Under The Mask 🎭 (a Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic)

-41- Family Ties

Hawk Moth slams the bedroom door shut, causing Adrien and Marinette to flinch from the echo. "So... you purified the Super 'Kuma, but did you really think you could trick me with a cheap copy?!" He throws the replica bracelet at them.

"Plagg, claws out!" Adrien shouts, hoping to free his kwami, but it doesn't work. The magical jar still holds Plagg hostage. "No!"

"My own son is Cat Noir?" He whispers, laughing wickedly. "I should have known, right under my room the entire time."

As Hawk Moth steps towards them, Marinette jumps forward and shoves Adrien behind her. "Tikki, spots on!" She transforms into Ladybug and wields her yo-yo into a shield. "Not another step, Hawk Moth!"

"And you're Ladybug," He whispers, shaking his head. "Oh, isn't this poetic? You've managed to find each other with and without the mask. If anything—this makes it all easier. Like killing two birds with one stone."

"Is that a metaphor, father?" Adrien questions. "Or are you being literal?"

Hawk Moth glances back at Adrien. "That all depends on you, son. I'll give you one more chance. Will you help bring your mother back or not?"

Ladybug steps forward. "You don't have to do this, Hawk Moth! Give up while you can! Don't hurt anyone else!"

"I swore to my wife that I would do everything in my power to bring her back!"

"Is that what she would have wanted?" She shouts.

Hawk Moth glares at her. "How dare you! Who are you to budge in and dictate what I do for this family?"

"What family?" Adrien asks, standing beside Ladybug now. "You stopped being a father the day mother disappeared."

"And now I can bring her back. I just need your ring and her earrings, son." He extends his arm out, waiting.

Ladybug swings her yo-yo faster. "No chance, Hawk Moth."

Hawk Moth ignores her and stares at his son. "Adrien, I messed up. I made mistakes. I know that and I'm willing to admit that, but just imagine what it'll be like when your mother returns. Don't you remember what it was like when she was still around?"

Adrien nods. "Yes, I do, father. The house was warm and inviting. Now it's cold and a prison."

"Say what you want about me, but I will not apologize for loving Emelie!" He shouts, swinging his cane. "Either you willingly help me, or I will sacrifice you both for her."

"Mother is gone!" Adrien yells with wide eyes. "Why can't you accept that! I did, a long time ago. We have to move on!"

Hawk Moth shakes his head. "How can I move on without her? How can I live another day without her? I can't! I need her back!" He raises his cane again and swings, smacking it against Ladybug's side and she's thrown into the window, knocked off balance.

"Marinette!"

As Adrien steps forward, Hawk Moth digs the tip of his cane into his son's throat. He lied to Marinette; the bruise still hurt, and this wasn't helping. "Make a choice, Adrien. Hand over your ring and I'll let her live."

"I don't believe you," He spits back with a glare.

"Refuse again and I'll force you to watch as I rip her earrings off her stiff body."

Ladybug groans to herself and tries to stand. She rubs her forehead. "Adrien..."

"Make a choice, son," Hawk Moth repeats. Adrien looks at his other hand and sees Plagg sitting in the magical jar, frowning. "Don't you love your mother, Adrien?"

He shoots a stare back at his father. What kind of question is that? "Of course I love her, but—" Out of the corner of his eye, he spots Ladybug crawling behind, and keeps talking to keep Hawk Moth distracted. "But making a wish... if we bring Mom back, someone else will take her place."

"I'm willing to risk that chance."

Adrien's eyes glisten with fresh tears. "Even if I'm that risk, father?"

Hawk Moth doesn't say anything as he stares at Adrien. Finally, he says, "If I must."

Ladybug throws her yo-yo and knocks the jar out of his dad's hand. The glass breaks and Plagg is free. "Hah!"

"No!"

"Plagg, claws out!" Adrien transforms and he doesn't waste time. He grabs his staff and extends it, using it as a bat as he swings the metal into his father's chest, sending him flying across the room against the rock wall. Cat Noir extends a hand to Ladybug and helps her stand, and they approach his father cautiously.

Hawk Moth slowly stands and watches the hero as they threaten him with their weapons. "No..."

"Give up your miraculous, Hawk Moth!" Ladybug demands. "There's nowhere to run."

Cat Noir raises a hand. "Cataclysm. It's over, father."

Hawk Moth looks back and forth between them. He straightens his back and laughs. "You think I'd give up that easily? You don't know me as well as you thought, son."

Cat Noir snorts. "Yeah, and you don't know me at all, father. How could you? You never took the time or day to care. As long as I was just a puppet for your brand, that's all that mattered to you. You didn't care. I don't think you can. You're so obsessed with bringing Mom back that you don't realize you lost the last family you had."

He glares at his son. "You ungrateful, little brat. I am your father, and you speak to me this way?"

"Yes, I do! I'm not afraid of you anymore!"

Hawk Moth raises his cane. "You should be."

As he swings, Ladybug wraps her yo-yo around his arm and twists it behind his back. The cane falls and Ladybug grabs his other arm and ties him up. "Don't touch him!"

Cat Noir steps forward and grabs the butterfly brooch. His transformation falls and his father sits there, angry. "It's over now, father."