"when you begin a journey of revenge, starting by digging two graves: one for your enemy, and one for yourself." - jodi picoult

☾ ☽

Hawk Moth was furious. He was absolutely furious. His whole body screamed the word furious. If he could describe his emotions into a human language, that's what he would've yelled to the ends of the Earth. He placed everything he had on the line, and in the end, it was completely fruitless. All his effort and hard work came back as nothing. The villain paced back and forth with his butterflies fluttering out of his way. His shoes tapped anxiously against the ground.

"That had to be the most useless Akuma of all time!" He punched his gloved fist against the wall. "I can't believe I wasted my precious time on it!" He immediately drew his hand back and held it in pain, but it wasn't as painful as knowing that he still didn't have his hands on the Miraculouses.

How long has this little game of charades been going on? A year, at most? His fingers dug through the fabric of the glove and dug into his palms as he squeezed his hands into fists. There was almost no time left. Almost no time to bring her back.

Hawk Moth looked at his hand, especially at his pinky finger. There was no string tied around it and hasn't been for a while. Ever since then... He feared that the string wouldn't return if he didn't get the two Miraculouses soon.

A beeping sound came from the butterfly brooch which hung by his neck cut through his thoughts, and a small, purple, glowing ball came out of it. A lavender kwami with a pair of butterfly wings poking out of its back stretched its tiny arms in the air from exhaustion. A dark purple spiral was pasted on his forehead. "P-Please don't hurt yourself like that, Master," Nooroo said worriedly as he fluttered near his "master". "It is not the ignorant girl's fault for being incompetent-."

Hawk Moth, who reverted out of his transformation, snatched the small kwami out of the air and began to squeeze its body tightly. He hissed between clenched, grinding teeth, "So you're saying that I'm the incompetent one?"

His grip was relentless. Nooroo could barely cough out an audible "no" before the man released him. The kwami clutched his neck and tried to rub the aches away.

Nooroo knew his master was experiencing a pain worse than he could ever feel and was only trying to relieve it by inflicting physical pain on the kwami, so he never spoke up against the abuse. And besides, he might have to go through that again, and absolutely didn't want to experience something like it again. He felt shivers crawl up his arms.

Nooroo's mauve eyes followed his master who went back to pacing back and forth in his lair. The only thing that sliced through the silence was the constant beat of the butterflies' wings and the quiet taps from the man's shoes.

He could escape. Here and now, he could leave during his master's distress. But Hawk Moth still had the Moth Miraculous, and the reason behind why he needed Ladybug's and Chat's Miraculouses had the kwami rethink his thoughts.

Out of nowhere, his master paused his actions. He looked up at his closed window, and although he couldn't see anything, he must've felt something. A look of distaste and disappointment, no, distress came over his face. His eyebrows knitted together out of frustration. His fists grew so tight that his fingernails began to break the skin on his palms.

"The two have finally connected, haven't they?" He bit his lip. The metallic taste of blood tickled his tongue and trickled down his throat. "They have learned about their string."

"Yes," Nooroo nodded his head as he slowly backed away from his master. "I can sense it. But you know, master, perhaps it would be best if we left them-."

The man silenced his kwami with a stomp of his foot. He held up his hand. Nooroo flinched in fear with his arms above his head for protection. His little wings quivered uncontrollably. "Why. Didn't. You. SAY SOMETHING?!" Each word was enunciated and laced with menace. "Now that they are together, there's no telling what may go wrong! What if one learns of the Miraculouses' secret and decides to wear both..!" His voice raised. "THEY WILL BE ABLE TO DEFEAT ME!"

Nooroo braced himself.

The man then pointed his index finger at the kwami and it dropped his hands with a sigh of relief. His voice fell into a whisper. "You know we don't have much time left. Go find the other kwamis. Make them believe you escaped from me. Get on their side. And when the time comes..." He drew back his hand and twisted the silver ring on his middle finger. "Take their Miraculous when they have their guard down. Do not disappoint me."

Nooroo froze. He didn't want to. Helping someone use the Moth Miraculous for evil reasons was distressing enough, but betraying his friends' trust was the thing he didn't want to do the most. However, he knew; he knew very well that if he didn't comply with the rules, he would be punished severely. And that was the one thing Nooroo did not want to go through ever again. "Y-Yes, Master." The kwami bowed his head in regret before disappearing into a puff of purple smoke.

After watching his kwami vanish into thin air, the man took out a pair of silver glasses and perched them on the bridge of his nose, shifting the frame to make it more comfortable. He straightened out his white suit from invisible wrinkles by pushing down swiftly with the palms of his hands. He was ready, and would continue to be ready. A smirk played on his lips; it was an expression he hadn't worn for a while for he knew that this time, this time, he would finally be successful.

"Then I guess it's time for me to cut their string and separate them once and for all."

---

oh look, my hand slipped. three months late.

never judge a book by its completed tag. because the author may be a troll.

xoxo,
arisa