Pt. 1

In all the time Nathalie had known the Gorilla, as Adrien affectionately referred to his bodyguard, he had always been predictable. She would even go so far as to say that he rivalled her own ability to stick to routine. Which is why when she was awoken by a text, at 5:30 in the morning no less, she was tremendously surprised to see it was from the Gorilla. After unlocking her phone, she opened his message. "Adrien and I will be at your home at 7. Apologies for the short notice."

Nathalie looked at her phone in confusion. Perhaps in the delirium that is waking up she had misread it. Never mind that it was unusual for the Gorilla to text her at all, let alone in the early morning. However, the words refused to shift as she stared at her phone, so she finally responded, "What " After waiting for about fifteen minutes, Nathalie was, again surprised to find that the Gorilla hadn't responded. In the few times they had texted he had always been quick to respond.

Understandably anxious, Nathalie pulled herself out of bed and made her way to the kitchen. Her coffee maker whirred to life under her groggy touch, beginning to brew her morning coffee. As the scent of hazelnut began to waft through the apartment Nathalie made her way to the bathroom, and stepped into the shower. As she washed herself, she focused on her thoughts. What had the Gorilla meant? Why would he and Adrien come to her home? How had

Gabriel allowed this? He certainly wouldn't allow Adrien out so early in the morning with the photoshoots he had coming up. Not even under the Gorilla's supervision.

By the time Nathalie had left the shower and gotten dressed for the day, she was still no closer to discovering an answer to the queries the Gorilla's text had caused. It didn't help that the Gorilla hadn't answered yet, despite an hour passing since she had sent her reply. She grabbed her coffee, sat down in her chair, and began sipping her drink. It was 6:45 by the time she finished her drink, fifteen minutes before the Gorilla had told her he would be arriving,

Adrien in tow. Since the Gorilla hadn't answered, she decided to text Adrien to see if he would answer her. "Adrien, where are you and your bodyguard and what are you doing?"

She didn't have to wait too long for an answer. Adrien's message was even more confusing to Nathalie, however. "Gorilla's being weird. Won't tell me much. We're about to leave the Dupain-Cheng's Bakery. We have eclairs and macarons? " So Gorilla was being tight lipped with Adrien as well. There was also the matter of him buying Adrien sweets, which she knew meant Gabriel hadn't approved of this outing. She contemplated calling Mr. Agreste, but decided against it. She only had ten minutes until they were due, after all. She sent Adrien a message, "Your bodyguard said you'd be here at 7:00. I will see you soon Adrien. "

At 7:00 am, on the dot, there was a heavy knock on her door. She walked to the door and opened it, to the sight of a somewhat disheveled Adrien and the Gorilla, who looked no different than he usually did. Adrien was holding a sack, presumably the pastries from the

Dupain-Cheng's bakery, while the Gorilla had two suitcases, one in each hand. Baffled, she didn't stop either of them from walking into her apartment. "Nathalie, is there somewhere the three of us can sit?" The Gorilla asked, looking somewhat conflicted.

"What is going on? Why did you decide to drop by with Adrien? Why do you have suitcases? How did you know where I live?" Nathalie asked, finally prompted to find her voice in the confusion. She stared at him for a moment, and he stared back, neither speaking.

Finally, Adrien spoke up, "I'm kind of with Nathalie on this one. What's going on?" He too stared at his bodyguard, awaiting an answer

The Gorilla's resolve broke, and his expression softened, finally answering, "Adrien, please go sit down. I need to speak with Nathalie first."

"Is this something about me? If so, I think I deserve to know," Adrien refused. For once,

Nathalie agreed with his teenage rebellion, and stood firmly between her two guests and the rest of her apartment. She tapped her fingers impatiently, and the Gorilla caved once more.

"Alright," he said, and pulled out his phone. After a few taps, he turned his phone to face the two of them. A video was playing, a man's hand, sketching some kind of dress. It looked to be from the man's point of view, as if he were wearing a camera by his eye.

"Is that Mr. Agreste?" Nathalie questioned, only to receive a nod from the Gorilla. As she began to question why he had the video, the view rose up and turned around to face the portrait of Emilie Agreste. As Gabriel's hands found their ways to the buttons, and pressed them into place, Nathalie felt her throat tighten. She looked to the Gorilla's face, stunned to find a sadness upon his features. How was he anything but absolutely terrified at the secret he had uncovered?

Nathalie certainly had been when Gabriel had forced her into his fold.

Her train of thought was interrupted when Gabriel's voice called out, "Nooroo, Dark

Wings Rise," followed by a flash of purple light before the video suddenly cut forward by half an hour, according to the time stamp. The video was again dim and Nathalie could barely make out the butterflies in the air, fluttering to the ground slowly. "Another failure, Nooroo," Gabriel's voice cut through the darkness as he turned to face… some floating purple thing. As it began to speak, Gabriel cut it off, "I don't care what you have to say for yourself, Nooroo. I know you're holding my Akumas back. I'm cutting down on how much food you're allowed again, until you shape up."

"Master, I'm already starving," the purple thing, Nooroo, pleaded. Nathalie felt something well up when she heard the creature's defeated voice. Disgust, which mounted even further when she saw Gabriel break an already small piece of a stale biscuit in half, dropping it for

Nooroo to dive after. She couldn't say she was surprised though, as her eyes slid to Adrien. She recognized shock on his face, as well as anger. She felt a pang of guilt as she saw his white knuckled grip on the pastry bag. Nathalie definitely wasn't surprised at how Gabriel was treating

Nooroo.

The video ended with Gabriel leaving his lair and returning to his sketchbook. Adrien, was the first to speak, a thinly veiled fury in his voice, "He's terrible! He's hurt so many people!

He's hurting Nooroo! We have to tell Ladybug and Chat Noir, so they can stop him!"

"No. The police will handle it," the Gorilla commanded, "Now go sit down, while I speak with Nathalie." Nathalie felt tense, watching Adrien stare up at the Gorilla. When had Adrien learned to glare so fiercely? It almost reminded her of Gabriel. Eventually however Adrien broke his gaze, and marched defeatedly into her living room, leaving the two of them in the kitchen.

The Gorilla sat down, and looked at her. "Did you know?" he asked, visibly exhausted.

"No," Nathalie lied almost instantly, the guilt already beginning to gnaw at her. For a moment he almost looked like he didn't believe her, but then his face melted to one of acceptance. The Gorilla set his head down on her table, and for a minute Nathalie didn't realize he was crying. She sat down beside him, her hand on his back as the large man let his sadness take over.

"I nearly killed Adrien because of him," the Gorilla said, much to Nathalie's shock, "when he made me into one of his… minions!"

"It wasn't your fault," Nathalie said, still stunned by her coworker's break down, "You were under the Akuma's control."

"I dropped him off the edge of a building," the Gorilla continued, "When I saw the video, I was so scared. How could I try to hurt Adrien like that?" Nathalie could see the heartbreak in his eyes as he asked her, filling her own heart with pain.

"It wasn't you!" Nathalie doubled down on her attempt to calm him, "Everyone who was akumatized did things they didn't want to. If anyone is to blame, it's Haw-," she stopped, and decided to say it with certainty, "It was Gabriel's fault. Not yours."

"I know," the Gorilla whispered with uncertainty "but I was still so scared I had almost killed Adrien. I haven't slept well since. When I found out, it took everything I had to not beat

Gabriel. The only thing that kept me from doing it was Adrien. I couldn't have him think of me like that. I certainly couldn't leave him alone with Gabriel."

"How did you find out?" Nathalie asked, partially to distract the big man and partially out of curiosity. Even she hadn't been aware before Gabriel had told her.

"I used to be Special Forces, Nathalie," the Gorilla answered, like she should have known.

Perhaps it had been on his resume? "You learn to pick up things quickly," he continued, "There were some things that didn't add up. He was never where he was supposed to be during Akuma attacks, and nobody uses the bathroom for an hour and a half. I'm surprised you didn't notice actually." He paused just long enough for another arrow of guilt and doubt to pierce her heart,

"He's too tall to be Chat Noir, and I was pretty sure he wasn't Ladybug," he snorted with a bit of laughter, "which meant all I had to do was call in a few favors to get his glasses swapped with a special pair with a camera and confirm my suspicions."

Nathalie sat there for a moment in silence with the Gorilla, before her phone buzzed with a text from Gabriel, "Nathalie, Adrien and his bodyguard are both absent. What were they scheduled for this morning? "

She looked at the Gorilla, and texted her boss back, "Adrien had nothing scheduled until one. His bodyguard messaged me and asked I tell you they were going to the library so Adrien could meet with a study group for class. "

"A study group? At 7:30 in the morning on a Saturday? Who is he with? " The response was almost immediate, and Nathalie cursed herself for not thinking of a better lie.

"The end of semester exams are coming up, sir," she lied, not honestly knowing when

Adrien's finals were, "It is likely they wanted to get in as much studying as they could. He is with

Mr. Lahiffe, Ms. Dupain-Cheng, and Ms. Césaire. " Nathalie hoped she was convincing enough.

"Remind me who they are," Gabriel commanded, and Nathalie was somewhat relieved. It seemed like he bought her lie. Thankfully, that made it easier.

"Mr. Lahiffe is Adrien's friend who wanted to throw him a party. You were not fond of him. Adrien says he is very helpful with the parts of his music theory class that his piano lessons hadn't covered. Ms. Césaire is the daughter of the head chef at Le Grand Paris. She also runs the Ladyblog. She is very adept at language arts. Ms. Dupain-Cheng is very creative, and very helpful with the matters of history and social studies. She won your hat contest earlier this year, and also made that scarf you gave to Adrien on his birthday. " Nathalie had never been sograteful to have been listening to Adrien when he talked about his friends as she was at thatmoment.

"A 14 year old runs the Ladyblog? I was under the impression that someone more experienced was at the helm. I do also remember Ms. Dupain-Cheng now. She is a promising young woman. Remind me about her when she's old enough to become one of my interns. And do thank her for such a short-order commission. It seems like, with the exception of Mr. Lahiffe,

Adrien is in excellent company. " Nathalie gave a sigh of relief as she read his reply. "Gabriel just messaged me. I told him you and Adrien were at the library for one of Adrien's study groups," Nathalie informed the Gorilla.

"Thank you," the large man spoke, still recovering from his confession. He sat up straight and stretched. "That should make it easy to lie to him until the police arrive." The two of them sat there silently for a time. Nathalie was nervous, and could feel the Gorilla's nervousness as well.

"I think this is the most I've ever heard you speak," Nathalie finally said, only half joking.

The Gorilla was usually the strong, silent type, and his sudden talkative nature made her somewhat uneasy.

"Might be the most I've spoken in a while," he confirmed, "Just had a lot on my chest, I guess." The two of them returned to silence, which Nathalie felt just as uneasy about as the talking. Eventually, Nathalie stood, and made her way to the living room to speak with Adrien.

The sack of pastries from the Dupain-Cheng bakery sat on her coffee table, open, but Adrien was nowhere in sight.

Azulira: This is the first fanfiction I've written in a while, and the first one for Miraculous Ladybug. I hope you enjoy! I am already working on Part 2.

Sage: Okay so before y'all chop off my head or report me for thievery; I am posting this here with the original author's written consent. If you'd like to see it straight from the horse's mouth he's posting the chapters on Tumblr under the username Azuzulira. (Taking full credit for getting him into the fandom to begin with)