Chapter Text
“Are you sure he hasn’t been turned?” Gabriel Agreste asked coldly, staring down at a sleeping Adrien whose face squinted momentarily before relaxing.
“We’re certain, sir. It’s been several days and nights and his vitals,” The lead doctor glanced down at his clipboard, filled with notes and results.
Lie to him, Something told him in his mind. He didn’t dare look around for the voice in his head, that was most likely the one the other staff were complaining about.
Before he could even decide on his next move, his mouth twisted into a bright smile. His eyes were forced to show calmness.
“He’s completely fine. Just a bit of slow blood flow and simple bruises, he should wake after a few more days. It’s really a miracle.” His voice spoke without his permission.
Gabriel Agreste merely nodded. His assistant, Nathalie, narrowed her eyes at the doctor and the smiling staff before she typed some things on her tablet.
Gabriel Agreste was not happy.
This akuma was his greatest failure, the biggest mistake he ever made in seeing just how far his powers could go.
A sleeping Adrien with smooth ebony hair sticking to his face gave him his silent answer.
Gabriel’s hands clenched behind his back as Nathalie pushed her glasses up her nose.
At least Adrien was fine. The black dye could simply be dyed back to perfect blond, if it couldn't then they could advertise a new Adrien.
One more quiet, meek, paranoid but a scared snow white who would light up a simple chair no matter how much he tried to hide the bright spotlight shining down on him.
But that would have to wait until Adrien awoke.
“Can Adrien be discharged immediately?”
The files on the screen seemed to blur into nothing, words that became processed in moments as Nathalie worked harder to put them into more simpler terms for her boss.
Her narrowed eyes glanced from reviews of Gabriel’s recent pieces to news about the akuma to comments on blogs and forums. Her hands typed responses, her brain thought of them, the music coming from some tab radiating within her being.
Work, work, work, work, work.
A loud thud made Nathalie shoot from her mindset, her mind hurting from the interruption, her stomach reminding her of something called hunger, her fingers suddenly aching and stinging.
Chaos.
Nathalie sighed, she reached for a black mug full of coffee nearby and took a small sip to settle her nerves.
It took her a few moments but she was calm again and focused.
Then she remembered the thud.
Nathalie put away her mug and stood up, leaving her things in the open as she made her way upstairs.
When she reached Adrien’s room door, she lifted her hand out of habit to knock.
Then stopped and just opened the door.
She gasped with a slight smile when she saw who was standing.
Yet she saw the rest of the strange scene.
Adrien was standing, his small trembles made his entire malnourished body shake with large force. He glanced everywhere around him with disorientation, his wide green eyes appeared scared at the light everywhere from the lightbulbs. No thanks to the sun being gone.
Nathalie thought that was understandable until she noticed the bed.
It was flipped upside down.
Adrien, who seemingly just woke up, managed to flip an entire queen bed that had been bolted to the floor?
His shelves were even still hanging to the wall, smashed but still intact as the bolts were scattered everywhere.
So he had been transformed along with everyone else at the school. Just like Nathalie suspected.
But he still seemed able to think.
“Adrien?” Adrien’s head twisted toward Nathalie, his mouth took in a deep shuddering breath as he watched her on alert.
“Your father would like to see you.” Nathalie moved forward and gripped his hand, not waiting for any response as she moved them to Gabriel’s office.
She wasn’t scared as Adrien never took his hand away yet he didn’t talk either. Nathalie glanced a few times over her shoulder to see him looking at their surroundings with child-like awe like he hadn’t lived here all of his life.
His mouth seemed to move like he was talking to himself, and he started to smile slowly.
Nathalie ignored his behavior. He was an akuma now, a small part of it. No doubt he was trying to either talk with his master or remember everything around him without his emotions clouding his judgment.
Speaking of which, Gabriel never told Nathalie who he akumatized.
“Adrien’s awake, Sir,” Nathalie announced as she knocked on the office door before dragging Adrien inside.
There she pulled her hand out of Adrien’s cold grasp, not noticing Adrien stare strangely at her as she walked to Gabriel’s side.
“Welcome home, Adrien. You must be scared from your ridiculous outing.” Adrien’s mouth opened but Gabriel continued, “Your school is now gone, your teachers are dead and your classmates,” He froze.
Everyone waited.
A clock ticked in the distance.
Emilie stared at the back of his head with judgment. The painting was also waiting.
“They,” Gabriel started but the lack of words became clear in a few seconds. Finally, he avoided the topic.
“It’s a miracle to be safe right now during these times, while I will give you some time to rest and reflect keep in mind you now have a tight schedule that will give you no time to waste on remembering. To assist in your health improving to favorable stats, what would you like?”
A simple loving question was a numb statement coming out of Gabriel’s mouth.
Adrien seemed to think though, he frowned as he glanced around the office.
So many things that were familiar to him and yet he could barely remember glimpses of them. He wasn’t Adrien anymore so that was fine. Lie was his name now.
And Lie had only one wish.
“Lila Rossi,” He whispered. He wanted her blood, her flesh, her skull, her mind, her very being. He wanted her squirming in front of him like a bloody steak, waiting to be stabbed with no remorse, meant only to be a disgusting meal he would spit out a second later.
“What?” Gabriel asked.
Lie gulped down a harsh ball in his throat then realized he had nothing to be scared of. He didn’t have to be scared of this old man in front of him and the emotionless witch beside him.
Because he knew their darkest secret.
“Lila Rossi,” Lie said louder and stumbled away, his cold legs regaining slow warmth as he opened the door and slammed it close. His mind had been jumbled a bit when he came to but now he was finally in control of this body again.
Gabriel and Nathalie said nothing for a bit.
Gabriel’s hair melted a bit, damped in sweat as the possibilities of his son’s words made him shake.
“Nathalie.”
She snapped to attendance.
“That akuma has poisoned him. I want, and I repeat, I need the most reliable expensive therapists to cure Adrien right this instant.” He spoke without blinking.
Nathalie looked at him shocked, she failed to see how that would work but proceeded to do her job.
As she scheduled the appointments, she remembered the warnings Lila had told the hospital staff, the staff correctly telling her afterward.
Don’t send Adrien home.
But then she started to think logically, either he was speaking because of the akuma or he really needed to talk to Lila.
Something Gabriel seemed very against.