Chapter Text
Plagg wasn’t one to wander from his holder.
He never really had a reason too, he was one that was quite content to lounge about in a pocket or a bag, not worrying about what was going on in the outside world as long as he had cheese on hand– which he always did. If he did find himself curious on what humans had done over the last few hundreds of years it wasn’t too hard to find answers on the internet– access given to him right in his wonderful pocket via the phone Adrien had gotten for him.
But today was a different day– because there was some bleu d'Auvergne hidden away in the kitchen.
Adrien got him a variety of cheeses, but it had been a while since he had some blue cheese. He had smelled it in the soup his holder had been eating last night, and Plagg was sure there was more hidden away in that kitchen just waiting to get into his stomach. So while his Kitten was locked away in a conversation with his girlfriend (which he wasn’t about to interrupt, those two needed every moment they could get together, if you asked Plagg), he drifted through the halls of the mansion, in search of his precious cheese.
Unfortunately he was forced to hide when the human equivalent of dairy-free cheese chose to come waltzing by like he owned the place.
Okay, maybe he technically did– but Plagg was not just a cat, but a kwami as well. With everything except cheese the idea of owning something was stupid, just like how this Gabriel Agreste was stupid. The low end of what humanity could produce, and someone the kwami hated with a passion. He glowered at the stupid human from the shadows as he walked towards his office, face lit with determination, a clear destination in mind.
Any goal that man had was a nightmare though, especially when he loved to throw Adrien into his plans with no regard for how the boy felt– so with his kitten taking priority Plagg was forced to abandon his quest for cheese, following after the horrible Gabriel Agreste. The man smelled horrible, like fancy cologne and bland pancakes. There was a faint scent of rot under it all, but even this man could make rotten smell bad.
The man stood in front of the painting of his wife, looking up at it for a moment, before extending his hands forward. Plagg’s ears flicked up as he watched him press several hidden buttons within– the floor beneath him beginning to shift.
Plagg wasn’t surprised as he watched the man vanish through the hidden elevator– just intrigued. Adrien had a few hidden compartments in his own room, like the small lift that hid away his piano when not in use. That’s why he wasn’t surprised that there were more in the house, but clearly this hidden passage led to somewhere seeing as it had completely whisked Gabriel away. So phasing through the manor Plagg followed the passageway that Gabriel had disappeared into.
It led to dark observatory, tucked away in the most upper part of the mansion.
Shadows covered most of the room, the only light coming from a large stained glass window that overlooked Paris. White butterflies fluttered throughout the room, drifting through the air among the specks of dusk. Gabriel Agreste stood in the middle of it all, a kwami hovering by his side. His arms spread out as he called for a transformation– and with a burst of lavender light there stood Monarch, the one his kitten called father, and their sworn enemy.
What consumed Plagg’s focus, however, was what stood behind the horrible man. Made of curved metal and a spiral design most might have found it beautiful. It was nothing but horror to Plagg’s eyes, however, inlaid with glass spheres– each one containing one of his own brethren, captured and on display as if they were trophies. For a moment Plagg couldn’t move, staring out from the shadows at the disgusting sight, which was only getting worse by the moment.
Two empty spheres sat near the middle of the display, and it wasn’t hard to guess who they were for– Creation and Destruction. A cage for him, and a cage for his beautiful Creation as well.
Plagg had always hated Gabriel Agreste. The man was disgusting, horrible, and he had never hesitated to call him evil before. Plagg had not thought he could loathe him more, yet as he watched on he felt his bitter anger churning and growing within. Eyes narrowed into mere slits, paws curling as Destructive energy bubbled about him. The only thought that kept a Cataclysm from forming about him was the fact that Adrien was in the mansion as well, down below– and he would not put the boy in line of fire.
However the kwami did not need to summon a Cataclysm– as the remains of one already churned within this room.
The smell of rot on Gabriel made sense now, as Monarch had inflicted himself with a Cataclysm in order to escape. Now that Plagg focused, mind calm and deadly, he could sense the decay worming its way through the man’s arm. He was pleased to find that it had spread, the aura of Destruction spread across his shoulder and chest, down to curled fingers. Most of all it surrounded him from the outside in, already having spread deeper, not far from his stone heart within.
The thought of killing Gabriel had come to him many times before. It was a thought he entertained perhaps a bit too much for his holder’s comfort. He didn’t bring it up too often, times had changed and humans did prefer other means of dealing with threats– and most of all he did not want to harm one his kitten loved. All that was far from his mind now as he seized control of the destructive energy, a pained gasp coming from Monarch as he hunched over, spasming as the power coursed through him.
Plagg was Destruction, not Death. He could have easily dragged out the man’s misery and a part of him so wanted too. To let Destruction weave through every part of his form before it claimed the parts of his fragile mortal form that let him exist. To watch him writhe and suffer as he did now, falling to his knees– but Plagg felt more aware than he ever had before in this moment. Nooroo was transformed with this man, and shared every sense with him– and his brother had suffered enough.
So he had the Destruction lay claim to the man’s cold heart, his lifeless form falling to the ground the instant it stopped beating.
The transformation fell away from the man in an instant, Nooroo’s aura instantly returning to the Miraculous pinned to his shirt. The caged kwamis watched on in silence as blackness spread across Gabriel’s form, crumbling away into nothing but ash. Plagg breathed heavily, his rage and anger still as potent and bitter as before. What had happened wasn’t enough. This man’s death did not make up for what he had inflicted upon his kitten, both in and out of the mask.
“Huh,” Xuppu’s voice broke the silence. “I’m not complaining– but I thought he had a few more weeks left in him.”
“That wasn’t a natural course of a Cataclysm,” Roaar remarked uncertainly– as an aspect of Destruction herself she had a better understanding of what had just taken place, but still she looked uncertain.
Daizzi bumped against the glass. “His orders are still intact– I still can't get out!”
Wayzz was looking at Gabriel’s remains– now nothing but a pile of ash, clothes, and rings at this point– before raising his head. He called out uncertainly, a hesitation in his voice. “Plagg?”
The others seemed confused at this remark, as of course only Wayzz and Sass knew that Plagg resided within this manor as well. How he had not realized that the others had been here this entire time? He closed his eyes, rage still hot and burning, before drifting forward into the circle of light, letting the others see him.
“Plagg!” Ziggy cried, pressing up against the glass. “Plagg! You’re here!”
“That means Chat Noir has to be nearby!”
“Then Ladybug will be here!”
“We’re going to go home!”
“Get our Miraculouses, Plagg,” Trixx said, tapping on the glass urgently. “The rings, they’re the rings!”
“Rings?” Plagg finally managed to say, the confusion managing to pull him somewhat from the consuming rage.
“He used Nooroo’s powers of Transmission to transform them into rings, easier to manage,” Wayzz said.
“Yeah,” Plagg muttered.
“Plagg, I need you to lissssten,” Sass said, but Plagg didn’t move. “Gabriel wasssss not the only one in on thisssss!”
Plagg looked up.
“Nathalie and a woman named Tomoe are involved as well,” Wayzz said. “If we don’t move quickly we risk them reclaiming the Miraculouses for themselves.”
Plagg nodded, swooping down to the ashy remains, and began to pluck out the scattered rings among them. They all looked nearly identical, save for the symbols on the face of them. He used one of Gabriel’s empty gloves as a means to carry them all, carefully setting them inside. As they were placed within the kwamis vanished from the cages, being returned to their dormant state.
That was for the best, free them from their prison, and free himself from their happy cheers. Celebrating that they were being saved, but not realizing the true magnitude that would be inflicted on his precious kitten once all this came to light.
He picked up an alliance ring, looking at it for a second– before throwing it across the room, shattering it against the wall. Several of the remaining kwamis flinched at the action– Wayzz, Kaalki, Mullo, and Pollen. He then placed Nooroo’s Miraculous within the glove, the only one not turned to a ring, before finally picking up another ring from the stash. Plain and silver, which Plagg recognized as Gabriel’s wedding ring. It pulsed with energy, perhaps a lingering magic from being around Miraculouses for so long.
Plagg raised his paw to throw it as well, when Wayzz desperately cried out: “No!”
He looked up at the Turtle.
“Do not let that ring come to any harm,” Wayzz said, pressed up against the glass, eyes wide. “Plagg, it cannot get hurt.”
Pollen nodded in agreement. “That’s not just a normal ring– that’s part of an amok. Monarch used it to control his son.”
A chill settled over Plagg, and the worst feeling yet seemed to consume him, voice cracking. “What?”
“That is Adrien’s amok,” Wayzz repeated. “Half of it– the two wedding rings together make the complete amok, and whoever told one of them can control Adrien. The other half is with Nathalie, you have to get it from her as soon as possible.”
Plagg knew that Nathalie had the ring, he remembered how happy Adrien had been seeing the woman he considered a mother wear it. He had happily brought it up whenever Plagg said something negative about his father, telling him how the man was changing. Plagg hadn’t been sure what to think, but now the disgusting truth was in front of him.
This whole time, Adrien had been bound by orders. His freewill being able to be taken away with just a simple ring. A ring that his father wore at all times, and his mother had as well. His very parents had complete control over him at all times– and that power had been extended to the family’s assistant as well.
Plagg knew what it was like to have orders yank one around like a puppet, to have your freedom be dictated by whoever held a ring– and he let out a yowl of pure rage and pain as he now realized his kitten had suffered the same horrible fate.
The remaining kwamis called to him in worry, pounding on their glass domes as they tried to reach him, but he didn’t hear them. He just sat there in the ash that was once Gabriel, clinging to his kitten’s ring, to his amok, to his life– clutching it to his chest. The pure agony of Destruction radiated from him– the floor fractured, white suit withering, glass cracking. The ring in his paws, however, was completely unharmed. And this ring would stay with him, a Cataclysm waiting for whoever anyone were to even think of touching it. No, no one would ever come near this amok again, the only other hands that it would ever be placed in were Adrien’s own hands.
A million thoughts ran through his mind, but he had only one destination he was seeking out. He would not have to go far, just through this horrible mansion to find Nathalie– and reclaim Adrien’s life once and for all.