Lift Me Up | A Gabenath Story

Chapter 14: Her Last Words

Nathalie was taken to a dark dungeon-like lair far away from Paris. She struggled as the Hawkmoth sentimonster tied her hands behind her back, breathing in the scent of the growing moss on the walls with each inhale. The only source of light barely shined through a small crack above them.

Nathalie detested the feeling of being tied like an animal. In a failed attempt to break loose of Hawkmoth's grasp, Nathalie stumbled onto the cold ground, breaking her glasses. Her phone slipped out of her pocket and crashed onto the stone with a clank, breaking Hawkmoth's attention away from her. He scurried to take the phone. He sat on a pile of stone next to where she kneeled with her hands tied, noticing her tears roll down her cheek.

"You know I hate seeing you cry, Nathalie," Hawkmoth taunted.

"You are not Gabriel," Nathalie coldly sneered.

"Gabriel or not, crying is for the weak."

"What the hell do you expect me to do? Smile and laugh? No. I created you and you betrayed me. . ."

"You betrayed yourself. You were the one who left the amoktized object with Emilie."

". . . I cannot help but cry in silence."

"I think I can help with that," Hawkmoth replied. With a smirk on his face, he pulled out a blind fold that Emilie had previously handed to him.

"Don't," Nathalie hissed through her teeth as she met his sick gaze.

"Oh yes, my dear. Hopefully this blindfold helps dry your awful tears," he chuckled as he tied the fabric around her head.

Nathalie's face trembled as she silently cried. To her, everything went pitch black; including her heart. Her tears dampened the fabric covering her eyes. If she screamed or yelled, nobody would hear her. Nobody would be there for her. There was no contact with the outside world.

─

At the Agreste mansion, Gabriel maintained his distance with Emilie. He called Adrien's bodyguard and allowed Adrien to stay late at a friend's home. He did not want to risk Adrien coming into contact with Emilie.

Meanwhile, Emilie had spent the day traveling to the sentimonster's layer to hand him the keychain. Emilie had no intention of releasing Nathalie, as the point of giving the sentimonster his freedom was so that Gabriel would never find the amoktized object.

At nightfall, Gabriel found Emilie asleep on the chair where he had left her. As silent as a mouse, he carefully checked the pocket where the object would be. To his surprise, it was gone. Hopeless, he made his way to his lair.

Gabriel stood in front of the immense window and observed the city. People walked down the streets with joy as the streets were illuminated. A new sense of hope had brightened their souls as no akumatizations had occurred over the week. Their night was calm, promising, lively. But to Gabriel, his night was black without moon.

He shut his eyes, physically reciprocating his feelings. Within the darkness of his night, there shone a star like no other. The star's brightness slowly beat like his heart, each beat a flashback of every precious moment he spent with Nathalie. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he spoke to her through thoughts.

Nathalie, I never wanted this for you. Know that I never thought I'd hurt you this much. When I told you that you were not the one I loved. . . it was a lie. I hurt you. You knew that we were on bad terms, and yet, you took a risk against me for Adrien. . . your angel. I hurt you.

When you stormed off alone into the night after the second fight, I desperately called you when you didn't come back. . . I was scared for you. And when you came back late, my temper got the best of me and I told you that I wouldn't miss you. Truth is, I miss you. Very much.