Miraculous (Angel-Demon AU)

Chapter 9

And so she decided he was not worth her silence. He had chosen that path. He now had to accept the consequences of that decision.

"By the way, I know who Chat Noir is, too" she didn't bother turning around to face him.

Gabriel waited in silence.

"He is your son."

She waited for his reply, but all she heard was silence. Incredulous, desperate silence.

"You're alone now, Hawk Moth. This is no longer my business."

She resumed her steps.

"I know that you care for Adrien more than you'd like to admit to yourself." Hawk Moth stopped her. "You'll help us."

She froze. Chloé turned around ever so slowly and made an effort to modulate her voice into a neutral, mechanical tone which would reveal no emotion.

"These bodies are weak. Our intentions can be suppressed by human passions, especially at this age." She signalled at her teen-aged body in explanation. "But I haven't forgotten why we're here." She added, slowly and calmly. "Neither should you."

She walked once more towards the door and finally opened it. Yet, as she was going through it, she heard the devil repeat "You'll help us".

It wasn't a question.

It wasn't an order either.

It was a fact.

-----

ADRIEN

"She'll live, don't you worry", Master Fu reassured me as we left the room where Marinette laid sleeping.

Even though I felt better in hearing those words, a part of me still couldn't believe them.

"But... my cataclysm... It's pretty strong."

The old man laughed, carefree.

"I know it is, but your kawamis can't hurt each other directly. Not even the power of destruction can annihilate that of creation. The only reason why Marinette became so weak was because Tikki was too, and so her powers didn't protect her completely."

Just then my miraculous beeped. I shuffled uneasily, still not wanting to leave Marinette alone.

"Give Plagg a rest, Adrien, I know who you are."

I froze. That was too much to digest at once.

"Hang on..."

Tikki reappeared from behind Master Fu's shoulder. I had only just learned that she was Mari's kawami. She had guided us here so that Marinette could be healed on time.

"He was the one who chose you to be Chat Noir, Adrien."

I stood there, as paralyzed as I had been for the last half an hour or so, when I had discovered too many things at once, starting by Master Fu's existence and his almost magical abilities. It seemed like I still had a few more things to assimilate.

Plagg was the one to break the silence by reappearing in his kwami form, not giving me enough time to consider whether I felt comfortable revealing my identity then and there to a complete stranger... who apparently already knew it.

"Man! I've spent almost a WHOLE DAY without any piece of camembert. This is kwami exploitation, Master Fu!"

I really hoped this man found Plagg to be too exaggerated...

Tikki giggled. "Seems like you haven't changed, haven't you?"

"Tikki?!"

So they knew each other. Of course, I should have guessed, if only from the information I had scanned from my father's book before he took it back from me.

"It was about time these kids finally revealed their identities!"

Tikki chuckled once again "It has taken them quite a while, you're right."

"Wait, you knew the other's secret identity all along?" I jumped

"Not really, but it wasn't that hard to guess, anyway." Plagg answered, just to annoy me "Besides, it's just that most of the miraculous holders we've been with before tended to reveal each other their secret identities way earlier. This lady of yours has been especially harsh this time, huh?"

Tikki shrugged, as if not wanting to be blamed.

My kwami and Ladybug's then plunged into a rushed conversation from which I couldn't understand a single word. I guessed they had quite a few things to tell each other after such a long amount of time.

"Let's leave these two talking about their stuff. Besides, I guess you've got plenty of questions to ask, right, Adrien?"

I wondered whether one of his abilities was mind-reading.

"I- I have, yes."

But I was afraid of asking them. What if he didn't know? What if he'd never known that I am a demon before and therefore, in telling him now, he took away my miraculous? But I had to take the risk. This was my chance.

"I... wanted to know whether you knew what I was... what I am... when choosing me as Chat Noir."

Master Fu paused to consider my question and, after what seemed an insufferable amount of time, he answered what I feared the most.

"I didn't, actually." That was it. He was going to say how horrified he was and that no demon was worthy of such powers. "But I knew who your father was, and what he was doing with the powers I had once handed him."

I froze. Of all things, that was the last one I had expected to hear. Master Fu scrutinized my reaction. He seemed to have a great amount of things to tell me, and I was more than willing to hear them.

Instead, he simply said with a tender yet solemn voice: "Yours is a bigger mission than you believe, Chat Noir."

And I felt both overwhelmed and scared. Overwhelmed because finally, finally somebody other than Ladybug believed I could do good, and not only that, they believed I needed to; not because it was the right thing to do, but because that was MY mission, my reason to be. I had been right all along. It wasn't wrong for me to be Chat Noir. I WAS Chat Noir.

Yet I couldn't help feeling deeply scared because I knew that I'd have to fulfil such a mission on my own, and I didn't know what kind of sacrifices I would need to make in order to succeed.

All I knew was that I was willing to fight.