Dark Wings Rise

Gabriel Agreste

He looked at the empty drawer in vain. Turning around the entire house, trying to find it.

How could this have happened?

Where could he have lost them?

Or did he lose them?

They were stolen.

Definitely.

But who did this?

How did they get into his house?

How did they outwit the security?

How did they erase all the CCTV camera recordings?

But most importantly, how did they know it was him?  Gabriel Agreste?

He had been extremely careful.

How did they figure it out?

His breathing became harder each second he thought more about this.

His breath heavy, gasping for air, Gabriel Agreste fell on the ground.

He clutched his chest, his breathing growing heavier than ever, a pounding in his head. He tried to call for help, he was having a panic attack.

His heart pounded like crazy, deep, fast breaths entering his nostrils, longing for more, trying to take in as much air as he could. He was not able to breathe at all.

He felt like he was going crazy.

If he didn't know better, he thought he was going to die.

"Sir! SIR!" Nathalie rushed in, half-lifting, half-dragging Gabriel up, seating him on a nearby couch and bringing water for him.

"Breathe, sir." She said, trying to make her voice sound as calming and soothing as she could.

She instructed him to breathe in through his nose, making him take deep breaths, and exhale through his mouth.

"Close your eyes, Mr. Agreste," she said, "And focus on breathing. One—"

He took a deep breath in.

"Two—"

He breathed more steadily.

"Three—"

"I think I am good now. Thank you, Nathalie."

Regaining her lost composure, Nathalie professionally replied, "No need for that, sir. I was simply doing my job."

She was worried he might have shocked himself so much that he would die. He was getting too old for this. She told him time and time again to not be Darkbug, let Mayura handle things. But he never listened. He wanted to  'protect' her from the harmful effects of being the peacock-themed superhuman.

He was really admirable, in her eyes.

Nathalie respected Mr. Agreste more than anyone in the world.

She also loved him more than anyone else in the world.

So, although it absolutely shattered her heart to help Gabriel wake Emilie, she had to do it. Because there was no other way his happiness would return. She was his happiness. Emilie. Not Nathalie.

She could not make him smile.

Emilie could.

She could not be Emilie Agreste.