Isabella (Marinette) Martha Wayne

Chapter 9

Shadow Moth growled out the detransformation phrase for both Nooroo and Duusu and Ladybug watched as he was covered in a blinding flash of blue and purple light before it faded, leaving Gabriel Agreste in his place.

Ladybug let out an inaudible breath.

This close, and now detransformed, Ladybug could feel the bonds with Nooroo and Duusu clearly and the amount of pain, fear and sadness she felt from them hurt her as they hovered closely together, cowering under the rage rolling off the man oppressing them.

Gently Ladybug dropped the illusion as she stepped out of the shadows and into the light streaming in from the large window.

The Kwami's eyes flickered to her briefly before returning to Gabriel, not giving away her position or arrival even as she felt their awe, happiness and crippling relief.

The extent of their emotions only fuelled Ladybug's anger as she approached the man silently, hearing Lady Noire finish cursing Nathelie. Lady Noire began to sweep the house for anything on the Miraculous, not wanting to alert Gabriel as she got closer and closer to him.

Grabbing the arm that was waving close to the Kwami, Ladybug snapped the bones under her hand and he spun to look at her, his scowl twisting to pain before his eyes landed on her.

It was satisfying, watching all of the blood drain from his face in a single moment. In the pale blue light that came through the window he looked ghoulish as he stared at her, wide eyed and frozen in fear as the dark promise of death rolled off her in waves.

"boo!"

Moving lightning fast, Ladybug reached with her free right hand and ripped both Miraculous' off his chest, vanishing them to the Miracle Box the moment they were in her grasp, Nooroo and Duusu flying to hover closely behind her immediately.

"No!" Gabriel's cry matched his expression as his face twisted with rage and manic desperation.

Swinging wildly despite the awkward angle, and how his arm was still in her hold, Gabriel tried to punch her. Catching it in her right hand, the crunching sound of his knuckles being crushed was drowned out by an agonised cry as his eyes filled with pain and fear.

Dropping his right arm, Ladybug twisted, putting all of her strength into her back, shoulders and arm as she threw Gabriel Agreste across the observatory.

The metal dome creaked loudly as his body collided with the wall before falling to a heap on the floor, struggling weakly as he tried to suck in air from having it knocked out of him.

Gabriel managed to sit up awkwardly; the fingers and knuckles of his left hand were crushed, and she had broken his right arm. His breaths came with difficulty as he raised his ruined hand in such a way she was unsure whether he was cowering away from her or reaching towards her for mercy. The man's grey eyes were wide and his pupils were blown with terror and frantic desperation, fear saturating his scent as he watched her stalk towards him with the grace and power a predator stalks their prey with.

"Please, mercy. Please-" Gabriel gasped through short breaths as he tried to fill his lungs, "-My wife. I miss my wife."

"The families of your suicide victims miss their loved ones." Ladybug answered coldly.

"The Miraculous, it killed her." Gabriel tried again, but it fell flat as his tone sounded accusatory.

Unprompted, Duusu and Nooroo told her, sending her memories from years ago of a woman with hair that shone like wheat under the sun and eyes the colour of grass. Of her selfish desire and dismissal of warnings given by both Kwami in favour of her desire to 'be a hero'. How she did nothing but play with her powers behind closed doors of a Manor that became the Kwami's prison long before her death.

"She was told. You both were." Ladybug said, eyes flashing dangerously as she dared him to deny it.

"I'll give you anything you want; I just want my wife back. I love her, please."

"Anything I want?" Ladybug asked, stopping just out of reach, staring down at him and tilting her head.

"Anything, anything in the world. Money, fame, power." Gabriel rambled, hope shining in his eyes as false promises fell from his lips; his mind whirling with ways he could twist this into his advantage.

"I want you to pay for what you've done." She whispered.

Despite how quiet her words were, they carried with power and Gabriel's face fell, terror overcoming his features as she let her aura, all that she felt towards Gabriel Agreste flood out of her along with her magic.

The smell of urine saturated the air as his bladder loosened but not a sound left his lips. Smirking, she watched how he shook violently at her feet, curling in on himself and away from her in horror.

Ladybug hadn't even started yet.

"Gabriel Agreste, as Grand Guardian of the Mother Miracle Box, I judge you guilty of crimes against the Miraculous and the Kwami. I judge you guilty of using two Miraculous to terrorise, kill and destroy people and property without remorse. I judge you guilty of abusing the Kwami of Transmission and the Kwami of Emotion and I hereby deem you unfit to wield a Miraculous, now and forever more. You will forget all secrets and knowledge of the Miraculous, and I hereby curse you for your crimes and your misuse of the Miraculous."

As she spoke, Ladybug watched as Gabriel screamed in agony, writhing around on the floor as the curse began to set in. Nooroo and Duusu watched from where they hovered behind her and she felt their glee as they watched the man who had abused and misused their Miraculous finally getting what he deserves.

Ladybug could end the curse there. She had completed what she had to, but it wasn't enough.

Gabriel Agreste had caused too much pain, physical, emotional and mental, to be allowed to live. He had tortured the people of Paris over and over again without remorse all because he wanted his wife back. He didn't deserve to live for all he had made akumas do, he didn't deserve to live for the continuous cycle of dying and being brought back to life he made the people of Paris suffer through and he didn't deserve to live when his suicide victims were not.

Gabriel Agreste didn't deserve to live, but Ladybug wanted him to know the extent of pain he had caused millions of people. He was going to feel it for the rest of his life, and it was going to follow him in death.

"You will forever feel the pain you have caused the people of Paris no matter if it's mental, emotional or physical. You will experience every moment of their torture and suffering at your hand for the rest of your existence, in both life and death you never escape what you have done to others. So I have said, so mote be it."

As the last of the cold words layered with magic left her lips, Gabriel's back arched, forming a perfect curve and his lips opened in a silent scream, eyes blown so far open they looked ready to pop out of his head before he went slack as he fell unconscious.