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Beau and the Beetle	By : Cat_Eyes Category: +M through R > Miraculous LadyBug Views: 3721 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug. Miraculous Ladybug is the intellectual property of Thomas Astruc and released by Zag studios. No profit was made writing this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Prologue: Alya
- 2-Adrien
- 3-Felix
- 4-Bridgette
- 5-Adrien
- 6-Sabine
- 7-Bridgette
- 8-Alya
- 9-Adrien
- 10-Felix
- 11-Sabine
- 12-Bridgette
- 13-Alya
- 14-Felix
- 15-Adrien
- 16-Alya
- 17-Felix
- 18-Bridgette
- 19-Adrien
- 20-Sabine
- 21-Felix
- 22-Alya
- 23-Bridgette
- 24-Adrien
- 25-Sabine
- 26-Adrien
- 27-Felix
- 28-Alya
- 29-Bridgette
- 30-Adrien
- 31-Sabine
- 32-Bridgette
- 33-Felix
- 34-Alya
- 35-Adrien
- 36-Felix
- 37-Sabine
- 38-Bridgette
- 39-Adrien
- 40-Felix
- 41-Adrien
- 42-Felix
- 43-Adrien
- 44-Adrien
- 45-Adrien
- 46-Epilogue
- 4
- 5
- 6
Adrien adapted quickly to school life after his talk with Alya and Nino, and his integration ran much more smoothly. His understanding of their grief helped, especially after he confided in Alya and Nino about the death of his mother. Soon, he had solid friends in them both.
Life at home, however, was very different. While Gabriel had always been aloof, he had become increasingly colder since Emilie's death. But it was Felix who concerned Adrien most.
Felix had always been more like Gabriel – distant and arrogant. But lately, he regarded Adrien with calculating, even hostile eyes.
Adrien felt hurt by the sudden coldness, but doggedly persisted in trying to cheer him up.
‘S’up, Felix. What’cha doing?’ Adrien asked, resting his elbows on the library table where Felix sat, reading.
Gabriel had insisted that young men of standing required a library, with every source of knowledge readily available. Adrien had never thought anything of it, until he had visited Nino’s humble apartment.
Felix raised an eyebrow. ‘Is that a trick question? I should think it was obvious.’ He glanced significantly at the book laid open before him.
Adrien rolled his eyes, forcing an impudent grin. ‘Fine. What’cha reading, and why?’
With a disdainful harrumph, Felix turned back to his book. ‘You’re spending too much time with the uncouth masses. You sound like a commoner’s get.’
Adrien frowned, offended on his friends’ behalf. ‘For crying out loud, Felix. I was just asking a simple question.’
‘Your mindless prattling bothers me. Leave.’ Felix picked up his book, pointedly ignoring him.
‘Arsehole,’ Adrien muttered under his breath, as he turned his back.
‘I heard that,’ called Felix as Adrien walked away.
Adrien scrunched up his nose and mimed Felix’s last sentence with a sarcastic tip of his head.
He retreated to his room and closed the door firmly behind him. Gabriel and Felix had changed dramatically after Emilie's death, and not for the better. Adrien, more like his mother, craved familial warmth and closeness. However, his house only grew colder with every passing day. He wondered how much more he could take before he moved out, or went insane.
He turned on his computer, and Emilie's loving countenance lit up the screen. He touched the monitor with trembling fingers, yearning for her loving comfort.
Despite the amount of magic in the city, no one had been able to prevent the inevitable. Emilie was diagnosed with a brain tumour far too late, and nothing magical or scientific was enough to save her.
Tears welled up, pricking his eyes painfully. Emilie had accepted her fate gracefully, only crying in private when she thought no one else could see. Felix had shut himself in his room, refusing to speak to everyone, including Emilie.
Gabriel, Adrien feared, had gone temporarily insane. For months before Emilie’s passing, he had scoured the library, internet, and every other resource for a cure. No price was too high, and no amount of moral ambiguity had stalled him. His eyes took on the feverish light of a fanatic, and he ranted alone in his office for hours, gesticulating wildly.
Throughout it all, Adrien clung to Emilie and cried. She would stroke his hair and murmur soothing shushing noises, but he was inconsolable.
Then, she was gone.
The days leading up to the funeral were a blur. Everything faded out of existence after he was informed of her death over breakfast by one of the household staff. Bitterly, he had thought Gabriel ought to have been the one to tell him, but after one look at this father’s bloodshot eyes, he realised he hadn’t been able to.
Nothing felt real. Time moved too fast and too slow simultaneously, his own movements sluggish, and his brain slow to process even the simplest tasks. Only repetition and muscle memory got him out of bed every morning.
The funeral was dark and sombre. Women wept, and men maintained stoic expressions, though their eyes swam. He, Gabriel, and Felix sat in the front pew looking steadily ahead.
Felix’s brow had been drawn down in fierce lines, and later he would snap that he resented Emilie for leaving. Again, he shut himself away, and refused all company.
Gabriel had done the same, though his grief was obvious, not disguised as hatred like Felix.
Alone, Adrien drifted to his room to wait out the insurmountable wave that was his own sadness.
Adrien shook the memories away. Time had moved on, and though his grief was still there, the edges weren’t as sharp as they once were. He could look back on his memories with her and smile, now. He was sure he had his friends to thank, as without them, he never would have known companionship, acceptance, or platonic love. They had become the family he had lost, yet was still bound to.
He wondered how Marinette’s family had coped with her loss. He fervently hoped they were there for each other, were a pillar of support through what was sure to be the worst experience of their lives.
According to Nino, Marinette had been an only child, which was sure to hurt her parents that much more. Maybe they’d tried the same things Gabriel had, and exhausted every last avenue they could think of trying to bring her home. Perhaps they’d gone a little mad in their sorrow, after they realised they could do no more. Adrien hoped not.
Briefly, he considered visiting their bakery, and asking how they were doing. Quickly, he scrapped the idea. People don’t often appreciate strangers interrupting their mourning period, or presuming to know how they feel.
Even though death was said to be the great equaliser, their situations were not comparable. Losing a child was different to losing a parent, and no two people experienced loss in the same way. Felix was proof enough of that.
An overly dramatic part of his mind wondered if his family would have mourned him, had he been the one to die. Emilie would’ve been grief-stricken, and Gabriel would have been like the other men at Emilie’s funeral – straight backed, impassive face, with over-bright eyes. Sad, yes, but probably not distraught.
Felix was a quandary. Although they had never been especially close, in times past Adrien knew Felix would have mourned his passing. But lately, he wasn’t so sure.
Heaving a heavy sigh, Adrien pushed away from his desk to turn and pick up his schoolbag. Dwelling on maudlin thoughts was a normal part of growing up, but it wouldn’t get his homework done.
A small smile lit up his face as he concentrated on the mundane task. Emilie would have been proud to see where he was now. The thought warmed him after months of distant frostiness.
Suddenly, he felt like he could keep going, despite his family’s growing estrangement.
- 4
- 5
- 6
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Beau and the Beetle