Vanished (Lukadrien) • Miraculous Ladybug

Chapter 53 | faker

Adrien has zero idea how a whole lair had been under his house the whole time and he hadn't known about it. The place was massive, a whole butterfly sanctuary and in the centre was that ominous glass preservation coffin, with the body of his mother inside.

She'd been embalmed, so she was well preserved. He was a bit scared to see her since it's been well over a year and well... bodies rot. But the preservation was perfect, if just looked like she was asleep. There was something terrifying about his own mother being so lifelike yet... dead. He could barely look in that direction once he saw her, it hurt too much.

He occupied himself trying to find those two miraculous with the others. But after hours I'd searching... there were nowhere to be found.

"I don't understand... if he doesn't have them then he MUST have hidden them. And if they're not in the house or down here then where the hell are they?" Luka questioned.

"Do you think he threw them away somewhere to try and hide the fact he was hawkmoth?" Marinette asked.

"No way, if he'd gone to all this trouble there's no way he'd give them up. He hid them somewhere I know it"

Adrien was silent as he stood by the window looking out over Paris. He had a bad feeling about this, the butterfly and peacock are missing and the previous holders don't have them... so where are they? It was like they'd vanished into thin air.

"Something is... wrong. I can feel it" he spoke up.

"What to you mean?" Marinette asked.

He walked over to Luka and took his hand looking at the twin ring he wore holding his boyfriends amok.

"It's not like... giving you any strange feelings is it?" Adrien asked.

"No...? Why?" Luka replied.

"Hmm. Maybe it's just anxiety then... it's just that if the peacock is missing then isn't that bad for me? You have the ring so you're the only one that can control me, but I know you'd never do that and let me have free will. But if the holder of the peacock decided to release every single senti-thing from existence then... would I just vanish?"

It was silent for a moment, both Luka and Marinette a little worried. Adrien was one of the most meticulously crafted senti-humans ever. He was so human he didn't even know he was senti until Nathalie told him. And while the only one that could control him was Luka, there was still the risk that if something happened to the peacock... something could happen to him...

"We really need the peacock. And he can't ever let someone use it as long as Adrien is alive" Luka said.

"Agreed. Once we have it back it's staying in the miracle box, it's too dangerous in the wrong hands" Marinette agreed.

This whole missing miraculous thing gave Adrien bad vibes, he was anxious beyond belief.

"Remember feast? Nathalie could feel him before he woke up since she had the peacock at the time... so in theory whoever has the peacock can tell I'm a senti-human just from feeling. And if you have the object with my amok you'd be able to feel me too, Luka. So maybe... we can use the ring to try and track down the peacock, they're all connected aren't they?" Adrien suggested.

"That might work... and since you're senti you'd be able to feel where the peacock is when it's close right?" Luka added.

They looked to Marinette for confirmation, she was the guardian after all so surely she'd know this.

"Well in theory yeah, that'd work. I guess you two will just have to keep your eyes peeled and take note of any strange feelings in order to track down the peacock. And if we find the peacock then the butterfly can't be far behind" she replied.

So it was decided, with no trace of the miraculous in the mansion or the lair, they had to have been hidden elsewhere that would be accessible to Gabriel before the arrest. So the only thing they could do was keep an eye out. As soon as they had them back safe again, they could rest easy knowing the whole situation was over.

And as soon as they had it, they'd have proof that Gabriel was hawkmoth and they could reveal the lair and turn him in. His sentence would definitely worsen after that.

"We should bounce before Felix and your aunt get back" Marinette said.

"We should but one more thing..."

The two looked at Adrien, who glanced over at the glass coffin with his mother in it.

"We all know that using the cat and ladybug together to make a wish has great consequences... and there's no way the plan to bring mg mother back would have worked. But that makes me wonder... why is it even possible if it has such great consequences?" He asked.

Marinette was the guardian and ladybug, so she of all people would know this after researching and working with master fu before he left. The boys looked to her for an answer.

"I never found anything on that. But my guess would be it's there as a last resort for catastrophic events... like if a villain so bad came along that threatened the end of the world, we could make the wish for that to not happen. In a case like that even if we suffer after making the wish, the rest of the world would be safe. It creates something out of the wish, and destroys the person who wished it. Like how the ladybug creates and the cat destroys. Honestly it baffles me how Gabriel didn't see that, even if he wished Emilie back he'd end up destroying himself or his life in the process" Marinette explained.

"You know... if Emilie created Adrien out of mother's love and desperation for a child... then there's a chance that the price for the wish would be Adrien. Emilie comes back but her child who she loves so much dies as the consequence... Gabriel would have known that and he was still willing to do it..." Luka added.

Adrien had thought about that before after he found out about everything. The fact his own father was willing to let him die for the sake of brining his wife back stung. Of course you'd love your wife... but shouldn't you love your child too?

It was clear after everything he did to Adrien Gabriel didn't love him, everything was merely an act... a lie. Adrien had known that for ages and he'd accepted it, began to heal from it. But it still stung to think about.

"At the end of the day he's in prison, we stopped one catastrophe from happening and now we need to find those miraculous to stop another one from starting. As long as we have them and Luka has my ring... I'm safe" Adrien said.

After their search and discussion, the booked it from the Agreste mansion before Felix and Amilie got back. They agreed to keep an eye out for the miraculous and use the fact Adrien was senti and Luka had the ring to keep a feel out for the miraculous too. And with that the patrol and search for the day was over. Marinette went off to do her homework and retire from her ladybug duties for the day and the boys would have to part ways for the day as well.

"You ok? That must've been easy" Luka asked, putting an arm around his catboy.

"Yeah. At this point I'm numb to most of it. I guess I'm just anxious"

"You have every right to be. I'm a little anxious too, but we'll work through it together. Everything will work out I promise"

Adrien gave him a smile, and a quick gentle kiss was shared.

"You should get some rest, the past weeks have been busy. Don't stress yourself out or your pains will flare up again" Luka said.

"Yeah yeah I know. Don't worry about me, I'll be alright now. Before you know it I'll even be back at school and hanging out with you guys at the park again" Adrien replied.

"I can't wait, I missed when things were normal. Well as normal as they could be for us anyway..."