Half Way

A Painting, A Damaged Miraculous and A Supervillain

Gabriel Agreste stood in his study looking up at the painting of his wife Emilie. It had been over a year now since she fell into an enchanted sleep. Ever since then, his life hadn't been the same. But it wasn't just his life; the lives of all Parisians changed.

The couple had a wonderful life together. Having met in lycée, they instantly fell in love and started dating. Five years later, they got married.

After two years of struggling with infertility, they were elated when Emilie became pregnant. Even though they were both happy, Emilie was completely over the moon. She had always dreamed of having a child.

Once their son Adrien was born, Emilie officially quit her job as a model to stay home with him. They also hired their former classmate Nathalie to assist in raising the boy, and the two women soon became best friends.

Emilie loved every moment of being a mother. She and Adrien were extremely close, bonding through the years as Gabriel started working longer and longer hours as he became more and more successful as a designer.

The couple were extremely happy with their lives. In fact, their only point of contention was whether or not to have more children. She desperately wanted more, while he was adamant against it. With his wife being so involved with Adrien's upbringing, the last thing Gabriel wanted was another child taking up more of her time and attention.

As the years went by Emilie accepted the reality that they would be a family of three. She already felt blessed to have such a wonderful son in Adrien, and she would do anything for him.

But as he grew older, she became more concerned about the world around them. Paris was becoming more dangerous every year. Both she and Gabriel decided that it was best to limit Adrien's time outside of the house. She wanted him home where he was safe.

It finally got to the point where drastic steps had to be taken. Knowing what had to be done, Emilie went to the safe in Gabriel's study and opened it up, revealing the Butterfly Miraculous, the damaged Peacock Miraculous, and a spellbook.

She then convinced her husband that they should start using the Miraculouses again. With the Butterfly's power to transform regular people into superheroes, and the Peacock's power to use emotions to make sentimonsters, they would make Paris safe. Just think, with an army of superheroes and creatures to protect the city, Paris would be the safest place in the whole world to live.

So Gabriel started using the Butterfly Miraculous and practiced making superheroes. Nathalie and Emilie were his willing test subjects.

Then Emilie started using the Peacock Miraculous to practice making sentimonsters. "What a horrible name!" she always declared. "They're not monsters at all."

She started out small, then eventually made more complex creatures. It wasn't long, however, before both she and Gabriel realized that the damaged Miraculous was taking a toll on her. The more she used it, the sicker she got.

First she would just feel a little tired. Then the dizzy spells started. And the headaches. And the coughing. After a while she started sleeping more and more at night.

Gabriel pleaded with her to stop, but she was determined to find the perfect sentimonster that could protect the city. Adrien needed a safe place to live and the clock was ticking. After all, they couldn't keep him locked away from the world forever.

She pushed herself too hard. One fateful evening she took the Peacock Miraculous off for the last time.

Her husband was the one who found her unconscious body on the floor of their bedroom. Examining her, she seemed perfectly fine. Perfectly fine, except for the fact that she wouldn't wake up.

Now Gabriel Agreste had never been an emotional person. But at seeing what happened to his wife, the person he had always loved the most, he completely broke down. The tears poured out as he leaned over her and pressed his forehead against hers.

That was when he felt his soul leave his body. It was easily the worst moment of his life. No matter what happened to him in the future, he would never ever forget how he felt there with her. Desperately wishing that he could do something... anything. For his true love. To bring her back to him.

His wife, the mother of his child and the love of his life, was gone. They had been together for twenty-one years, but it wasn't enough. They needed more time.

He stayed with her like that for hours. As dawn broke he realized that he would have to move her out of their bedroom. He couldn't risk Adrien stumbling upon her, so he hid her body in a part of the house that only he and Emilie knew about.

Gabriel didn't dare take her to a hospital. He would never be able to explain the nature of her illness. And who knows, he might have been blamed, and subsequently punished, for what happened to her.

After a couple of days, with no change in her condition, he reported her missing to the authorities. They conducted an investigation, but with no evidence of foul play and no leads, the case went cold after a few weeks. According to the world, Emilie Agreste simply disappeared without a trace. The only person who knew what really happened was her husband.

About a month went by before Gabriel came to the conclusion that Emilie was not going to wake up on her own. But with the help of a cryogenic pod, he could at least keep her alive until he could find a cure.

Magic caused her to fall into an enchanted sleep, so there had to be some other magical way to wake her up. After questioning Nooroo and Duusu, the kwamis of the Butterfly and the Peacock Miraculouses, he found the solution he needed.

All he would have to do is find two other Miraculouses, the one of the Ladybug and the Black Cat, and combine them together. Then he would be able to make an ultimate wish to bring Emilie back.

The Miraculouses, he was told, would be with a Master Guardian. But there was no way to track that person down. The Temple of the Guardians had been destroyed and there had been no signs of any other Miraculouses being used in over a hundred years.

Finally he decided that he would need to force the Guardian to come out of hiding. And there was no better way to find a superhero than with the appearance of a supervillain.

With that decision Gabriel became Hawk Moth, and he started his reign of terror on Paris. Eventually he enlisted the help of his assistant Nathalie, who started using the Peacock Miraculous as Mayura.

He needed Ladybug's earrings and Chat Noir's ring. After a year of hard work, they finally discovered Ladybug's identity. Now they just needed to discover Chat Noir's.

Soon they would accomplish their mission and Emilie would wake up. They would be a family again, just like they were supposed to be. And all of their sacrifices would have been worthwhile.

His thoughts were interrupted by Nathalie as she walked into the study. "I'm sorry to disturb you Sir, but I wanted to inform you that Marinette left. Adrien seemed upset when he went back upstairs so I don't think it went well."

Gabriel didn't turn around to face her as he spoke. "Thank you Nathalie. I'm not overly concerned about it. It's obvious that she's really in love with him, so I'm sure they'll work things out."

Nathalie silently left the room and closed the door behind her.

Gabriel Agreste continued staring up at the painting of his wife and smiled. He was half way to his goal. And he would never give up.