Butterfly Boy

Chapter 40

Gabriel hadn't moved much when the two heroes reentered. He'd loosened his posture a bit and was staring at Danny, deep in thought.

"He seems to be recovering," he reported to the other two without looking at them.

The boy did seem better. His face had smoothed over and his breathing was much calmer. He looked in blissful sleep on a cloud of butterflies. There were so many now. All of Hawkmoth's had mixed with Danny's.

Chat and Ladybug sat down slowly, trying not to sit on any butterflies. They slid from underneath them anyways.

Ladybug steadily ignored the man, but Chat had been giving him looks since he entered. And Gabriel didn't know what to make of them.

He sighed. "I'm sorry. For what I did. I- I thought if I continued long enough I could make it but uh..." He looked up to see he had the two teenagers' attention. "I was wrong to even try anyways. It- it was stupid. I'm sorry."

Ladybug's eyes softened and she relaxed a bit. Chat just clenched his jaw and looked back down. Neither gave him a response and he didn't expect one.

A movement from the ground brought their eyes down and smiles to their faces.

Danny was opening his eyes. He furrowed his eyebrows and blinked up at the three faces looking down at him hopefully.

This emitted an immediate reaction from him and his body went with the first thing that came to mind.

Gabriel fell back on his butt with a grunt and hands flew up to hold the jaw that had just been punched.

Marinette burst out in a small laugh and Adrien just shifted so he could help Danny sit up, ignoring the groaning man.

"What happened?" The boy was blinking at his friends blearily.

The two were smiling brightly at him.

"Danny." Marinette grinned. "You alright?"

"Ye-yeah. I am. What happened?" He leaned back on his elbows and looked around the room. His eyes widened when they spotted Gabriel, who was looking at him wearily.

"Hawkmoth gave up," Adrien smiled. "He let go, Danny."

"What?"

"We won." Marinette's smile brightened at his shock. "We did it."

Danny scrambled up with his hands. "We what?!"

Adrien snickered at Danny's shock and denial. "It's over."

"It's over!!" It was like bright explosions had build up inside him and were now bursting out in colors and sparkles. He laughed and brought his two friends in in a hug. "Yes!! We did it. I love you guys." He scrambled up, still holding on to them and bounced around with two dizzy but happy supers under his arms.

He caught sight of Gabriel, who had stood up by now and was still rubbing his jaw. He let go of his grip on his friends and ran at the man.

Gabriel flinched, fully expecting another attack. He tensed but then arms where wrapped around him and he realized he was being hugged.

Danny squeezed tightly. "Thank you." He let go just as suddenly as he had attached on him and ran off.

Gabriel was left behind stunned.

Danny whooped and laughed as he bounced around. The butterflies swirled around him, just as excited and jittery as their new master. He twirled around to Marinette and Adrien. "Where's the guy?! Where's Nooroo??"

"He transformed you to save you from the fire." Marinette gestured towards his body as she laughed at him. Her anger and conflicting emotions had dissipated for at least a moment and she could enjoy the moment like Danny was. Sure, the fact that Gabriel was Hawkmoth brought a lot of problems with it, but they had stopped him. They had saved Paris. They had a right to celebrate.