery and Rieka glanced down to see the dragon come to their father's side, the scarf now a dark blue color, similarly matching the amok feather while his phone was hidden inside the sack. As he smirked at the two, Rieka stepped up, only for Emery to take over as he stared at his father.

"Papa, I know you're still in there. Fight them. Don't let Hawkmoth and Mayura win," he encouragingly told his father, but as his father only chuckled, Emery's face fell at the thought of two villains holding so much power over him.

"When will you learn, son? I wanted their help and I have no intention on going back, not when my goals are within my sights," he firmly spoke, but Emery had only frowned at his response. "Oh and it's Twister now," their father firmly continued as Gredorius became aggressive towards the end.

"You think you want this but you don't. Not really, so please just let him help you," the supervillain softly insisted, taking a step towards him and for a moment, Twister was willing to comply. After all... this was just too much. Yet, as she reached out to him, he recognized the girl's intention to obtain his akumatized item and his amokized object, which he simply wouldn't allow.

"I'm not the one who needs help, little coyote," Twister bluntly stated as a smirk formed on his face. "You are," he said and as Emery saw his father grab a handful of the dust, his eyes widen upon recalling Gredorius's words.

"Emerson, you know I don't have a choice. They'll both override me soon, so I need you to promise that you'll protect your sister, no matter what happens or what becomes of me."

"I'll protect her," Emery determinedly whispered, clenching his fist as he took a deep breath and punched Twister, causing the man to release his grip on Rieka. "Oh, so you got punches, now?" Twister challenged as Emery's eyes widened.

"Well, I've wanted to see what this does. You can become my lab rat," he later snarled as he saw his sister's eyes widened in turn.

"No!"

But as Rieka ran to him and their father, Twister overpowered him, causing the boy to fall as he landed harshly onto the ground. "Emery!" Rieka cried out with panic as her father stared at the supervillain with a taunting smirk. "You're next," Twister sharply said, retrieving his shadow-wielding sword as Rieka glared at him, only staring as she took out her bow-and-arrow.

"Dad, I would rather not go down this route, but if you take one more step, I will," she gently but firmly warned him as Twister only laughed and purposefully took another step forward, much to the supervillain's annoyance. "I'm going to kill Gabriel the next time I see him," she bitterly mumbled, sighing as she charged her arrow at the man... which quickly disintegrated from the shadow sword.

"I really should have gotten his number from Lila when I had the chance," Rieka quietly mumbled, reluctantly staring at the akumatized villain. "Looks like your time is up," he snarled and as she tried to figure out her father's weak point, she didn't see the shadow sword coming straight for her... until she felt the second shove of the hour.

"No!"

As Rieka looked up, she saw her brother in her place as Twister stabbed him straight in his chest, the shadows wrapping themselves around him. "Emery! Hang on!" she called out to him, but Emerson shook his head.

"No! Rieka, you need to go! Leave me! Now!" Emery firmly stated, trying not to scream at the intense coldness surrounding him.

"But—"

As Emery saw the doubt flickering in the supervillain's eyes, he desperately found he had so many things he wanted to say, but as he felt his voice slipping, there just wasn't enough time. Ironic that Emery started thinking about time when he's on the verge of becoming his akumatized father's soul victim.

"It's a order, Ri, not a discussion! Now go!"

As Rieka looked up, she reluctantly nodded and as she left, Emery sighed in relief to know his little sister was safe. Unfortunately, as the shadows began to consume him, Emery realized that he was not safe.

"You tried, warrior, but not hard enough. Soon, all of Paris will know what real fear is," Twister darkly warned and as the boy tried to fight against the shadows, it was too much for Emery, who felt his soul slipping away. So as he closed his eyes, his thoughts were only on his little sister as his body evaporated into a little light orb, which shortly became absorbed into Twister's shadow-sword.

After consuming the boy's soul in his sword, Twister smirked at the sight of his sword glowing, to which he then turned to the electric blue dragon with his stormy grey eyes. "Come on, Storm. Let's go plague the rest of Paris in their fear..." he started as he began to smirk.

"Starting with the Lopez's family."

————————————-

"Where's Snowflake?"

It wasn't often that one of the members missed their typical patrolling duties, but since the three heroes were so jointly connected with one another, when one of the heroes did not make an appearance, their impact was greatly noticeable.

"Chat, you know Snowy couldn't come, because she has her mandatory dinner that we accidentally made her miss last time. So, she's forced to do that and that's why she's not here," Ladybug knowledgeably but gently explained, much to Chat Noir's dismay as he slumped onto the ledge of the rooftop.

"Oh, yeah... I miss her. I miss her charming smile, her witty banters and I miss the fact she won't be here to laugh at my jokes," Chat Noir solemnly but truthfully said as his partner softly rolled her eyes, believing he was simply being dramatic.

"You sound like you're falling for Snowy hard," she teasingly pointed out, but then as Chat Noir sat up, Ladybug could see the serious but almost skeptical look in his eyes.

"M'lady... how do you know you're in love with someone?" Chat Noir slowly asked, no hint of his playfulness in his tone.

He was genuinely serious about the specific signs that came with being potentially in love with someone. But still... The question came out so straightforward, Ladybug found herself in shock as she tried to come up with some kind of answer.

"Well..."

Ladybug wasn't exactly trying to be a love therapist to one of her teammates, but that's how things were looking. So, as she stared at Chat Noir, she took a deep breath. "What exactly are you dealing with?" she asked as Chat Noir blinked at her response. "Oh, it's not for me, it's for a friend," he clarified as Ladybug suspiciously eyed her feline friend whom she've known for two years now.

"A friend?" Ladybug skeptically asked, raising her eyebrows as Chat Noir quickly sat up, now crossing his arms. "M'lady, do you not believe I have friends outside of our duties as superheroes?" Chat Noir half-jokingly but almost offensively followed up as the bug heroine quickly shook her head.

"No, no! Not at all!" Ladybug quickly countered back. "Believe me, you're pretty popular among the locals. It would be pretty unbelievable if you didn't have friends outside of our duties as superheroes," she quickly clarified, to which Chat Noir nodded to show he understood her, resulting in the heroine sighing in relief as the last thing she wanted to do was offend him.

"I only say that because you started this session by talking about how much you miss Snowy, but now it's almost as if you're trying to project your problems onto the label of a 'friend' to avoid discussing your feelings for her," Ladybug swiftly but gently pointed out as Chat Noir merely scoffed.

"Trust me, M'lady, I have my love life figured out."

"This session would beg to differ," Ladybug swiftly countered but as Chat Noir gave her a sharp glare, she quickly backed off. "But fine. What is this friend dealing with?" she followed up, mainly to save herself.

"Well.... I — He — My friend is torn between two girls," Chat Noir slowly began after a few painful attempts to conceal the truth about the "friend" being him [in other words, he didn't want Ladybug to be right]. "How so?" Ladybug followed up as she glanced up at the hero who sighed.

"One girl is the sweetest, kindest and loyal person he's ever known and the other girl is the most confident, wittiest and charming person he's ever met. Both girls mean the world to him, but he just doesn't want to ruin the friendship he has with both of them, because he's afraid he'll be just like his father and end up destroying the bond shared between them."

As Chat Noir was listing characteristics of these two girls "his friend" was torn between, Ladybug mentally went through a list of girls she knew and the only ones that stood out to her were... Rey Lopez and Snow Drift. She knew Rey to be the sweetest, kindest and loyal person out there because that's just who she was, but Snow Drift was known to be confident, witty and charming.

As she thought about Rey and Snowy together, Ladybug discovered she wasn't able to separate the two. The longer the heroine thought about the two's similar personalities and their physical features, the easier it became for her to come to the truth: Chat Noir wasn't in love with two girls but one.

Of course, some part of her knew that. After all, one doesn't go through their superhero journey with two of their friends without picking up some things along the way. Some part of her knew Snow Drift and Rey Lopez were one and the same, but this wasn't the case when the three first started their superhero part-time careers.

At first, Ladybug could separate the two so quickly: Snowy was confident, Rey was not. It was a simple black and white perspective that led Ladybug to dismiss Rey ever being the snow-leopard heroine. But over the course of the two years spent, Ladybug was able to see how parts of Rey merged with Snow Drift and how parts of Snow Drift bled into Rey.

The miraculouses had a funny way of showing people their true selves... if one was only willing to see the truth in front of them.

Ladybug always did her best to ignore the truth; she thought it was easier, but now, she found her rule that she made two years ago was a little foolish. At some point, she and her team would need to reveal their identities to each other, but... Ladybug wasn't as ready as she thought she would be. She didn't want her friends to know that behind the mask, Ladybug was really a dorky, accident-prone klutz.

So, Miraculous Ladybug would keep the truth of Snowy's true secret identity to herself and when the snow-leopard heroine was ready to confess, Ladybug would be ready to accept her with open arms.

Until then, Ladybug would have to come up with the best way to loop Chat Noir on what she knew... without actually giving away their teammate's secret.

"Well to me, it doesn't sound like your friend isn't in love with two girls. The problem is, he's in love with one and doesn't know who the girl is, causing him to fall for two girls who are actually one and the same," Ladybug slowly began as Chat Noir skeptically eyed her.

"Wait. M'lady. What do you mean?"

"The characteristics you mentioned for both of the girls are showcased in one girl, if you — I mean, your friend looked closer. The first girl is the sweetest, kindest and loyal person he's ever known, but that can't be it. People evolve with time and so that girl is now able to be the most confident, wittiest and charming person he's ever met," she later said as Chat Noir looked at her puzzling.

"For your friend, his keywords are primarily known and met. Your friend has known the first girl at the person she was. But in truth, the second girl is her true self, which he met as you pointed out. As such, your friend's problem isn't being torn between two girls," she continued as Chat Noir nodded, catching onto what the girl was saying, but not really.

"His problem is not failing to see the girls he love are one and the same. Once he is able to truly look at the two and see how they're one singular person, your friend will need to figure out and decipher which side of her is really the girl's authentic self. From that moment, your friend can go and approach her," the bug heroine slowly finished as Chat Noir's eyes widened, now processing her words as he finally caught on.

"That... actually makes so much sense now. Thank you, Ladybug," Chat Noir sincerely said as Ladybug grinned. "You're welcome, Chaton, but I would just be careful when you start your journey to find your mystery girl," she advised him, waiting to see if he would catch on.

"Thanks Lady— Wait what!"

"Come on, Chaton, it was pretty obvious," Ladybug cheekily pointed out to him as Chat Noir huffed. "It couldn't have been that obvious," he countered back. "Yes, yes it was," she simply said as Chat Noir sighed. "Look. If you really love Snow Drift, then fight for her," Ladybug encouragingly told him as Chat Noir deeply blushed at the fact she had correctly guessed the person he was in love with.

"But—"

"I won't hold neither of you accountable for the rule I made two years ago. Times are changing and I think if you two are ready, then you two should know who you are underneath the mask," Ladybug sincerely began as Chat Noir's jaw dropped at her
response.

"But, if Hawkmoth or the wrong person learns who you two are, they will come after you and her, whoever Snow Drift really is under the mask," Ladybug continued, her voice calm but stern as Chat Noir's grew nervous at the thought of getting himself and his crush in danger... which was the last thing he wanted to do.

"That's why I want you to be careful in how you go about this, Chat, as both of you could be putting yourselves at serious risk for having your miraculouses taken away or stolen by other unknown forces who will want to use the miraculouses for evil," she continued as Chat Noir firmly nodded.

"Don't worry. I'll be safe."

"Yeah, you and safe don't exactly mixed," Ladybug cheekily said as Chat Noir raised an eyebrow to her. "Hey!" he offensively exclaimed, which only made Ladybug laugh hard at his response. "Oh, now you think I'm funny," he mumbled as Ladybug softly rolled her eyes.

"I thought you were semi-funny... when your jokes actually landed."

"Hey!"

With another laugh, Ladybug help Chat Noir stand up and as the two chatted amongst themselves, the duo were about to call it a day when the polka-dotted heroine spotted a black cloak man with his sword raised in their direction.

Quickly pulling Chat Noir to the side, the two watch as the akumatized villain came to them. But when the two saw a literal dragon beside him, the heroes noticed a dark blue of the scarf but no sight of his akumatized object.

"Stay still, so I get hit you!"

"Never!"

As Ladybug raised her yo-yo and Chat Noir raised his baton, the two fought against the akumatized villain known as Twister and his sentimonster known as Storm. The two were struggling with Storm blocking their moves, but when Ladybug saw Twister from the counter of her eye heading towards Chat Noir, she knew he would have to beat the villain from getting him.

So as she pulled Chat Noir to safety with her yo-yo, Ladybug put herself in the position of Twister, who smirked. "Hello, bug. Get ready to meet your match," he mockingly said as Ladybug growled. "Try me," she bluntly said and in between charging him, she forgot to factor in his sword coming from the other direction as she had anticipated the attack to come from the back... not the front.

"LADYBUG!"

So when the sword went through her chest, she instantly felt a instant coldness despite her body feeling like it was aflame. For a brief moment, her vision faded and in between the deafening static noise, it was almost as though she could her life moving past her. It almost felt calming in a way she couldn't quite describe... like she could die knowing she tried.

But then the heroine caught a hold of Chat Noir's look as he remain block by Twister's sentimonster, Storm. For a brief moment, she caught a look of pure rage and panic in his eyes, which surprised her. She couldn't recall the last time he looked so furious. He was always playful, the jokester in the group.

"CATACLYSM!"

As Chat Noir angrily touched the sentimonster, Storm's body gain a series of powerful, massive cracks as the dragon began to violently screech, catching the attention of the akumatized villain but not enough to provoke him as Chat Noir intended.

Rather, Twister returned his attention back to the bug as Storm flew off from its owner [and Mayura to an extent] to start several fires across the city and randomly paralyzing people in fear as it went berserk from the effects of Cataclysm... something Chat Noir did not think about as his mind was too preoccupied to provoking Twister to notice the extra damage he indirectly caused [since Ladybug and Snow Drift are pretty much his impulse control].

"I'll be taking you, the cat and the snow leopard's miraculouses and when I'm done with the three of you, I'll be going after the Lopez's family to exact my revenge against them. Once and for all," Twister darkly said as her eyes widened.

Glancing down at her chest, she could see the shadows slowly wrap themselves onto her and in that moment, Ladybug knew she wouldn't make it. So when the heroine attacked Twister, she went to seek out Chat Noir.

"Chat! You need to find Rey and her family! Go protect them and leave me here! I'll try to distract him," Ladybug strictly told the feline, whose eyes widened at the response she gave as he saw the sword stabbed in her chest,

"But—"

"Protect Rey and her family first. Then find Snow Drift and tell her she must be the one to purify the akuma using Lucky Touch. Her powers are similar to mine, so as long as she touches the akuma and her ice lasso touches the amok, you both should be fine as freezing the amok is the equivalent of me using Lucky Charm," Ladybug sternly added as she began to wince.

"Lady—"

"Please Chat, it's not up for discussion. Just go," Ladybug firmly told him as Chat Noir reluctantly nodded and took off. When she saw the feline hero was gone, Ladybug fell on her knees, unable to stand.

"You can try to hide your partners from me, but I'll come after both of them," Twister sharply said, grabbing the bug heroine as he held her. "Trust me. Chat Noir and Snow Drift are both stronger than you think. They'll defeat you easily," Ladybug sharply said as Twister slowly touch one of her earrings.

"Right, well if they're anything like you, it'll be easy," Twister sharply said, mocking her as he pulled one of the earrings off from Ladybug, who was now detransforming in his watch.

"Yes! Once you get her miraculous, go after Chat Noir and Snow Drift. Then bring all three of their miraculouses to me."

"One more left. 'Guess you're not much of a challenge when lives are at stake. That's a shame. Oh well," he added and as Ladybug wanted to fight back, the shadows had full control over her.

So as she felt her body being evaporated, Twister grabbed onto her last earring just as the heroine's soul left her body [meaning he never got to see who she really was and to some extent, neither did Hawkmoth and Mayura]. Turning into a light orb, his shadow sword quickly absorbed her soul as he was left with Ladybug's earrings.

"One down, two to go."

————————————-

"Si tu me touches, je te tue!"

It was the first time Rieka heard the feline so aggressive and to be honest... it was kinda hot. "Relax, bat boy. I come in peace," she half-teasingly said, but Chat Noir didn't fight back or insult her... in fact, he didn't really do anything. He just stared at her as though the boy had died inside.

"Why are you here?" Chat Noir sharply asked, to which Rieka sighed and pointed at the damage in the city. "Ladybug's gone and the only one who can fix it is Snow Drift, but I'll never find her if you don't move," he sharply continued as Rieka's eyes widened at the news.

"What happened to beetle girl?" Rieka curiously inquired, but when she saw the cat look away, it dawned upon her that Emery wasn't their father's only victim. "... He took her soul too, huh?" she later finished as Chat Noir slowly looked at her. "H... How did you know?" he slowly asked as she sighed.

"My fath — I mean, Twister took someone who was close to me too. Twisted stab this person in his chest and that person gave me a order to leave him. I... I didn't want to leave him, b... but he just insisted it's not —" Rieka slowly began, trying to conceal her emotions (and her brother's identity) when Chat Noir had cut her off.

"A discussion. Yeah, Ladybug told me something similar before she forced me to leave her side. Now, I have to go find the Lopez family, because that's where she told me the akumatized villain would be heading next. Then, I need to find Snow Drift, so she can purify the akuma and the amok to reverse the damages done by Twister," Chat Noir firmly stated as Rieka gave him a skeptical look.

"... And the damage I indirectly caused from using cataclysm on the sentimonster," he later finished, much to the supervillain's delight as she grinned. "Ugh! I wish I had a voice recorder to record that moment, so people could hear how even their cut-clean, perfect heroes can become monsters too," Rieka delightfully said, now laughing as Chat Noir stared at his hands, which were shaking.

"No! I... I didn't do this... i... intentionally," Chat Noir insisted, but his voice was barely noticeable and he started to feel he was drowning. But as Rieka gestured to the city on literal fire and the sounds of scream echoing across the rooftop, the feline hero found himself thinking if he was even meant to wield the cat miraculous.

Master Fu gave him the ring, because the elder was greatness in him, but... what if the Guardian was wrong? What if the Moth miraculous wasn't the only terrible decision he made? What if... What if... Master Fu made the mistake in giving him the ring to be the fearless hero known as Chat Noir? What if he was wrong in choosing Adrien Agreste as the last Chat Noir's successor?

"Ha! You're the wielder to the miraculous of destruction! Everything about this is so intentional! If losing Ladybug triggered this much destruction, I can't wait to see how Paris will survive when Snow Drift gets endangered. Maybe by then, Paris will see you for who you really are: a destroyer," Rieka further continued as Chat Noir growled at the supervillain.

"SHUT UP!"

As Chat Noir aggressively charged towards Rieka, she saw the fury — the angst and the pure rage in his emerald-green eyes, the supervillain smirked and swiftly blocked his attack, kicking the hero onto the ground as his ring cracked from the impact [which he hadn't noticed]. Growling, Chat Noir clenched his baton and as he angrily attempted to attack Rieka, she gracefully held the hero in his place.

His ring was just within reach. If Rieka actually cared, she could easily take the ring and all that would be left is Snow Drift's necklace of renewal... assuming her father had managed to get his own hands onto Ladybug's earrings of creation right before he took her soul.

But today, she wasn't working for Hawkmoth. Today, she had no intention (or desire) to get his ring... not when seeing the black feline hero aflame provided her much needed entertainment in these dark, cruel times.

"Believe me, I could do this all day but I actually want the city back to normal, so I'm going back to help the people down below while you need to go find Snow Drift and you know, fix what you and Twister started," Rieka smugly stated, lightly pushing the hero back onto the ground. "Good luck. You're going to need it after this," she mocked, now laughing once more as she took off.

As Chat Noir silently grabbed onto his baton, he quickly attempted to go back to the mission Ladybug assigned him and made his way to the Lopez mansion. However, by the time he arrived... the hero could see the place decimated as it was now covered in shambles.

Then when Chat Noir found a tiny speck of blue dust on a vase, the hero made his way to the dining room where he found the entire Lopez family lying on the ground, half-asleep/half-conscious, all surrounded by the dust. He ignored his miraculous beeping as he heard a dark, low chuckle.

"You were too late and now, you're exactly where I want you."

As Chat Noir turn around, he was Twister standing over Rey, the poor girl now lost to the villain's sick, twisted game. As he stared at her back at Twisted, Chat Noir felt something snap inside him as he quickly charged at the akumatized villain, standing protectively over the girl.

"Tu la blesses et je te tuerai moi-même," Chat Noir firmly stated, once again, ignoring his miraculous beeping as Twister simply laughed at the hero's threat. "You? Ha! You kill me and you will doom all of Paris into living in a twisted, burning dystopian..." the akumatized villain began, smirking as he got under the boy's skin.

After all, there was no need to use his dust on the cat. His fear was evident as the heart on his sleeve. "... Unless, you're willing to put your words to the test," Twister cunningly stated as Chat Noir angrily clenched his fist and punched the villain hard enough for his right eye to bruise easily while the hero aggressively bruised the akumatized villain with his baton.

When the akumatized villain was unconscious, Chat Noir open Twister's left palm and saw a set of Ladybug's earrings, stirring his emotions as the cracked ring faintly glowed at the activation of his anger. Upon grabbing the miraculous from him, the hero felt his second burst of rage kick in as he aggressively kicked Twister.

Then when he got back to his senses, the ring stopped glowing as Chat Noir went back to Rey, now kneeling on her side as the girl remained unresponsive.

"Come on, Rey! You need to wake up!"

————————————-

"Come on, Rey! You need to wake up!"

As Rey opened her eyes, she found herself lying on a meadow, the sky brightly lit with the sun fully out. The girl was now surrounded by wildflowers and as she stood up, she found her necklace wasn't on her. Rather in the place of the necklace, the girl had her authentic pearl necklace gifted to her by her parents...

"My necklace! What happened to my necklace?" Rey immediately asked, on the verge of panicking when she felt a pair of hands gently hold her. "Hey, hey. Forget the necklace. You're here now with me," she heard a male voice say and as Rey looked up, her eyes widened.

"Adrien?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be here?" Adrien cheekily asked her as he began to laugh, much to her confusion.

What is going on?

"I don't understand. Why are you here? I thought you wanted Lorelei," Rey pointed out as Adrien laughed. "Lorelei? I never wanted her, not when I already have the one right in front of me," Adrien softly said, cupping her face as Rey's eyes widened at his words, now as she began to blush.

Why was she so worried about her necklace or why she wasn't Snow Drift? She was here with her best friend! This was her chance to finally tell Adrien how she felt! No Lorelei, no distractions, just her and him... alone.

"Adrien, I need to tell you something," Rey stated as Adrien softly stared at her. "Yes?" he softly asked as she took a deep breath.

"I'm in love with you, Adrien. I fell in love with you the day we first met. You're my best friend and I love your kindness. You're sweet, you're kind but most importantly, you're truest person I've ever met. I've always loved you, Adrien. With all my heart, I will always choose you because at the end of the day, you're my dream."

"Rey..."

"I don't care if you feel the same. I'm fine with that. I just—"

"You're my dream too, Rey. From the day I first met you, I knew you would be the one to change my life for the better. You are so selfless, brave and above all, loyal. Rey, with all of my heart, I will always choose you in a heartbeat because at the end of the day, we were meant to be," he finished and as the two smiled, Rey chuckled.

"Why don't we make it official?" Rey cheekily asked, playfully but confidently asking as Adrien laughed, now pulling her close. "You tell me..." he said, the two in each other's arms.

As Adrien pulled Rey closer to him, the wind gently blew as the wildflowers danced in the air gracefully. Time seemed to slow and as the two stared into each other's eyes, it was clear that in that moment, they were do anything for each other because in their hearts, this — this was true.

As Rey and Adrien leaned closer, Adrien had started to close his eyes and confident to know she would be his, she pulled him in as the two kissed, her eyes closing as the girl chose to embrace this blissful moment. It was as if time paused and for this moment, it felt magical... Until it wasn't.

"Still a disappointment, are we?"

In a blink of an eye, Rey went from having the courage to confessing her feelings to her best friend and Adrien kissing her to enduring the same, living nightmare she's been having ever since she got the title which [along with her parents' reputation] consumed their life.

Instead of enjoying her kiss with Adrien in the wildflowers under the sunny skies, she is now surrounded within dreary, gloomy skies and back at her family's mansion where she was stuck listening to her parents. Rey wished, right in that moment, to go back to the fantasy — anything had to better than here!

"Not surprising," her mother responded as she harshly laughed. "She's hardly good at anything. She's just a waste of time and energy spent. To think not even her Little Miss Perfect title could get any sort of praise from us," her mother continued as her father laughed.

"B... But, I... I — "

"Ha! Leave it to the little spare to screw up her own life. She'll never amount to much," she heard her older sister cruelly say as Rey's face fell. "Amy, come on! That's not true!" Rey meekly protested, now rushing to her sister, who laughed as she was shoved onto the ground with Iris standing beside Amy.

As the two together to laugh, Rey began to run but as her parents' laughter amounted, she simply collapsed onto the ground and began to cry, scream and to an extent lash out at her never ending struggle.

"Jagged Stone? No, no, no. This will never do," she heard Iris dismissively say and as her oldest sister toss the shirt out, Rey saw she was now in her room. As she glanced at the vintage Jagged Stone T-shirt, Rey's eyes widened as she wiped her tears and look directly at her sister.

"You got me the shirt."

"I did what?" Iris countered as she gave a laugh. "Why would I gift you the hideous, ugly thing when you can have this instead?" she followed up, holding the lavender dress that Rey recalled declining at the mall... in that moment, the realization dawned on her. Her fear was being driven by her memories!

"You gave me the shirt because you said even if I liked Jagged Stone or like wearing less expensive clothes, those things were aspects of who I am and no one can ever take that away from me," Rey sincerely said and as she took a step closer, she could see "her sister" start to glitch.

Bingo.

"That's why the Jagged Stone shirt is still here. Deep down, you and I know I'm not a disappointment to this family and their expectations are suffocating us. You wanted me to still be a normal teenager without having to deal with more added pressure from our parents and Amy," she continued as the "Iris" began to glitch.

"You wanted to make up for being a better sister to me and if I'm correct..." Rey trailed off and upon finding her sister's shopping bag, she pulled out four tickets to the Jagged Stone concert. "You got me these tickets to make up to me," she finished as Rey held the tickets in Iris's hand.

"You wanted me to be myself, and that's the greatest gift you could've ever given me," Rey sincerely finished as she hugged Iris. "I love you, sis," she concluded and as Rey hugged her sister, she heard a brief cough as the girl pulled away.

"Rey? Rey! Oh, I'm so happy to see you, sis!" Iris happily exclaimed as the two sisters hugged once more before she pulled away and tenderly held onto Rey's face. "Listen to me, Rey. We're all trapped in our own headspace because of Twister. He manipulated our memories and our own minds to make us deal with our greatest desire, our worst fear or both," she explained as Rey briefly frowned.

It would have been nice if her kiss with Adrien was real....

"You need to get out of here by overcoming your fear. Show our parents that you're not a disappointment and you can leave, but you have to hurry! You don't have much time! If you stay in here any longer, you will die! Twister did this to ensure all of us
of our deaths, but let's prove him wrong!"

"B... But what if... I —"

"Rey, you're a Lopez through and through and we Lopez's never give up. You already proved to me that you can be your true self, so show them," Iris encouragingly told her before softly kneeling her youngest sister's forehead with hers.

"You can do this."

As Iris vanished from her mind, Rey took a deep breath and confidently held her head high. "I can do this! Bring it on, Twister!" she boldly challenged and in a blink of an eye, she was back at the start of her worst nightmare. Only this time, Rey was ready for this.

"Still a disappointment, are we?" her father asked as her mother laughed on cue. "Not surprising," her mother responded as she harshly laughed a moment later. "She's hardly good at anything. She's just a waste of time and energy spent. To think not even her Little Miss Perfect title could get any sort of praise from us," her mother finished as her father laughed.

"No. You're right. I'll never be good enough for you," Rey calmly started, which caught her parents off-guard as the girl laughed. "I'll never be good enough because perfection is a concept. You drilled this idea into my head that my worth was only determined by whether or not, I could please you two but guess what?" Rey boldly continued as she smirked.

"I'm done, because I know exactly my worth is. I don't need to be perfect to prove anything to either of you. I am authentically me and I won't apologize for who I am. Not anymore."

As Rey finished, she quietly held her breath and as her parents stared at each other, the two looked back at her. Rey waited for some snarky insult from her parents but instead, she received a hug from her parents. "I knew you had it in you all along, Rey. Like a true Lopez!" her parents proudly exclaimed as the two gleefully laughed, now pulling away as the couple tenderly held their daughter's head.

"Please don't ever change. You've always made us proud and we love you just as the way you are, mija. Always."

~~~~~~~~~~

As Rey began to cough, her vision started to return and as she stared at her home being in ruins, she felt a tight hug. "You listened to me! You actually woke up!" she heard and as she embraced the hug, she saw Iris and Chat Noir as the two pulled away. "Okay, I'm going to wake up Amy and our parents while you stay here with Chat Noir," Iris told her as Rey felt her white snowflake necklace securely on her neck.

"Actually, I'm going to go find us some help," Rey boldly countered as she stood up and held her head tall. "What help? I'm the only hero left," Chat Noir gently insisted as Rey only grinned. "Just trust me," she confidently told him and as the feline watch the girl run off to get help, his heart began to beat.

"She's paw-mazing," he whispered as he heard a soft chuckle. "Yeah, that's my sister for you. She's truly... miraculous," Iris softly but sincerely told the feline. "Now, should I be expecting to come over more often to see her?" she teasingly followed up as Iris pride herself on making the hero flustered.

"Ah, relax, cat boy. I'm just saying I know when someone likes my sister and you might not be the only one," she added, but Iris refused to elaborate on who else liked Rey as she was now chuckling and walking away.

"Kitty?"

As Chat Noir turn around, a bright smile came across his face as the feline hero saw the snow-leopard heroine with her ice lasso in hand. "Snowflake! I'm so happy to see you!" he happily exclaimed as Snow Drift softly smiled.

"Well, I heard there's this guy called Twister and his sentimonster on the loose from a friend of mine, so I had to come by and help," Snow Drift began as Iris happily gasped at her response. "My little sister is friends with Snow Drift!" Iris gleefully cried out as the heroine playfully shook her head before looking around.

"Where's Spots?"

When Chat Noir's smile fell and he only held out Ladybug's earrings, Snow Drift gasped as her smile completely vanished. "No..." she quietly said, now shaking her head as her tears threatened to fall. "No... No, please. Not her," she said as Chat Noir comforted her as the two pulled away, sighing afterwards.

"I know, Snowflake. It's tough, but LB would have wanted us to finish the mission and stop Twister, which is why... you should wield her miraculous," Chat Noir softly said as Snow Drift's eyes widened.

"Kitty, I —"

"I can't wield Ladybug's miraculous and you're the only one to purify the akuma and the amok to reverse the damages done since your powers are similar to hers. If you combine your powers with the Ladybug miraculous, then we can fix this, but for this plan of mine to work, everything will come down to you. Are you ready?"

As Snow Drift processed Chat Noir's words, she stared back at the earrings and took a deep breath.

"I'm ready."

As Snow Drift placed Ladybug's earrings on, she was greeted by a miniature four-inch red and black polka-dotted figure. "You must be Ladybug's kwami," she softly said as the kwami solemnly nodded. "I'm sorry I'm not her, but if you help me and Chat Noir, we can bring your Ladybug back from Twister," Snow Drift softly added as the kwami nodded.

"Okay. I'll help you and Chat Noir for my wielder. My name is Tikki and to transform, you'll just say my name, the name of your kwami and say "unify," since your miraculous is already active," she began as Snow Drift nodded.

"From there, you'll have the abilities of Snow Drift and Miraculous Ladybug, becoming known as Snow Bug. But to use lucky charm, you'll have to detransform, by saying the name of your kwami and Divide. From there, I imagine you know about how to use the special power, Lucky Charm, and catch the akuma?"

"Yes."

"You'll catch the amok in the same way and once both are purified, you need to raise the lucky charm in the air and say Miraculous Ladybug. To deactivate the miraculous, just say my name and spots off. Think you can manage?" Tikki ask as Snow Drift nodded. "I can handle it," Snow Drift promptly said just as her, Chat Noir, Tikki and Iris heard the sound of Twister getting back up.

"No time like the present, Snow!"

As Snow Drift took a deep breath, she smirked. "Gilla, Tikki, Unify!" she exclaimed as the symbols of the snow leopard and ladybug miraculouses appear on both sides of her hands, which she fused to create "Snow Bug."

As she spoke the words, a bright white and reddish light formed around the heroine as her short, medium-length hair grew much longer, now in a long ponytail form while her suit gain crystallize polka-dots in addition to her mask. However instead of her ice lasso as Snow Drift, she had a crystallized yo-yo instead.

"What do you think?"

"You look snow-tastic as always," Chat Noir softly complimented just as Twister got up to search for the Ladybug miraculous. "The earrings! They were right—" Twister said as Snow Bug laughed. "Here?" she finished, smirking when the akumatized villain look at her.

"You!"

"The name's Snow Bug and if you want our miraculouses so badly, you'll have to fight us for 'em," she confidently said, smirking as she begin swinging her ice yo-yo. "So come on. Come and take 'em from us," she continued as Chat Noir looked at her with tender, loving eyes.

"I will!"

As Twister held his shadow sword, Snow Bug swung her yo-yo around to create a series of ice crystals, Chat Noir [who was able to recharge his power in the midst of everyone was caught under Twister's twisted nightmarish fantasy and refuel his kwami] caught onto the girl's plan.

As he broke the ice crystals in half using his baton, Snow Bug and Chat Noir were able to hold the villain in place. "I think that should do it," Chat Noir said, turning to Snow Bug with a smirk, one which the heroine returned with a smirk of her own. "Now, it's time we finish this," the two determinedly spoke as Snow Bug took a deep breath.

"Gilla, Divide!" Snow Bug exclaimed as her original miraculous stopped activating. As such, the heroine lost her form as Snow Bug [and Snow Drift] but retained her form as Miraculous Ladybug.

As Miraculous Ladybug, her hair her hair transformed into a French braid and she was now in a red and polka dotted spandex jumpsuit. Instead of her usual ice lasso, she rely on her yo-yo, which disappointingly could not summon ice crystals.

"Lucky Charm!"

As Ladybug raised her yo-yo, she then received a pair of scissors. "I can see why the real Ladybug would be annoyed by this," she said as Chat Noir gasped. "It's for his scarf! If you cut the scarf, that's where his amok should be," he said and as Ladybug look closer, she could see the dark blue scarf.

"I'll look for the akuma and you can catch both to purify," Chat Noir firmly continued as Ladybug determinedly nodded and smiled at her partner [and crush] taking charge of the situation. "Sounds like a plan, Kitty. Now, let's do this your way," she cheekily said as Ladybug turn to the hero with a soft wink.

Then as Ladybug went for the scarf, Chat Noir briefly blushed at her [as she caught him off-guard] before taking a deep breath. As he made his way to the trapped akumatized villain, Chat Noir saw Twister struggle to break out as his sword was no longer within his reach.

Then as Chat Noir quickly swiped Twister's sack bag of dust, he felt a item in the bag. As he smirked, the hero pulled out a phone, which had appear to a shade of darken purple, leading him to know this was the akuma. Then as Ladybug easily grabbed his scarf, the akumatized villain glared at the two.

"You can't do this!"

"Oh, but we already have," Ladybug boldly said as she made her eye contact with Chat Noir and gave a silent nod.

"Cataclysm!"

As Chat Noir swiped through the phone, the item disintegrated as the akuma came out as Ladybug cut the scarf by using the scissors, which led to the amok being released as well. This left Hawkmoth's latest victim defenseless as Ladybug she caught the butterfly and the amok in her yo-yo.

"Gotcha!"

As soon as Ladybug caught the akuma and the amok, purifying the akuma and the amok as the heroine grinned. "Bye, bye little butterfly. Bye, bye little feather," she softly said before tossing the scissors' lucky charm directly into the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

As the scissors dissolve into a energy of pure red and white light, any damage caused by Twister and his sentimonster, Storm, was fixed. In addition, anyone trapped by Twister in his shadow sword were released at once.

With the damage reversed and Paris back to normal, Ladybug and Chat Noir watch as Twister reverted back to Gredorius Schindler while the heroine's family were starting to wake up.

"Pound it!"

As Ladybug and Chat Noir fist-bumped, their miraculouses began to beep. "Well, this has been fun but I should return this miraculous to the real Ladybug," she said as Chat Noir chuckled. "Sounds like a plan. Besides, I thought you were great as Snow Drift," he softly said before his miraculous beeped again.

"I gotta bounce!"

With a chuckle, Ladybug quickly left as her parents and older sister started to fully wake up. When she found a place to hide, she sighed. "Tikki, spots off," she whispered as the miraculous detransformed her as the heroine was back in her civilian form: Rey Lopez.

"I believe these belong to your Ladybug," Rey softly said as she took off the earrings as Tikki stared at the girl with a smile. "Thank you. I'm pleased to know Master Fu chose the right one to wield Snow Drift," the kwami sincerely said as Rey puzzlingly stared at her.

"What do you mean?"

"The last person... well, she led to more harm than good. It's nice to know Gilla found a wielder she can trust," Tikki softly said. Then before Rey could ask more, Tikki left in search of her wielder.

When Tikki was gone, Gilla happily pop up and affectionately hug her wielder. "I knew you could do it!" Gilla happily told her as Rey giggled. "Thanks, Gilla. You're the best," Rey softly said as Gilla cockily grinned.

"I know," the kwami acknowledgedly said, but in the end, Gilla smiled as she held onto her wielder. "Please don't change," Gilla sincerely whispered as Rey smiled.

"Don't worry. I won't."

——————————

After the events of Twister and Storm, Rey found herself walking around Paris with her friends as she told her friends what happened between her and Adrien. As she finished, one of the girls shook her head.

"Adrien's an idiot for doing this to you."

"Allie, he's not an idiot," Rey defensively said as Allison rolled her eyes. "Hmm... no. He still sounds like an idiot to me," Celestia chimed in as Allison grinned. "Thank you! She gets me!" Allison proudly exclaimed as Celestia playfully rolled her eyes.

"Well, I highly doubt Adrien would kiss Lorelei on purpose. I mean, I can't recall the last time he ever talked about the girl in a romantic way," Alya briefly chimed in as Rey raised an eyebrow. "What are you thinking?" Rey curiously asked as Alya stared at the two.

"Based on what you told us, I refused to think Adrien would ever genuinely want to kiss Lorelei. I mean, everyone knows he's into kind, confident girls and while Lorelei is very confident, that's not a doubt, she is far from kind," Alya slowly began as she took a deep breath and looked at Rey. "So, I think Adrien was forced into kissing her and you were led to believe it," she finished as Rey's eyes widened.

"That's a bold accusation, Césaire."

"Lorelei, be nice."

"Ugh, the She-Wolf and the traitor are here," Allison and Celestia mumbled in disgust and annoyance as neither one could stand Lorelei and to an extent, Adrien [as he broke Rey's heart].

While Alya glared at Lorelei, she awkwardly chose to avoid Adrien out of respect for Rey as Adrien's face fell. "Got any proof to back up your claim or is this another one of your cry wolf stories?" Lorelei sharply asked as Alya narrowly stared at her.

"Knowing you, Schindler, you're all the proof I need," Alya sharply shot back as Lorelei glared at her, though she was unable to come up with anything.

"Don't you got anywhere else to be, Rei? You know, besides here?" Celestia chimed in as Allison laughed. "Yeah, where's your copycat leader, her boyfriend and the other guy?" she followed up as Lorelei scoffed.

"Didn't you get the news? Lila and Alex are no longer together and Lila's not my leader. As for the other guy, he has a name which is Mako, so get it right, carrot top," Lorelei sharply snapped as Allison glared at her. However before Allison could say anything, Adrien beat her to it.

"Lei, knock it off," Adrien sharply said, though the others could faintly — just faintly — pick up a bit of aggression in his tone, which made Rey deeply concerned for him as he wasn't known for being aggressive. "Adrien, are you okay?" Rey gently and softly asked as he quickly nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Actually, no. I came to apologize to you," Adrien softly said as Allison and the others silently nodded. Then before Lorelei could protest, Allison proudly held the girl by her hair, dragging her away from Adrien. Not long after, it was just Adrien and Rey.... alone.

"Adrien, there's nothing to —"

"No, there is. I should have fought back against Lorelei when she kissed me. The truth is I never enjoy the kiss and if anything, I never even wanted her to kiss me," he truthfully said as Rey blinked.

"Then, why —"

"It's exactly like Alya said," Adrien firmly answered. "Trust me, I would never willingly kiss her... especially when she doesn't compare to the girl in front of me," he softly said as Rey took a minute to process his words and deeply blushed.

"That's sweet, Adrien, but—"

"We're not together and we're not going on a movie date. I'm pretty sure that was a lie, and I was going to tell her so when she forcibly kissed me. But, I did get inspired by her lie and I did go get two tickets to one of the hottest movies coming out..." Adrien swiftly stated, only to trail off as he pulled out two movie tickets.

"The only problem is, I can't seem to find anyone to go with me," Adrien slowly added as he stared at Rey. "So, I was wondering if you could accompany me to the movies?" he softly continued, his face lightly blushing as Rey softly smiled at the offer.

"I would love to," she softly said, accepting the movie ticket as Rey found in a bold move of courage, she gently kissed his cheek, much to Adrien's surprise. "Thank you, Adrien," she sincerely added as her best friend's face instantly turn a brighter shade of a reddish-pink from the kiss.

"You're welcome," Adrien timidly finished, causing her to giggle. "I'll see you on Friday night at seven, then?" Rey boldly asked as Adrien laughed in between his blushes. "Yes," he breathlessly said as Rey playfully laughed. "Great. Sounds like a date," she teasingly said, but for Adrien, he was grinning his brightest that night.

"Perfect! A date it is! I'll see you then!"

As Rey walked away to regroup with her friends, Adrien made his way to finding Lorelei to thank her for the idea when he winced from one of his earlier bruises.

"She can really hit," he quietly mumbled, rubbing his arm as he heard a chuckle. "Oh, hey, Betty," he casually said without the need to look up until the realization of being with Bernadette dawn on him. "Wait! Betty? What are you doing over at the bridge so late?" Adrien curiously asked.

"It's only eight. That's not late to be out," Bernadette acknowledgedly pointed out, until she looked at him. "Okay, maybe for you, it is," she followed up as he crossed his arms, accidentally revealing a bruise on his right arm. "Huh, what happened to you?" the girl curiously asked.

At first, Adrien was confused until he glanced at his arm. "O... oh! You see, I went into a intense training session," Adrien quickly said as Bernadette raised her eyebrows at him, much to his dismay. "Doing what?" she slowly followed up and just before he could get a chance to respond, his ring began to beep.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, but I should go!"

Not waiting for Bernadette's response, Adrien quickly walk off and when he cautiously look over his shoulder, he didn't see Bernadette [or anyone for that matter] over his shoulder as he sighed in relief.

"Maybe, I'm just being paranoid," Adrien quietly told himself before he made his way to an alleyway, now staring at his cracked ring. "Please tell me you have every intention to get that fixed," Adrien heard a voice say and as he glanced down, the boy saw his four-inch black and green-eyed black cat miniature kwami as he laughed.

"Plagg, come on. Master Fu is a busy person and besides, it's just a crack. I mean, how bad can it really be?" Adrien cheekily said as Plagg didn't return his master's reaction as he was surprisingly serious in the moment.

"Catastrophic, Adrien! That's how bad this crack can get. When a miraculous is cracked, the user becomes more susceptible to the evil of their respective jewel. Add Hawkmoth and his akumas or even Mayura and you'll much more vulnerable for the villains to use you as a means to get the remaining two miraculouses."

However, Adrien simply laughed off his kwami's response. "Plagg, I knew you could be dramatic at times, but not like this," Adrien dismissively said, taking the kwami's words at surface level as Plagg was known to be a jokester. "But come on. The ring beeped, so that means Master Fu needs us," he continued as Plagg's face fell.

"Adrien—"

"Plagg, Claws Out!"

As Adrien held his ring, his outfit began to transform into a black spandex suit as his emerald-green eyes became more enhanced, now mimicking the appearance of a cat while he gain fake cat ears and a cat tail that react to his emotions. Finally with his trusty baton in hand, Chat Noir smirked.

"Now to go see the Great Guardian."

——————————-

"M'LADY!"

"SPOTS!"

As the bug heroine arrived, she was quickly greeted by Chat Noir and Snow Drift, who attached themselves onto her. "We missed you so much!" the two heroes insisted as the heroine gently pulled herself from the hug.

"Thanks, but it seems like you two fared well without me and Snow Drift even purify her first akuma and amok as Snow Bug," Ladybug began as Snow Drift blushed from the compliment. "Thanks, but it was Kitty's idea," Snow Drift softly pointed out as the bug heroine nodded before turning to him.

"Chat Noir, you lending Snowy the miraculous was a smart move. I wouldn't have even consider that, because I thought for sure, Twister would have given my miraculous to Hawkmoth, but you taking the miraculous back from him without getting hurt is truly incredible," Ladybug sincerely said as Chat Noir also blushed from the compliment.

"I'm proud of both of you. Paris could not have been in safer hands today," Ladybug softly said as Chat Noir and Snow Drift grinned, now fist-bumping each other as the heroine smiled brightly.

"Though, it seems like you two don't even need me around from the looks of things," Ladybug later added, meaning it as a half-teasing joke but Chat Noir and Snow Drift shook their heads at her response. "No way! We definitely need you!" the two heroes proudly insisted.

"Without you, me and him would never get anything done," Snow Drift cheekily but sincerely stated as Chat Noir nods at her response. "Plus, without you, the team would feel... well, incomplete," Chat Noir honestly continued. "Spots, this team just wouldn't be... miraculous," Snow Drift finished, earning a laugh from Chat Noir and a groan from Ladybug.

"I was going to say that!" Chat Noir playfully insisted as Snow Drift only laughed. "Too slow, Kitty," the snow leopard heroine lightly teased and as the two began to chase each other in the Great Guardian's room. As she watch, Ladybug lightly shook her head and smiled.

"They were meant for each other, don't you think?"

As Ladybug stared at the short Chinese man with chestnut brown eyes, she saw his hair was a light medium gray color, and he has a mustache, eyebrows, and goatee. She then saw the man wearing his usual red Hawaiian shirt with a white hibiscus flower pattern, tan capri pants, dark brown shoes, and the Turtle Miraculous on his right wrist.

"You always had a funny way with words, Master Fu, but sometimes, I can get the truth from things you tell me if I only applied myself. In this case, yes. I do think the two are meant for each other," Ladybug sincerely but also playfully answered as the short man smiled.

"Don't worry. There's someone in your future too. You won't know till later on though and go through a series of failed relationships," Master Fu advised as Ladybug merely rolled her eyes before she later huffed. "Well, it's a good thing I have time to figure my life out," she cheekily said, but from the corner of her eye, Ladybug saw a solemn look in his eyes.

But before Ladybug could ask, Chat Noir and Snow Drift made their way to the two as the duo finally stopped catching each other. "I'm glad you three could come and I am terribly sorry for making you arrive here at such short notice," the Guardian began as the three heroes grew quiet and looked at him.

"As you all know, Mayura's arrival marks a new era for you three. There are now greater threats than Hawkmoth and I fear she won't be the only villain to arrive. You've fought against Hawkmoth countless times, but Mayura and the others will be different. This is why I have decided to have this meeting with all of you," Master Fu began as the three looked at him.

"Today, the three of you are going to pick amongst yourselves who should become my successor and heir to the Chinese Miracle Box. Whoever is chosen will become the next Great Guardian. This is a responsibility not to be taken lightly. That person will be task with keeping all of the miraculouses safe and will be the only one to access the Miracle Box. As for the remaining ones, I will personally train with you to unlock the next level of your hero career: earning your Miraculous Suit."

"Miraculous Suit?"

"When a wielder is able to undergo a serious rigorous experience and prove themselves to be worthy, their miraculous will develop a upgrade which will then be reflected onto the user's outfit, hence the name. As a result, you'll be able to expand your powers and gain new abilities along the way," Master Fu further explained as the three heroes all nodded at the explanation.

"Now, it is your time to choose."

Looking at each other, the three heroes briefly nodded and glance at Master Fu with yet another nod. "Who did you choose?" Master Fu firmly but curiously inquired as the trio looked at each other. Then just as Ladybug opened her mouth, she had failed to see the level of excitement in Snow Drift and Chat Noir's eyes.

"Ladybug!"

In that moment, Ladybug closed her mouth as the heroine knew the decision was now a unanimous vote. The heroine was about to clap for the others before the girl realized the fact she was Ladybug, which meant... She was going to be the next Great Guardian and protector of the Chinese Miracle Box!

"It was a no-brainer. Besides, if anyone deserves to be Master Fu's heir, it's you," Chat Noir and Snow Drift sincerely said, hugging her. "Congrats, Spots! You definitely earn it!" Snow Drift happily exclaimed as she and Chat Noir gasped. "Tomorrow for patrol, we should celebrate by going to André's vendor shop for ice cream!" the two gleefully continued as Ladybug smiled brightly.

"Well, then Miraculous Ladybug, you will be my next successor. I wish to speak to you alone for a few minutes, but as for your friends, Snow Drift and Chat Noir are free to leave," Master Fu briefly continued as Ladybug saw the concern in the two's eyes as being alone with the Guardian wasn't necessarily view as a great thing.

"Hey, I'll be okay and it's getting late. You two have done more than enough, so feel free to go home. There won't be any patrols tonight and I'll give you two a update tomorrow when we meet again," Ladybug encouragingly assured the two as Snow Drift and Chat Noir briefly but reluctantly nodded.

"Okay."

"I will be speaking with you two privately sometime this week, so try to keep an eye out for my signal," Master Fu followed up as Snow Drift and Chat Noir nodded at his words, the two understanding him. "Yes, Master Fu," the two promptly stated as he smiled at the two heroes.

"Then in that case, you two are now free to leave," Master Fu briefly told the remaining heroes as Snow Drift and Chat Noir. "Night," the two sincerely greeted. As Snow Drift successfully left, the Great Guardian caught a glimpse of Chat Noir's ring and after he sent Ladybug away, he confronted the feline hero alone.

"Chat Noir, is everything okay?" Master Fu briefly started as the feline hero nodded. "Of course, Master!" Chat Noir brightly answered, but the Great Guardian deeply frowned upon sensing the lie in his voice. So Master Fu tried to edge the hero into opening up as he saw the crack on his ring.

"No incidents? No sudden bursts of anger? No uncontrollable instances of rage?"

"Nope!"

"How is your ring?" Master Fu follow up and it was here Chat Noir was suddenly more protective of the miraculous. "My ring remains in perfect condition. Thank you so much for asking, Master Fu," Chat Noir briefly answered, but the Great Guardian could sense the boy's aura shifting and knew this would be his only chance.

"Okay, but if your miraculous has a crack, I would like to give you something," Master Fu calmly said, briefly leaving as he went through his potions room before finding a small container. With a little grin, Master Fu held the container steady as he began to
walk his way to the feline hero.

"I understand you may feel nervous about the crack, but a cracked miraculous is often common. However, if you apply this cream, then you should be fine. If not and you experience negative emotions and/or a series of stressful events, then you'll become vulnerable to Hawkmoth, Mayura and the sadistic spirit of Chat Blanc, who will use your emotions to...."

As Master Fu trailed off, the Great Guardian saw Chat Noir was nowhere in sight as he shook his head and sighed. "Plagg, try to keep an eye on your wielder. I feel as though the boy is in serious danger and if Chat Blanc is released from the ring of destruction's seal, Hawkmoth will be the least of our worries," Master Fu silently whispered, hoping the kwami would be able to hear his message.

As he went to approach Ladybug, the heroine then stood up as she quickly apologized for organizing his stuff, leading him to chuckle and that's when she saw the container
in his possession.

"This is a cream meant for miraculouses that are cracked and/or damaged as a way to repair the seal used to prevent vengeful spirits who once used the miraculous in their time," Master Fu explained upon seeing the curiosity in her eyes. "In the event, I can not reach Chat Noir, I need you to give this cream to him or at the very least, his own kwami. It is very important the cream gets to him as soon as possible," he told her, giving the cream to Ladybug, who nodded.

"If not and his seal on the ring permanently breaks, then you and Snow Drift will lose this generation's Chat Noir to a past version who calls himself Chat Blanc. Trust me, you and Snow Drift do not want to go against him, so try to reach out," Master Fu sternly told her, trying to stress the significance of the product.

When she nodded and gave her word, the Great Guardian sighed in relief. "Now, we can move on to talk about your succession, but I understand you are only sixteen. This is a lot of responsibility for a teenage your age and if you feel you are not ready, now is the time to speak your mind because this is the only time where you can willingly renounce yourself as my successor," he continued as Ladybug sighed.

"It is okay to renounce yourself if you're not ready, but this is a opportunity that will not come again. It is also important to note that once you accept from this moment, there is no going back. You will be my successor and the only way to get out is by choosing your heir to the Chinese Miracle Box. But once you pass the responsibility to your heir, then you'll lose all memories associated with being Miraculous Ladybug to protect the secret identities of the heroes and only you alone will lose these memories."

As Ladybug processed the weight of Master Fu's words, she thought about Snow Drift and Chat Noir choosing her in a heartbeat. Her friends encouraged her and had even wanted to celebrate the occasion. She always thought her life was so normal until she met Tikki and became fast friends with the two heroes.

She loved being Ladybug, she loved her kwami and most importantly, Ladybug loved defending her home from evil forces. But... To lose the memories of her friends? Tikki? Being Ladybug?

Marinette wasn't even sure if she was willing to take on so much more responsibility, let alone give up her own memories. But she also knew that if it came down to losing her memories, then she would do whatever it took to ensure her friends, family and all of Paris was safe because Marinette valued the lives of many people before she would think about her own.

That's why she was chosen to be Miraculous Ladybug. Master Fu saw potential in her to be a hero and her friends saw potential in her to become their leader. Master Fu, Tikki, Snow Drift and Chat Noir all believed in her without needing to think twice.

Now, it was time for Marinette to start believing in herself.

"... Marinette Dupain-Cheng, holder of the ladybug earrings and the current Miraculous Ladybug, are you willing to lose your memories and accept your newfound role as my heir and successor to be the next Great Guardian of the Chinese Miracle Box?" Master Fu asked and as she heard each word, she knew she had two options.

She could decline the offer and stick with the life she has or she could accept and grow into becoming the person she was meant to be, the hero everyone sought her out to be.

In her heart, Marinette knew she was going to keep doing what she loved best... even if later on down the road, she wouldn't be able to laugh alongside her friends to reflect on their experiences of being superheroes. In that moment of reflection and clarity, the girl knew her answer.

"Yes. I, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, holder of the ladybug earrings, and the current holder of the ladybug miraculous, am willing to lose my memories to accept my newfound role as your heir and successor to become the next Great Guardian of the Chinese Miracle Box."

As Ladybug spoke these words, a glow formed her and when she looked up, the girl saw Master Fu hold the book of Miraculous in his hand. "Congratulations, Marinette. You are now on your way to becoming the holder of the Chinese Miracle Box and the next Great Guardian," he sincerely told her as she smiled.

"But now, your training begins! Meet me here tomorrow evening after your patrol with the heroes, so we can start," he continued and as Master Fu handed the book to her and she held onto the cream, she left the Great Guardian's place. As she made her way back to her home, she detransformed back into Marinette.

As she laid in bed, Marinette found herself staring at her sleeping kwami and smiled at the thought of what she could expect. But at the same time, her heart sank as she had to figure out how to tell her friends that she would forget them. Then a part of her became nervous as she realized she would have to tell Terrance and Jasmine about what she did by accepting the offer.

"Oh, they are so going to scold me...."

She might be the next Great Guardian someday and Miraculous Ladybug, but just for tonight, she was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She was an aspiring fashion designer and a sixteen-year-old junior in high school. She had friends, family and a few not-so-wanted rivals and bullies to handle.

She was a older sister [to her adoptive youngest sister, Jasmine], a younger sister [to her older brother, Terrance] and above all, she was just a normal girl... With a not-so completely normal life.

After tonight, everything was going to change and as she went to sleep, the young girl knew...

Nothing was ever going to be the same again.

——————————-

"Hey, Cleo! You made it!"

"Well, I couldn't leave you hanging. Who else is going to help you with your unmasked project?"

As Bernadette stared at the girl, who was now dressed in a white long-sleeve T-shirt, gray pants and her light gray shoulder bag, she saw the girl's hair was now adorn with curls as she slid to the seat across from her in the café.

While Cleo was taking out her laptop and other necessities, Bernadette smiled softly as she saw the girl closer in the light. So when Cleo was done taking out the materials out of her shoulder bag, she saw the girl about to speak when Bernadette held her hand on the table with a grin.

"Ma chérie, tu es si belle."

As Cleo heavily blushed, she quickly removed her hand from Bernadette's grasp [much to her annoyance] as the girl shyly said something, which she interpreted as Cleo telling her "thank you," to which she smiled.

"You're welcome," Bernadette later said, only to frown when she caught a bruise on the girl's neck, which Cleo saw and hid by moving her hair back into its original position.

"Emmy—"

"I'm fine, Betty," Cleo dismissively said as Bernadette quietly sighed. One day, she was going to tell the girl to just move out of that apartment. She just didn't see the point in the girl hiding the bruises and suffering at the hands of that old hag whom Cleo called her "mother."

With that in mind, she made a mental note to visit Cleo tomorrow in her apartment to search through Jolene's stuff. The files weren't no good and evidence she could use on the woman was scarce at best. She needed something and the best source would be to go straight to the woman's apartment.

Bernadette absolutely dreaded the idea of even setting foot in the apartment. Yes, she generally went to sneak Cleo out but she never struck around longer than that, which is why she often preferred sneaking the girl out. It was easier than physically being in the apartment for several hours.

She could technically ask Cleo, but that was out of the question. Cleo was still wrapped under Jolene's finger, so she knew the girl wouldn't do anything to help her incriminate the hag. At least, not right at this moment...

"Let's just go over what we know for Project Unmask," Cleo simply said, which brought Bernadette back to focus. "Project Unmask?" Bernadette teasingly but curiously ask as Cleo sheepishly smiled, now rubbing on the back of her neck. Of course, she knew why the name was chosen but... Bernadette liked Cleo explaining stuff.

"Seeing how we've uncover the true identity of Hawkmoth and we're still trying to catch Ladybug, I would say the word 'unmask' is fitting," Cleo later explained as she clear her throat. "We can change the name. I mean, it's not even like a cool —" the girl stated but Bernadette interrupted her by laughing.

"Cleo, no. It's a great name. I love it," Bernadette sincerely said. "You have a lot of great ideas, Emmy. You just have to stop doubting yourself. When you're committed, you can set your mind to do a lot of things like when you came up with using Hawkmoth's voice against him. I never would have thought of that," she continued as she saw Cleo trying to look away.

"Cleo, listen," Bernadette softly said, gently turning the girl's face as the two made eye contact. "You're one of the smartest people I know, but you keep underestimating your own worth. Trust in your instincts and believe in yourself. If you do that, then you can anything you set your mind on completing," she softly followed up as she released her face, to which Cleo gave a small but sincere smile in her direction.

"Thanks, Betty. You're a great friend."

Usually, Bernadette would smile and grin at the word but now for some odd reason, the words "great friend" just... left an acidic taste in her mouth. This was particularly weird because she was always used to being called a "great friend." So, why did this time feel so... so different?

"Yeah. You're a great friend too, Cleo."

Somehow saying "great friend" to the girl also left an acidic taste in her mouth, which was also weird because she was fond of her friendship with Cleo. But it's not like she view the girl in that sense... did she?

No, no. This was just a friend helping out a friend who were both alone... in a diner.... a friend who she proceeded to call "sweetheart" and "beautiful" out of the native language the two girls both knew by heart.... who she held the girl's face just to have an excuse to see her eyes closer....

Not at all attracted to her.

"... Anyways, I was thinking we could let the heroes know about our findings and —"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"The heroes. I was thinking we could tell them we know Hawkmoth's secret—"

"Cleo, we're not going to tell the heroes. If we do, they're just going to take credit for our findings," Bernadette sharply interrupted as Cleo shook her head. "But the three heroes should know. If they all knew, the heroes can get Gabriel off-guard and put an end to his reign as Hawkmoth," Cleo countered back.

"Cleo, they've been fighting a literal fashion designer whose lair is literally in his own mansion for two years when those years could have been spent helping people with legitimate problems. The heroes could actually be a beacon of hope, but all I see
are a bunch of frauds. None of them really care about Paris. If they did, corruption in this city wouldn't be so high."

"To be fair, none of them know Hawkmoth is Gabriel Agreste, so how can you expect any of them to know where his lair is?" Cleo gently countered. "I don't, but we actually went through the work and found out in a night. Why can't the heroes do the same?" Bernadette sharply countered as Cleo blinked.

"I'll tell you why. It's because the heroes know they're nothing without him. If we take away Hawkmoth, they can't flex their powers and be pretenders in their animal-themed masks. That is why none of them ever put in the work or effort to find out," Bernadette said in a bold tone as Cleo awkwardly cleared her throat.

"Or, hear me out. The heroes are just really busy."

"Busy with what! How can they possibly be busy? Half of time, the heroes do nothing on their so-called patrolling duties! That's the time they could be using to get entail on Hawkmoth to figure out his secret," Bernadette sharply countered and upon realizing her voice was rising, she quickly adjusted her tone as she didn't want to traumatize her friend.

"Look, all I'm saying is the heroes are completely useless. They don't do anything about the actual crime rate and look at the people they all purify at surface level. They don't actually go to see if the person is any trouble. No, they let everyone go with a generic speech, if even that," Bernadette briefly concluded, before she ultimately sighed as she shook her head.

"I just don't see why we should tell the heroes anything when those same heroes can't even bother to find out for themselves. Besides, I was thinking we should be the ones to reveal the truth to the public. I mean, we found out together. Why shouldn't we get the credit for doing what the heroes couldn't?" Bernadette proudly suggested as Cleo only chuckled at her response.

"I'm not taking credit for unmasking the guy. I was genuinely doing this because you were passionate about it and I don't want Adrien looking at me when word gets out
that his dad has been terrorizing Paris for two years," Cleo truthfully told her, now closing her laptop.

"Besides, I'm trying to stay under the radar. If my mom found out I spent my time here with you, she would do something. But anyways, it's just too risky for me, but you can take the credit for everything," Cleo followed up as she sighed.

"I think it would just be best if we reached out to the heroes and let 'em know. Then, we should let Adrien know and try to ease him into the truth. Then we can see what the heroes say," she continued and it was clear that neither of them were going to see the other's opinion.

"We should just come back tomorrow and try again," Cleo softly suggest, but Bernadette nodded. "Okay," Bernadette simply said, but she didn't mean it, not really. She had the information in her hand. She had the evidence, the audio recordings, and she even had the pictures [provided by Cleo].

Bernadette knew the three heroes weren't going to help them and she was tired of Paris always being depended upon the trio for help. It was just annoying.

"Okay."

So as the two girls departed and Bernadette arrived back at her cousin's place, she grin at Max, who was asleep. Upon changing into comfortable night clothes, Bernadette then set out to gather the entail she and Cleo gathered on Gabriel Agreste. As she compiled the evidence into three separate digital files and documents, the girl was about to reach out to Nadja Chamack when she stopped.

Was she going too far? Was Cleo right about reaching out to the heroes and getting their opinion? How would Adrien react to the news? Should Bernadette stop before she ends up going overboard? But then as Bernadette thought about the innocent victims of the Moth who were stuck being his akumatized villains, she thought about the injustice that they all suffered.

In the end, her mind was made up.

"I have to do this. The people deserve the truth, even if everyone isn't ready to know."

As she sent the evidence and information to Nadja Chamack under her pen name Lady Justice, Bernadette then closed her laptop with a sense of pride. Even if she felt a little bit of guilt for going back on her word with Cleo, but then again, she reminded herself that neither one had actually made the promise.

With another sigh, Bernadette looked up to the stars and felt hopeful in the decision she made.

"Je t'ai maintenant, Gabriel."

—————————————-

"Breaking news! An anonymous source going only by the name of Lady Justice has revealed the renowned fashion designer Gabriel Agreste is known as the infamous two-year Parisian villain, Hawkmoth. As of now, there is no response from—"

"No!"

As Gabriel Agreste threw his TV remote across the screen, he knew it would be a matter of time until Adrien and Rayan found out. Then once the police came, he would end up being arrested. He couldn't even dispute the evidence — everything that was now seen and heard was legitimately true.

"I was supposed to win! I was supposed to grab the heroes' miraculouses and stay in power as Hawkmoth forever! But no! Instead, this Lady Justice ruined everything for me," Gabriel angrily exclaimed before sighing.

"You know what? If she wants a war, I'll give her one. I'm not going out like this. I'll fix this — so help me, I will fix this and then the one who will be a fool is Lady Justice," he sharply said as he stared at the name.

"Lady Justice, whoever you are..." Gabriel Agreste bitterly said as he glared at the news segment with disdain and anger. "I will find you and when I do..." he continued, only to trail off as he laughed.

"You'll get what's coming to you."