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People forget a lot of things about turtles.
For example, people commonly take it for granted that all turtles could hide in their shells. The truth is, only a small fraction of chelonians that could and would hide in their shells actually exist, as more often than not turtle shells are actually less than viable for an actual defense, especially for water-dwelling turtles.
Another thing about turtles is that many people assume turtles are not only slow-moving, but also slow-reacting. This, is very much untrue, as turtles can actually sense predators incoming most of the time, through vibrations on the earth.
All of this, Master Fu knew. After all, being the owner of the Turtle Miraculous took some knowing of the animal his powers were based on, and Wayzz was willing enough to tell him all these random details with some asking.
But Master Fu was also The Protector. He was also the one who kept all the Miraculous in check, guarding them until the next successor came around, and if necessary, to take them back once the others have retired.
Turtles lived long lives after all, unlike ladybugs, butterflies, cats, bees, peacocks, and foxes.
It always hurt, but it was hardly the first time somebody he knew, he protected, he cared for died or retired before him.
So, when Master Fu came into the Agreste Mansion, the front door opened for him, and within seconds he was welcomed to the office of an old friend.
Gabriel Agreste.
“Fu. It’s been such a long time since I’ve last seen you. Why have you come for a visit?”
Cold. Empty. That was what Fu would use to describe the Gabriel Agreste of the present day.
Fu knew more than most about how time brought upon change, but this... was one of the more striking of the changes he had seen in his years.
After all, when he first met Gabriel, the man was just a mere teenager. Gabriel Agreste of those days used to be a dreamer, a man you could sit with and would talk your ears out for hours, just talking about the beauty and wonders of the world and of how you should’ve seen this cloth, this piece, and all those random objects the eyes of a bright young man would catch.
That had been why Fu had chosen him before. Now... Gabriel had changed.
And certainly not for the better.
“I just have some business to do here, old friend. I would like to have a private talk with you, if you don’t mind.” Fu replied as he glanced at the door of the office, where one Nathalie Sancoeur stood in waiting.
With a nod, Gabriel gave Nathalie a gesture, leading her to give a bow before she left. Behind her, the doors closed, and with a button pressed beneath the table, all of the cameras within the room turned off with a high-pitched whine.
“You now have my attention. Make it quick, Fu – I have business to do after this.”
Immediately, a green blur flew out of Fu’s clothes, revealing Wayzz in all his little glory as the Kwami turned to watch Gabriel.
Fu stood out of his seat, circling around the office, only to stop in front of a certain portrait.
“She had been so beautiful.”
That hadn’t been Fu.
Fu turned to Gabriel as the man stood as well, following him to stand in front of the portrait. A part of Fu felt for the man as Gabriel held out a hand towards the portrait, as if to call out the woman behind it into being back towards his side.
“You will have her back, Gabriel. I’m sure of it. The next generation would do it for you.”
The man turned to him with hope in his eyes, making him look younger in that instant, but then that hope faded away once he saw the look on Fu’s face.
“But it’s too late for me now, isn’t it, Fu? Is that why you’ve chosen my son to be Chat Noir? For him to take my place, the same way Ladybug took on hers?”
Fu nodded somberly.
“Gabriel, you have abandoned your duty in your grief. Your duty as a husband, as a leader, as a father... and as a hero. As the keeper of the Miraculous, I have come to take what used to be rightfully yours.”
At those words, Gabriel looked back towards the portrait, an empty laugh leaving his lips.
“In my grief, I have failed Adrien... How can I even call myself a hero?”
It wasn’t the bright-eyed hero Fu met years before in front of him now. It was just the empty shell, the mere shade of the man that he had once knew.
A broken man, from a family broken by tragedy.
People forget a lot of things about peacocks.
For example, newly hatched chicks from the peafowl family are nidifugous – or quite simply put, leave the nest early in their childhood. And while peafowl families more often than not lay three or four eggs, the chances of all of them surviving are usually slim to none, with only a single chick usually growing up into adulthood.
Another thing is that while they were known for their beautiful plumage, peacocks weren’t born with them. In fact, peacock trains only grow well into adulthood, only to be shed within a year once the mating season ends and the chicks start leaving the nests.
But the most important fact, Fu knew, that people forget about peacocks is this:
Peacocks are all males. The females are called peahens.
This was why Shazuu, the Peacock kwami, symbol of integrity, vision, and vibrancy, was so picky about his masters.
They had to be male. They had to appreciate the world for what it was, to see beauty in the small things and to love powerfully beyond all belief.
All things bright and beautiful.
All things great and small.
Gabriel Agreste had been that, once, as a young man.
He had been a young designer, back then. Just starting out a new line, a new business, and uncolored at all by the dirtier parts of the world. He would look at the coming days with hope, even with the sales barely breaking even and the world still unknowing of the would-be famous Agreste name.
And then, due to circumstances, Fu met that young man and ended up giving him the Peacock Miraculous. Within a month, Fu did the same for the young woman who would become the mother of Adrien Agreste, giving her the Butterfly Miraculous to defend Paris of the time.
Papillon and Paupulo, the Butterfly and the Peacock.
Those days, heroes weren’t as necessary as Hawkmoth didn’t exist. It had all been simple thugs and thieves, ordinary people pushed to crime out of necessity. Papillon and Paupulo didn’t face as many ordeals as Ladybug and Chat Noir, but the relationship between the two heroes still existed. That relationship bloomed and grew... into a romance that led to the birth of Adrien Agreste.
But now, that would end.
Papillon had disappeared off the face of the planet, with her Miraculous stolen and used for evil by Hawkmoth. Fu had some inkling as to where she might be, but if he was right, then she wasn’t anywhere she wanted of her own choice.
After all, Fu knew her as well as he knew Gabriel. She had, after all, chosen him has Adrien’s godfather as so many heroes before her and Gabriel had done. She had grown to be someone he cared for like a niece, the same way Fu had grown to look at Gabriel like a son.
And Fu definitely knew she wasn’t one to abandon those she loved out of her own choice.
As for Gabriel...
“Wait here.” Gabriel said, not needing anymore words from Fu as he opened the secret compartment. “I’ll get it for you – I have to do this myself, to say goodbye to Shazuu for the last time before giving him back to you.”
Fu only smiled sadly as he saw him go. “Shazuu won’t come out, old friend.”
“I know.”
Ten minutes later, Gabriel was back. In his hand were two things: the Peacock Miraculous, and the picture of his wife. When Fu asked as to why he took it as well from the strongbox, Gabriel only answered with a sad look:
“She won’t be needing to guard this for me anymore. I have to move on.”
Fu placed his hands around Gabriel’s, as if to comfort the man.
“Old friend, talk to your son. You both want it. You both need it.”
Gabriel closed his eyes, before a single tear slipped out.
“Again, I know.”
The next minute, there was a bright green flash, and when Nathalie came back to talk to her boss, Gabriel Agreste was once again all alone.
“Nathalie, cancel all of my appointments for the rest of the day, as well as Adrien’s. Send him a- no, I’ll do that myself. Could you leave me for some privacy again? I need to call my son.”
Nathalie had a shocked look on her face at the requests. “Of course sir. I’ll leave you in a minute. But pardon me, may I ask as to what has caused this sudden change in affairs?”
That moment, Nathalie would swear to her grave that she almost had a heart attack when Gabriel Agreste turned to her with a smile, making his eyes go bright and his looks a few years younger.
“I just had a talk with an old friend, one who always knew how to set me straight. Now, if you don’t mind...”
Nathalie couldn’t be out of the room any faster.
With that same smile on his face even as she left, Gabriel took out his phone and dialed a number he always knew by heart but never grew the courage to use for all these years.
Immediately, the other side of the line picked up.
“Adrien, son, do you think you would be alright having dinner with me tonight? Yes, I’ve rescheduled, so you don’t have anything to worry. No, it’s not an Akuma this time, we just need to talk...”
It would be difficult, but he had bridges to repair, bonds to fix.
It was time for him to finally talk to his son.
Nathanaël was having a strange day.
Earlier on, while he was out in the park to practice sketching the scenery, he came across an elderly man who somehow managed to be the target of several pigeons. Of course, seeing that, Nathanaël helped by chasing away the birds, but as a result said old man invited him to sit by a bench.
Then he had been requested for a portrait sketch.
Thrown off by the sudden request, Nathanaël did as he was told. When he asked as to why the old man wanted a portrait of himself from a teenage artist like him, the old man only smiled and said,
“People age and disappear, but art doesn’t fade away across time. I think I would want to have something like that – something in the world that would remain to remember me by. After all, I’m an aging old man; I have few years left in me.”
Nathanaël felt like questioning the truth of that statement – after all, the old man in front of him was way more chipper than his own parents, as strange as that may sound – but in the end he kept the thoughts to himself, choosing to just sketch the old man’s portrait as he was told.
When he finished, the sun was nearly setting. The old man stood up, preparing himself to leave.
“Won’t you take your portrait?”
The old man only smiled at him as he shook his head.
“I have a feeling it would be better with you than it would with me. Goodbye, young Nathanaël.”
It would only be hours later that Nathanaël would realize he never told the old man his name. And by then, he was already back in his home, in his room.
But at that point, he would be too distracted to continue thinking of the strange old man he met that day.
For there was a strange box in his room, shaped like a pentagon and seemingly Chinese in origin.
Later that night, another hero suddenly entered the Paris scene.