When You Switch Upon a Star

Chapter 2

Trembling madly from the shock of this discovery, Adrien's knees grew weak and collapsed underneath him. Gabriel stopped directly in front of his son, who has now sunk to the floor with his back against the wall and his knees slightly bent out in front of him. Adrien looked up at his father, his eyes wide open and filled with a combination of fear and anger.

"You... You knew where Mom was this entire time?"

Gabriel nodded, "Don't worry, I promise I'll return the miraculouses afterwards."

Adrien shook his head rapidly, "No, I won't give it to you."

Gabriel knelt down with his face right in front of Adrien's, who cowered away from him. At that moment, he wished he could pass through the wall like his kwami could. Speaking of his kwami, where was he? He should have been recharged by now.

"I'm doing this for our family, Adrien."

Gabriel extended his hand out to him, but Adrien only huddled closer to the wall. Still, Adrien refused to give him his miraculous.

"Don't you want to see your mother again?" Gabriel asked, "Just hand me your miraculous and you'll see her soon enough."

"You can't do this, Father," Adrien said, "Everything comes with a price. If you bring her back, someone else will take her place."

Gabriel gritted his teeth in frustration. Without warning, Gabriel reached out to his son and grabbed onto his wrist, gripping his fingers around it so tightly that Adrien had to unclench his fist to ease the tremendous tightness in his hand. He winced at his father's sudden forceful contact.

"Are you saying other people are more important than your mother?" Gabriel seethed.

At that question, the fiery anger that came with his mix of emotions rose above all the others. Angrily, Adrien's eyes pierced through Gabriel with his burning glare of electric green fury. Using his free hand, he grabbed a hold of his father's wrist, surprising even Gabriel with his unexpected aggression.

"I never said anything like that," Adrien snapped.

Gabriel raised his voice, "Then why won't you give me your miraculous?"

Adrien yanked Gabriel's hand off his wrist. Furiously, he shoved it into his father's chest with every inch of muscle he could manage to get out. Gabriel was pushed back from the force of his son's strength, finally giving Adrien his personal space back.

"Because I'm not selfish!" Adrien retorted, "Yes, I do miss Mom. A lot. But what happened has happened and you just need to accept that! I'm not risking another person's life to bring her back!"

"If you ever lost the love of your life, then you'd understand where I'm coming from!" Gabriel yelled back, "But you don't!"

Adrien grinded his teeth together when memories of his battle with Desperada flashed through him. The thousands of times he's seen the girl he loved get captured and how he could have saved her still haunt him to this day. His eyesight grew blurry at the flashbacks while his jaw ached from his attempts at fighting his tears back.

"I do understand!" Adrien shouted, "But that did not turn me into a crazy supervillain!"

Finally, Gabriel rose to his feet. Adrien followed his actions, still leaning with his back against the wall. He wiped his eyes with his arm before returning the glare to his father.

"If that's how you're going to be, then I'll just have to take it from you myself," Gabriel hissed, "Nooro, dark wings rise."

Within seconds, Adrien's father had been replaced by the supervillain that has been terrorizing the city for the past couple of years. Realizing he didn't have his powers at the moment, Adrien's eyes frantically scanned around the room for any sign of that black cat kwami.

However, his little scavenger hunt was cut short when Hawkmoth lunged at him with his staff raised. Adrien quickly jumped out of the way and landed right next to his basketball. He picked it up and chucked it at Hawkmoth, who only deflected the basketball back at him. Adrien ducked underneath the ball, causing it to hit the wall behind him and bounce back towards Hawkmoth.

Hawkmoth had not reacted quickly enough, costing him a hard spike of pain in his face. Adrien took this opportunity to make a run for the refrigerator beside his bed. However, he had not been fast enough. Before he knew it, Hawkmoth reappeared right in front of him. The side of his long staff was met with his stomach, sending him flying to the other side of the room.

He screamed in pain as the hard wall came into contact with his back. Adrien fell to the floor onto his stomach, already weakened by the pain. If he had been transformed, he wouldn't be as affected by these hits, as his magical suit provided better protection against such attacks.

"Plagg!" Adrien cried out.

Hawkmoth stepped towards Adrien with his staff in his hand. Adrien gulped and looked around him for anything he could use to defend himself from his own father.

"Where's your kwami now, Chat Noir?" Hawkmoth scoffed, "Taking your miraculous will be easier than I had imagined."

Before Hawkmoth could get any closer to him, a basketball flew straight into the side of his face, nearly knocking him over. Hawkmoth rubbed his throbbing cheek and Plagg appeared between his holder and the supervillain. Adrien's eyes lit up at the sight of his kwami.

"Sorry I'm late, you forgot to stash up on camembert again," Plagg pointed out.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Adrien chuckled, "But no time for that. Plagg, claws out!"

The little black cat was sucked into Adrien's ring. In a blinding green flash, the famous superhero Chat Noir took Adrien's place.

Chat Noir quickly jumped to his feet and drew his staff. Angered, Hawkmoth jumped at the superhero with his staff raised. Chat Noir brought his own staff up in defense and the two staffs collided with one another.

"You could save yourself a lot of trouble if you surrender your miraculous!" Hawkmoth snapped.

Chat Noir growled at his statement, "Nothing will ever convince me to hand it over to you, Hawkmoth!"

Hawkmoth snickered, "Don't you remember that I'm your father, Adrien? I have full control over your life. I can take you out of school or even keep you from leaving this house again if you continue to disobey me."

"I'd rather return to my life in prison than turn my back on the city," Chat Noir hissed.

Chat Noir's eyes traveled down to the purple butterfly brooch on Hawkmoth's collar. He quickly tried to reach out and grab it, but Hawkmoth noticed his attempt at being swift. Hawkmoth's fist rammed into the side of Chat Noir's face, breaking the contact between their weapons as Chat Noir staggered backwards from the impact.

Hawkmoth made an attempt to throw his staff at him while he was distracted, but Chat Noir quickly regained his focus. With a swing of his staff, Chat Noir knocked Hawkmoth's staff to the other side of the room.

Using his staff, Chat Noir threw Hawkmoth against a nearby wall and held him there. A low growl rumbled in his throat while he bared his teeth in hatred. His eyes glowered with pure, instinctive rage of a savage wild animal一a sight that brought fear even to Hawkmoth. Chat Noir lifted his right hand while his left hand stayed on the staff to trap Hawkmoth against the wall. He angrily muttered the name of his destructive power.

"Cataclysm!"

Hawkmoth flinched and shut his eyes at the sight of the deadly black aura surrounding Chat Noir's hand, aimed right towards him.

Before Chat Noir could proceed with his attack, the realization hit him. Immediately, the rage in his eyes diminished and was replaced with panic. His bared teeth retracted as his mouth hung open.

What was he doing? That was his father standing there, the only family he had left. Was he really about to Cataclysm his own father? Sure, his father was evil, but this would make Chat Noir just as evil as his father.

Chat Noir's right hand began to tremble. The hero took a deep breath before lowering his hand and stepping back from the wall. Hawkmoth's eyes shot open as he fell to his knees. With his Cataclysm still activated, Chat Noir placed his right hand flat against the wall, creating a large hole as a result of the contact. Without saying another word to his father, Chat Noir ran over to his window and jumped out.