Chapter Text
“I said we have it covered.”
“You said that almost three months ago,” Gabriel spat, fidgeting with the band of his watch. “I want to know what it is you’re doing to bring Chat Noir’s ring to me.”
“ Firstly, I’m not bring Chat Noir’s ring to you ,” Ladybug said, narrowing her eyes at Gabriel. “I am using it to help your wife and son; you can fall into a ditch and die for all I care.”
“You know, I have new respect for Chat Noir, and not just because he's proving to be a bigger threat than we took him for,” Gabriel sneered. “Because anyone who’s had to deal with your sunny personality and what you consider wit ought to be given some kind of national award.”
“And any woman who tolerated you long enough to marry you needs to be evaluated for brain damage!” Ladybug spat. "Might want to book the CAT scan before you thaw Emilie out!"
“You shut your- ” Gabriel stopped short, taking a deep breath as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Okay... okay ...what’s the plan, Ladybug? How are you going to move this project forward? Because for the last three months we’ve done nothing but spin wheels while Chat Noir has continued to gain strength.”
“What happened to ‘I need to proceed carefully’?” Ladybug sniffed. “I am working as hard as I can to draw Chat Noir out-”
“And yet you haven’t moved against Kagami Tsurugi,” Gabriel said.
“I thought that wasn’t someone I could go after without being sure,” Ladybug asked. “What’s with the sudden rush? You never seemed to be in too much of a hurry before.”
“Do not mistake my prudence for lack of care,” Gabriel said, narrowing his glare at Ladybug. “My wife’s safety and my family’s happiness have always been at the forefront of my mind and if you aren’t going to take this seriously, then the least you can do is let me send an akuma to-”
“No...more... akuma ,” Ladybug said, ice dipping off every word. “I thought I made that clear by now.”
“One discreet agent could find out what Kagami knows and have Chat Noir’s identity under an hour!” Gabriel insisted. “No one would even know that you and the akuma were connected!”
“You think that’s why I don’t want to use akuma?” Ladybug laughed, shaking her head. “I can’t tell if you’re delusional or you’re just willfully ignorant of the suffering you’ve caused.”
“No one is more aware of the suffering I’ve caused than I am,” Gabriel said, palming the spot where the Butterfly Miraculous would have been. “And no one is willing to pay the price more than I am.”
“Make other people pay the price more like it,” Ladybug snorted. “The answer is no, Gabriel.”
“Then you are just going to have to hurry,” Gabriel said. “Or-”
“Or what, Gabe?” Ladybug said, crossing her arms. “You forget that the only reason you’re not rotting in jail right now is because I decided to have mercy on the unfortunate people who care about you. Keep running your mouth and I might just change my mind about letting you walk free after this.”
Gabriel’s lips pressed into a thin line, glaring at Ladybug as she turned to leave. “You just sit tight and let me handle this my way. You’ll get what’s coming to you...you’re just going to have to be a little patient.”
Gabriel waited a few seconds after Ladybug left before grabbing a glass off his desk and hurling it at the wall with a frustrated snarl.
Queen Bee paced around Rena Rouge, looking her up and down with a curious frown as she did. A pair of brown eyes followed her every movement as she poked Rena Rouge in the shoulder, studying the way the suit flexed around the tip of her gloves.
“Not bad,” Queen Bee admitted as Rena Rouge just crossed her arms with a self-satisfied smile. “Certainly feels real enough...though I have to wonder…”
Queen Bee’s fingers threaded through Rena Rouge’s hair as she leaned in, kissing her full on the mouth. Rena Rouge tensed in surprise for a brief moment, stumbling back a few steps as her hands snaked around Queen Bee’s waist with a soft sigh of contentment.
Queen Bee broke the kiss after a long moment, glancing at Carapace as he leaned against a nearby wall. “Sorry, does this bother you?”
“Why would it?” Carapace shrugged, glancing at the dazed, slightly giddy looking Rena Rouge as she wound her finger through Queen Bee’s hair. “This is purely...scientific, isn’t it?”
“My favorite kind of experiment, in fact,” Queen Bee purred, stealing another quick series of kisses as Carapace sauntered over to them. “Care to give an expert opinion?”
“Sure,” Carapace said, tilting Rena Rouge’s head back and kissing her as his hand trailed down her back. Rena Rouge squeaked as Carapace lightly squeezed her bottom, breaking the kiss with an appraising tilt of his head. “Hm...almost. Obviously she lacks Alya’s stellar personality but-”
“A hem .”
Carapace, Queen Bee, and Rena Rouge looked up to see...Rena Rouge standing in the doorway, tapping her foot against the floor.
“Care to explain yourselves?” Rena Rouge asked as her doppleganger waved cheerfully at her.
“What? After poofing her all morning, I figured she deserves a little break from being repeatedly destroyed,” Queen Bee said, twirling a strand of auburn hair between her fingertips. "She's had a rough day."
“And you’re just too cute to poof,” Carapace pouted, squeezing the doppleganger’s cheeks. “Look at this face; how can you not want to kiss this-”
Rena Rouge snapped her fingers as the doppleganger disappeared in a poof of orange colored smoke. The second she did, Rena Rouge let out a small gasp, stumbling back against the doorframe as her hand came up to her mouth. Even after the duplicate had disappeared, she could remember, with crystal clarity, the taste of Chloe’s lipgloss and the feeling of her fingers running through her hair despite the fact that she had been two rooms away when her partners had kissed her duplicate.
Well that answers that question, Rena Rouge thought to herself.
“Something wrong?” Queen Bee asked.
“Nothing,” Rena Rouge coughed into her hand. “J-Just heartburn, that’s all. Your turn; how’s training going?”
“Well, you’ll be pleased to know that I’ve graduated from two-pump chump to five- pump chump,” Queen Bee said, brushing her shoulder off. “And that’s five Venom stings without losing any potency or being forced to break transformation, thank you very much.”
"Thank me very much for being your guinea pig," Carapace mumbled.
"Well, that'll help if we go up against five easily freezable enemies," Rena Rouge said. "Nino?"
“Wayzz and I managed to improve my barrier ability,” Carapace said, pulling his shield out. With a flick of his wrist, a rim of energy expanded from the shield, broadening it as Carapace poked his head around the side. “Not exactly a perfect defense, but should be enough to shrug off some of Chat Noir’s tamer attacks...or Ladybug’s for that matter.”
Rena Rouge nodded, chewing her lip thoughtfully. “...if it came to it, do you think we could take either one of them?”
“Is that where we’re headed?” Carapace asked, sharing an uneasy look with Queen Bee.
“I don’t know; after that ballroom thing , I don’t know much of anything anymore,” Rena Rouge laughed ruefully. “So best to be prepared for anything, hm?”
“Well, if Ladybug needs to make out with a clone, we know yours are up to the task,” Carapace chuckled.
“Not really sure I’d be up for that anymore,” Rena Rouge muttered, running a hand through her hair with a sigh. “Alright...let’s hook up tomorrow night-”
“Forward, but I won’t say no,” Queen Bee shrugged.
“-for some extra combat training,” Rena Rouge said, rolling her eyes as she stepped out onto the balcony. “I’m gonna follow up with some akuma victims; see if we can wring a little more information out of them."
“You need some backup?”
“Thanks, but...I just need some space to clear my head,” Rena Rouge said with a shaky smile. “I’ll call you if anything comes up.”
“Okay, if you’re-” Carapace trailed off as Rena Rouge springboarded off the balcony, tumbling off Le Grand Paris and into the cold December morning.
“Man...she could have at least left us a clone to play with,” Queen Bee muttered to herself, smacking her lips thoughtfully. “...Alya wears raspberry lip gloss?”
“You know what the weird thing is?” Carapace chuckled, rubbing his own lips. “She hates raspberry.”
“Hey...would you be mad at me if I left school?”
Marinette turned around, spitting out the pin she held between her teeth as she frowned at Adrien? “Like drop out?”
“Nothing like that,” Adrien said, picking at a loose thread in the afgan draped over Marinette’s fainting couch. “I mean...I have the credits to graduate already; at this point, I’m just spinning wheels until spring, you know?”
“I kinda wondered why you were taking a History class you passed already,” Marinette said, biting her lip. “I mean...I thought you liked school?”
“I do,” Adrien shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. “I just...well, I feel like I have a lot of other stuff I could be doing with my time besides sitting through class and doing meaningless assignments. I mean, last week M. Lecourt just put an old science video on…”
“Most people would consider that a good lesson,” Marinette chuckled.
“Not to someone who doesn’t need to take it…” Adrien grumbled, flopping back against the couch. “I just...I have things I want to do, you know?”
“Things for your father?”
“You could say that,” Adrien said, staring at the ceiling. “Don’t you ever feel like we’re...just wasting time? I mean, I know you could probably take equivalency exams and start preparing more for design school, right?”
“I could,” Marinette said, glancing at the nearly finished gown she was preparing for the London show. “But...Alya and I promised we’d walk together at graduation...I know that sounds silly, but it would mean a lot to me.”
“Well, then it’s not silly at all,” Adrien chuckled, rolling over on one elbow to look up at her. “I just...I don’t care anymore. I don’t care if I walk or not and early graduation could give me some more time to prepare for college...or work...or run a marathon. Anything besides just killing time five days a week.”
“Well...if you feel that strongly about it,” Marinette shrugged. “You should do it.”
“You wouldn’t be upset?”
“Upset that you decided to do something unconventional to chase your dreams?” Marinette said.
“I don’t know about dreams ,” Adrien chuckled, eyes roaming over the piles of half-finished designs that lay cluttered around Marinette’s room. “I don’t know if I even really have a dream, if I’m being honest with you.”
“What?”
“Not like you, anyway,” Adrien sighed. “I mean...you come alive when you talk about your art. You’ve known what you wanted to do since you were a kid; you’ve been lining up to break into the fashion world for years now, right?”
“Well...yeah, I guess so,” Marinette shrugged. “But you have dreams! You’re so good at so many things!”
“And I’m not super passionate about any of them,” Adrien shrugged. “I don’t really have a dream job or anything that makes me as excited as you are about design. I’m not jazzed about fashion or science or business or fencing...they’re all just kinda things I do. I mean compared to you and Dad and Alya, I’m just...dancing through life.”
“You’re also eighteen ,” Marinette chuckled, wheeling across her bedroom until she was in front of Adrien. “You have the rest of your life to figure out what you want to do; and if you want to graduate early, you can.”
Marinette leaned forward, lips brushing across his in a brief, chaste kiss.
“I’ll do the dreaming for the both of us until then.”
Nino: Bro
Nino: Brosephys
Nino: Broseidon
Nino: Brobi wan Kenobi
Nino: Broman Reigns
Nino: Bro Diddly
Nino: Brodius Maximus
Adrien: I’m here I was just wondering how many funny things you had left to say
Nino: i got a whole internet list but
Nino: dude alya said mari told her you tested out of school?
Nino: like full on graduated?!
Adrien: Yeah I had to take a few tests and complete a few projects but that was that.
Adrien: Your boy is a lycee graduate and everything!
Nino: wow all responsible and shit…
Nino: so no more class for you, huh?
Adrien: Nah; I was going to wait for spring, but I’m working on something that requires some of my time.
Nino: your dad?
Adrien: Yeah something like that.
Nino: dang you’re really speedrunning adulthood
Nino: jumping into a corner three hundred times to clip directly to the workforce
Adrien: My strategy guide is coming out next month.
Adrien: Are you mad I didn’t tell you first?
Nino: just surprised is all
Nino: you always liked the classroom stuff more than me
Adrien: I still do; I just need some time on my calendar.
Nino: i get it; we all got irons in the fire
Nino: just let me know how i can get time on adrien agreste’s busy schedule
Adrien: Totally!
Adrien: We should do something this weekend Calcium Bro-mide.
Adrien: ...no?
Nino: 4/10 apply yourself
Nino: hey busybee did adrien tell you he was dropping out of school
Chloe: WHAT?!
Nino: gonna take that as a no
Chloe: YEAH CUZ THIS IS THE REACTION OF SOMEONE WHO IS IN THE KNOW!
Chloe: WHEN DID HE TELL YOU???
Nino: i heard secondhand from al who heard from mari
Chloe: WTF??
Chloe: M. Perfect Attendance is suddenly just leaving?!
Nino: i guess he tested out so he technically graduated but
Nino: idk have you talked to him much since this whole thing started?
Chloe: the thing we’re Not Supposed to Talk About on Personal Cell Phones?
Nino: yeah and say it more ominously next time
Nino: i don’t think you’ve creeped out the stigma agents monitoring our phones yet
Chloe: omg they’re not monitoring our phones are they????
Chloe: that’s like supes illegal!!
Nino: something tells me they don’t really care
Nino: i just think that we mighta let adrien fall by the wayside in all this
Chloe: well it’s not like we’ve been playing spin the bottle and braiding each other’s hair!!
Chloe: we’ve had a lot of irons in the fire lately
Chloe: but if it makes you feel better, schedule a play-date with adrien
Chloe: i’m sure he’d appreciate it
Nino: yeah…
Nino: i just feel like i haven’t even thought about him lately, you know?
Nino: what with all the...stuff going on
Nino: and now he’s gone and graduated himself without even telling us!
Chloe: honey if he put up with me this long, i don’t think he’s gonna kick you to the curb for a few missed lunches
Chloe: the boy has a warm, forgiving heart
Chloe: which is really easy to take advantage of, unfortunately
Chloe: so long as you steer clear of the Gabriel Agreste Asshole Spectrum you’re golden
Nino: mm guess so
Nino: not exactly a high hurdle to jump tho is it?
Chloe: the bar is so low ants/Adrien’s father trip over it
Chloe: so uhhhhh
Chloe: off topic but is your girlfriend okay??
Nino: define ‘okay’
Chloe: functional?
Nino: yes
Nino: that’s about all we can say for her though
Chloe: still bummed about the Ladybug thing?
Nino: aren’t you?
Chloe: well…
Chloe: i mean, do we even know this doctor is telling the truth?
Nino: not really
Nino: but that’s the problem, isn’t it?
Nino: we don’t know who’s telling the truth and who’s working us
Nino: or if everyone is working us
Chloe: and that’s twisting foxy’s tail?
Nino: doesn’t it twist yours?
Chloe: i guess but i don’t have a ladyblog to keep running
Nino: i think that’s a big part of it too
Nino: she’s always prided herself in telling the truth and nothing but the truth
Nino: but she can’t be sure the shit ladybug is saying is even half-true
Chloe: or even a quarter true
Nino: i would settle for a lie that’s not end of the world horrible
Chloe: sometimes i lay awake at night and fantasize that this whole stupid thing is because Chat Noir stole Ladybug’s last cookie
Nino: chloe we already know you lay awake at night fantasizing over ladybug ;)
Chloe: >:O
Chloe: be nice to me or i’ll steal your girl(‘s magic clone)
Nino: >:O
“Show me.”
Chat Noir took a deep breath, focusing on the apple in front of him. “Cataclysm!”
Black energy laced from his fingertips, arcing across the apple and slowly draining the color out of the otherwise perfectly preserved piece of fruit. Chat Noir let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, picking up the smooth, grey apple from the table and holding it up for Plagg’s approval. The little kwami twisted this way and that, inspecting it with a thoughtful frown. After a long, tense moment, Plagg nodded.
“Not bad, kid,” Plagg said, crossing his arms as Chat Noir took a bite out of the featureless apple. “Takes quite a lot of focus to destroy something as immaterial as a color.”
“What’s next; destroying smells?” Chat Noir asked. “Please say you’ll teach me how to destroy the smell of camembert.”
“Well now I’m never teaching you that,” Plagg sniffed. “But keep it up and you might even be able to purify akuma.”
“That isn’t a Ladybug-only thing?”
“Well...the nice and pretty way is,” Plagg muttered. “But with a little practice you might be able to completely destroy Hawkmoth’s link to the butterflies he sends out.”
“Or used to send out,” Chat Noir said, frowning down at the apple core in his hand. “I doubt Hawkmoth is gonna put another akuma out while Ladybug is still working with him.”
“Well, you never know; unlimited powers of destruction are more useful than most people give them credit for,” Plagg said, patting Chat Noir’s head.
“Even if my powers involve fireballs and all-consuming fields of destructive energy,” Chat Noir said, staring down at his hand with a flex of his fingers. “You got anything more...robust? Precise? Something I don’t need to spend weeks learning how to control effectively?”
“Why do you think I’ve been making you do concentration drills this whole time?” Plagg asked, nodding over to the towering wall of figures carved into the black obsidian of the Sanctuary walls. “I’ve been going back and forth with a friend of mine for a while, but he wouldn’t agree to train you until you learned a bit more...focus.”
“And, have I lived up to this mysterious Black Cat’s standards yet?”
“That rather remains to be seen…”
Chat Noir turned around to see a tall, black-clad figure materializing out of the smooth obsidian wall of the sanctuary. His long, raven black hair was secured in a tight bun on top of his head as cold, amber eyes regarded Chat Noir. A black scarf wound around his nose and mouth, concealing the lower half of his face from sight. Worn, black robes wrapped around his body, secured with a wide green sash that secured a simple, unadorned black sword to his hip.
“Nice getup; does the League of Shadows know you raided their wardrobe?” Chat Noir snorted, extending a spear with a flick of his wrist as the masked stranger made no motion to attack him. “You must be Plagg’s friend; you as murderous as the last one?”
The figure wordlessly glanced at Plagg who just shrugged. “Big...Greek...hates women?”
“Ah...so Diomedes has already had his hands on you,” the figure nodded, watching Chat Noir snap his fingers, igniting a puff of flame with a raise of his eyebrow. “That explains the foolhardiness…”
“Hey!” Chat Noir huffed.
“Trust me; he was plenty foolhardy before Diomedes got his hands on him,” Plagg snickered.
“Hey!”
“I’m well aware of how foolhardy your newest charge can be,” the stranger sniffed, paying no mind to the pout Chat Noir sent his way. “I’m not quite sure what more you expect me to do for him; he already seems to have mastered my Black Hole technique.”
“Your Black Hole technique?” Chat Noir said, opening an inky black portal in the air between them with a flick of his fingers. “You trademark it or something?”
“Plagg’s limitless powers of destruction are rather...lacking in imagination,” the stranger said, closing the portal with a flick of his own wrist. “Tell me, did you work with him to develop his own technique before you roused me?”
“Ain’t exactly got time for that, Sasuke,” Plagg said, waving his paw dismissively. “Ladybug’s gone off her rocker and the kid here is gonna need every trick we got to take her down.”
“Sasuke?!” Chat Noir echoed.
“ Is that so?” The man called Sasuke said, cocking his head to one side as he regarded Chat Noir curiously.
“He’s been practicing a lot lately,” Plagg said, ignoring his charge’s weeaboo outburst. “And I think he’s ready...I want you to give him Fang.”
“Is that right?” Sasuke asked, hand resting on the pommel of the blade. “After everything we went through to create it, you want me to give it to this child ?”
“Hey, I’ve been practicing swordfighting since I was was a child,” Chat Noir said, eyeing the sword at Sasuke’s hip. “I’ve got an Olympic fencer as my personal coach and bludgeoned more akuma than you can count; if anyone’s equipped to handle that sword, it’s me .”
A dry, raspy chuckle echoed off the walls of the Sanctuary. “You’re an energetic one, aren’t you?” Sasuke said in an archaic form of Japanese Chat Noir could just barely understand.
“Ask my girlfriend how energetic I can be,” Chat Noir replied, extending a second spear as Sasuke’s fingers casually wrapped around the hilt of his sword.
“Arrogant...articulate...and a foul attitude to boot,” Sasuke chuckled. “There’s no doubt about it...you are a Black Cat. What’s your name, boy?”
“Adrien Agreste,” Chat Noir said, gripping his spears tighter as Sasuke slowly drew his weapon. The flat of the blade was a pure, inky black metal that seemed to draw in the faint light that surrounded them. A thin sliver of green traced along the edge of the blade, glinting as Sasuke leveled it at Adrien.
“A strange name…” Sasuke mused. “Very well Adrien Agreste. I, Sarutobi Sasuke, will judge your progress. Defeat me, and this weapon will be yours.”
Kagami looked up as the door to her office slammed open, a worn, dejected looking Adrien slumping out and immediately collapsing on the floor at her feet.
“Hello, dear, how was your day?” Kagami said as Adrien rolled himself over with the last of his energy.
“Sasuke...is...a prick ,” Adrien groaned.
“Adrien, if you’ve been using the time-distortion in your Sanctuary to marathon garbage anime-”
“Garbage anime you watched.”
“Garbage anime I tolerated because we could make out during the filler episodes,” Kagami sniffed, turning and walking down the hall as Adrien whimpered on the floor. “Don’t think for a second that I share your cheap otaku aesthetics.”
“That’s rich coming from a woman who owns a full set of Inner Senshi linger-” Adrien grunted in pain as Kagami whipped a throw pillow at his head from down the hall.
“Hey...Nino?”
Nino closed his locker to see Marinette hovering just at his elbow, rocking back and forth on her heels.
“Is there...something wrong with Alya?” Marinette asked, fidgeting with her bag’s strap.
Boy howdy, where to start?
“What makes you say that?” Nino shrugged as casually as possible, weaving his way through crowds of students trickling out of the school building.
“I don’t know...she’s been kinda evasive with me lately,” Marinette shrugged. “I keep trying to make plans with her and she keeps brushing me off...and hanging out with Chloe for some reason.”
“Well, they’ve been lifting buddies for a few months now,” Nino said diplomatically. “I know they’ve been running in the morning too.”
“It’s Chloe though,” Marinette said, narrowing her eyes at Nino. “You know... Chloe .”
“Yeah, I know ,” Nino said, bristling a little on his teammates behalf. “What’s wrong with Alya making more friends?”
“Friends that hate me?”
“Chloe doesn’t hate you,” Nino sighed. “It’s not freaking college anymore, Marinette; people change. We’re not the same people we were at fourteen, are we?”
“No, just...I feel like my best friend is keeping something from me and I don’t know what it is,” Marinette sighed.
“Yeah...tell me about it,” Nino sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Did Adrien tell you he was leaving school?”
“We talked about it,” Marinette shrugged. “He made up his mind though.”
“To work for his asshole dad’s company?” Nino snorted, shaking his head. “You really believe this is what Adrien wants?”
“Four years ago I’d say this was Gabriel pulling his strings but...I think this is all his call,” Marinette said. “He isn’t a pushover anymore; I think if this was his father’s idea, he would have resisted it on principle alone.”
“I don’t know if he has a stubborn streak or if he is a stubborn streak, you know?” Nino chuckled, shaking his head. “Still...weird to think that we came all this way together and we’re not even gonna graduate together.”
Marinette laid a sympathetic hand on Nino’s shoulder. “He isn’t going to slip away from us; we’re not going to let him slip away from us.”
“Yeah, if he thinks he can just ditch us, he’s got another thing coming,” Nino said, squeezing Marinette’s hand. “You oughta turn a little of that stubbornness on your girl; kidnap her and head to the movies or something. I can’t really go into it too much but...she could use a break.”
“Yeah, we could use a girl’s night or…” Marinette’s eyes widened. “Or a girl’s weekend!”
“Yeah, make a weekend out of it," Nino said. "You got something in mind?"
"I think so...I mean, I have to see if Adrien's cool with it but...no, he'll be fine," Marinette said, turning to leave. "Thanks Nino! I should really-"
Marinette stopped in her tracks, glancing at Nino somewhat uncertainly. "...hey, Nino? Do you know...how much time Adrien has been spending at Kagami's place?"
"He's been spending time at Kagami's place?" Nino frowned. "He hasn't mentioned anything to me about that."
"I...I see," Marinette nodded.
"I-I mean, if he is, it's probably nothing to worry about!" Nino said quickly. "H-He's not that kinda guy, you know?"
"Yeah...you're right," Marinette said, shooting Nino a small wave. "Thanks."
Nino watched Marinette walk away, quietly wondering how long Adrien and Kagami had been hanging out without him.
"Nah, it's fine," Nino muttered. "Yeah...yeah, it's totally fine..."
The elevator door opened and Gabriel nearly fell face-first onto the floor in front of him.
“I’m alright!” He said to no one, voice echoing off the bare walls of Emilie’s chamber as he stumbled forward. The bottle of Grey Goose dangled limply from one hand, vodka burning the back of his throat as his hands ran over the plants that surrounded Emilie’s pod. A small sigh of despair slipped out as his hand brushed across the withered, desiccated plants that only seemed to increase in number as the days went on.
Time, as always, was Gabriel’s greatest enemy.
“Hello dear,” Gabriel called, leaning against the wrought iron gate that separated the pod from the rest of the chamber. “How was your day?”
Emilie’s silence pressed in all around him as Gabriel took another drag off the bottle, coughing and spluttering as a drop ran down the wrong pipe.
“Mine was alright,” Gabriel sighed, blowing a low, hollow note across the neck of the bottle. “Gearing up for the London show...should have a good turnout this year...something about this crop of designers is...well, I think my company is in good hands after I...well, after I retire at least…”
Emilie said nothing as Gabriel rolled the half-empty bottle between his hands.
“Adrien has a new girlfriend…” Gabriel continued. “Brilliant...creative...strong-willed enough to keep him on the right track...with a woman like that at his side, I won’t be surprised if he surpasses all our expectations...already a lycee graduate and everything…though I don’t think he’ll be attending Cambridge like you hoped.”
Gabriel’s last word echoed off the wall as he stared blankly at his wife, watching each rise and fall of the sleeping woman’s chest in case it was the last.
“He’s...doing quite well, actually…” Gabriel continued, the liquor making his vision swim and his tongue feel thick in his mouth. “Plenty of friends...some of...better quality than others. I know you’d call me a snob for saying so, but Mme. Tsurugi is certainly a cut above Andre’s girl...though there’s the small matter of the fact that she’s standing in the way of my plans to save you…”
Gabriel swished another sip of liquor around in his mouth thoughtfully.
“That’s her only sin, really,” Gabriel said. “Supporting...supporting someone who wants to stop a lunatic from destroying her city...in, any other story but ours she’d be the hero…”
Gabriel’s mouth twisted into a bitter scowl. “And so...if I want to save the life of the woman I love...I have to cut off another piece of myself...I have to compromise again ...and again...and again...I have to wonder if there’s even enough of the man you married for you to recognize anymore…”
Every turn had another twisted decision lying around the corner. It was almost as though the powers that be enjoyed toying with Gabriel; taking his promise to rescue his wife by any means quite literally.
Well, Gabriel? What’s it gonna be? You man enough to do this? Or are you a liar and a coward?
“I’ve come too far ,” Gabriel muttered, grabbing at his hair. “I’ve given up too much ...it can’t end now...it just...it just can’t…”
It was the same dance he always did and the warm fuzz of liquor numbed him as he surgically removed parts of his soul with every morally bankrupt decision. Every time he thought he couldn’t sink any lower, he found new tiers of desperation to slither into; propelled by good intentions and no small amount of self-denial.
But he had no choice...he had to fix this.
“I keep asking myself...when will it end?” Gabriel murmured, running a hand through his hair. “Even though I know the answer already…”
Gabriel leaned his head back, staring up at the peaceful sleeping face of his wife with a shaky smile.
“It never ends,” Gabriel said, glassy eyes staring into space as he felt himself growing groggier and groggier. “It just goes on...and it goes on forever.”
The bottle of vodka tipped over as Gabriel slumped against the wall, cold, grainy alcohol soaking his pant leg. As he drifted off, his last shred of consciousness clung to the warm, smiling image of his wife he feared would never see again.