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Adrien wished he could explain how he got there but he honestly had no idea.
As detrimenting to his own pride, he had blanked out at some point after Nathalie had chased him down in his attempt to run away from the house again. The woman probably deserved a raise by how quickly she was able to find him after he had managed to slip away from the Agreste mansion. It wasn’t like he intended to run away and join the circus, no, Adrien was going to go back whenever he was finished breathing the free air again. Go outside, ride a bus, sit through a day in public school where he would probably be bored out his mind but enjoy every second of that boredom because it was a result of a day just like everyone else’s. His father really did worry too much that he was going to just fall off the face of the planet and it was getting old really fast. Not to belly-ache too much but he had been compliant for months after mom was gone. Still, a teenager has urges that need to be satisfied, his just happened to be the desire to be normal and walk around the streets of the city in which he lived. What good was living in a world-famous travel destination if you couldn’t even see it for yourself?
After he had been guilted into the back of the family car, Adrien slumped down in his seat, stewing over the lost opportunity while the driver hauled them back home. That was the last thing he remembered aside from how Nathalie had touched up the roots of the red streak in her hair before everything grew hazy. As far as he could tell, Nathalie had no time to drug. She didn’t even move to touch him and yet there he was, lying on the floor of a dark room filled with the soft but distinct sound of fluttering wings, hundreds of them if he ventured a guess. So far he gathered that wherever he was, whoever built this room had known how to cancel out the ambience of city living because the sounds of Paris were muted into almost nothing.
He realized that there was something tickling his cheek and the skin of his arm, shifting to prop himself up off of whatever floor he was on when the fluttering from before intensified and the tickling sensations vanished. The electronic sound of a mechanized window shade caught his attention and he jerked his head up in time to see a rounded window exposed by a retracting shutter. The fluttering he had heard revealed to be hundreds of butterflies with pure white wings that practically glowed in the light of the sun, alighting off of his body where he had been lying down. They must have been all over him when he had been unconscious and the slightest twitch had disturbed them into the flurry over his head when he stood up, gawking at the swirling butterflies.
His gaze fell to the great round window and he approached it, seeing Paris sprawled out before him with the Eiffel Tower prominent to the right. It was a familiar sight that reminded him almost exactly of the view from home but this room looked nothing like the polished elegance of his father’s house. It was dark and empty of all furniture, only butterflies seemed to settle in here.
The sound of footsteps drew his attention from the view, Adrien twisting around as a man stepped into the light of the window, a slender cane lowering to the floor with a tap. The window’s light glinted off a clouded glass dome on the top of the cane before gloved hands folded on top of it, blocking out the gleam.
“Who are you?” he asked the cliché question while focusing on the stranger in front of him, observing the unusual form of dress he was in.
The man was tall and lean with a purple suit bearing flared black lapels that strongly reminded him of the pearlescent butterfly broach at his throat. His head was covered completely in a granite gray mask that only exposed his mouth and the wicked eyes staring down at him from where he stood on the fringe of shadow and light. He smiled at him even though his gaze held no warmth and came forward a few steps, extending his hand as if to touch Adrien but he drew back, frowning at the stranger. The man stopped short, fingers thoughtfully curling in before he gave a nod and lowered his hand and once again folding them over the top of his cane.
“Adrien Agreste, I am Papillion.” he stated, closing his eyes and inclining his head. “It’s an honor to meet you.”
His words echoed off of the looming walls of the room and even though Adrien stood with the sun warm on his back, he felt a chill at the somewhat altered sound of the man’s voice. That was not a typical voice he was hearing but a manipulated one. Something to conceal his identity where his mask could not? The eloquence of his greeting didn’t ease Adrien’s tension at all and he continued to stare at him while Papillion smirked to himself.
Papillion…who would have thought “butterfly” would be a word that was able to sound intimidating until now?
“You’re wary of me.” It wasn’t a question, especially after he chuckled. “Just so, but you should relax for I didn’t bring you here with the intention of hurting you.”
“So what is this then?” he asked, folding his arms. “A kidnapping?”
“Kidnapping?” even though he was masked there was a rise to where his eyebrows would have been. “No, I have no intention of holding you ransom. In fact, I had you come here to make a proposition. A business proposal if you will.”
“If you’re after some part of my father’s company, I’ll say it right now: I can’t help you.” Adrien shook his head, “I have no power over what he does with his brand name or anything that is added to. My father keeps me close but only to make sure I don’t go anywhere. I can’t even go to the photo shoots he schedules me for without having to check in with Nathalie, who then checks in with him first.”
“Your father seems to worry about you a great deal, Adrien.” He said with an understanding nod and Adrien shuddered at Papillion’s apparent familiarity in addressing him by his name. Around them the butterflies were starting to settle again. They seemed to pool at Papillion’s feet where he stood stone still, ignoring them when they landed on his shoes as well as every square inch of floor surrounding him. “But a parent’s love can be quite stifling if they are not careful. Isn’t that so?”
“Yes,” he didn’t hesitate to confirm it.
“All you want is freedom to do as you please, to escape and live your life as you feel it should be lived.” Papillion’s tone was relatable, sympathetic and Adrien found himself drawn to the masked man’s understanding of his situation. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to let himself be swayed by Papillion’s indulgence but it was the most reason he had inspired from an adult in ages and it felt pretty good to be supported for once instead of undermined. This crack in his suspicion seemed to be all Papillion needed before the smirk was back in full force as he picked up his cane and the butterflies scattered again when he came towards Adrien. “If freedom is what you want, I can give it to you.”
In spite of himself, the curiosity to know what Papillion could do for him that his own father would not was too tempting to not ask about. There was, after all, time to refuse him if he didn’t like what he had to offer. He clenched his fists tight, keeping his arms folded as he shifted a bit closer until he was nearly toe to toe with Papillion. The man remained still, seemingly waiting on him for the next move.
“What do I have to do?”
Papillion didn’t try to touch him this time and Adrien was grateful for that, watching the man reach into his jacket pocket and withdraw something. He turned his fist over and opened his fingers to reveal a silver ring sitting in his palm. The band was thick with a rounded center and four prongs like claws digging into the outer edges of the circular surface that bore nothing but polished silver. Even though he didn’t take it, Papillion didn’t seem to be surprised or even remotely phased by the lack of reaction.
“All you have to do is help me retrieve the Miraculous from the one known as Ladybug.” Papillion instructed, closing his fingers around the ring and rotating his hand so it was parallel to the floor.
“Ladybug.” Adrien repeated, “She has something you want?”
“Exactly,” Papillion confirmed with a nod. “I have one Miraculous already, but I need Ladybug’s in order to make my greatest wish come true. Until that day comes, I will give you the means to finding your freedom so long as you follow my orders whenever I have need of you.”
“Sounds like I’m trading one cage for another,” Adrien eased back a step again, letting his arms slip down to his sides.
“Better to come sparingly than to always be at the end of a short leash for the rest of your life, no?” he shifted his fingers and held the ring between his index and forefinger. Adrien sighed but nodded his head as he extended his own hand, curious as to what was about to be given to him and how it would help him break away from his father’s ever watchful eye.
Papillion slowly drew it away from him again with a little hum in his throat, “There is a catch, Adrien.”
“What sort of a catch?”
“When I have Ladybug’s Miraculous, one day you must return yours to me.” He clutched it in his fist again, “I need them both to get what I want.”
“What will I do when you take it back?”
Papillion chuckled darkly, looking out the window. “Trust me, Adrien, when the time I own both Miraculous comes, you will not have to worry about being contained ever again.” His eyes slanted back to him and he extended his fist out towards Adrien again. “Do we have a deal?”
Adrien shouldn’t. He really shouldn’t. The best thing was to find a way out and run like the wind in any direction that would take him away from this strange man offering him magic rings and what could be empty promises. Wasn’t there some kind of childhood warning about talking to strangers offering candy? Yeah, don’t do it. Still, Adrien’s will was shaken by the soft sympathy Papillion seemed to express for his situation and there was something in the man’s manipulated voice that commanded his obedience even though he had never met him before in his life.
“Deal.”
The fingers opened and the ring was dropped into Adrien’s waiting palm. It was heavier than he expected it to be. He shifted his hand in the sunlight, watching the glare of the sun run along the band. Papillion stepped back from him then and Adrien’s eyes flicked up to the man as he hitched the cane up in his hand and passed his fingers over the dome in the top. A black butterfly with illuminated cracks running up and down the length and width of its wings appeared with bits of white fighting to shine through the fractures while it fluttered towards him. He followed its flight until it disappeared in a cloud of cool black mist that seeped into the ring. The silver immediately turned to black and Adrien held the suddenly dark ring away from himself with a grimace.
“Put on the ring.” Papillion instructed firmly, his tone harsher compared to the sweetened words he had used before.
Pressing his lips together, Adrien jammed it onto his right ring finger, clenching his fist as something green flickered on the rounded plate of the ring then disappeared before he could get a good look at it. A purple cloud oozed from it instead, coating his hand and crawling up his arm, cool mist that chilled his skin until he felt like he was standing in a chilly swimming pool. He craned his head away from the haze until it reached his chin and Adrien held his breath, shutting his eyes just as it consumed him. Another cold rush pulsated over his skin before it receded and he slowly opened his eyes again.
He didn’t expect to see the world around him in a yellow haze like someone had slipped tinted glasses over his eyes when he had closed them. Hands jumped up to take them away but he felt no frames. Instead there was a mask over his eyes that concealed from his brow to the tip of his nose, the eyeholes bearing yellow film that, while colored, somehow only enhanced the details of the dark room around him as if it had been completely illuminated since he last blinked. Adrien glanced at his body now clad in black, the fabric was unfamiliar and he couldn’t pinch at it even though he tried to get a feel of it through his now gloved hands. Whoa, were those claws on the ends of his fingers? That was…cool!
“Chat Noir,” Papillion stated as if it were his name and, while unoriginal, he had no qualms in using it for the time being. “You are free to come and go as you please so long as you eventually bring me Ladybug’s Miraculous.” Papillion instructed, holding his cane out at his side. “However, if you fail me, I will take back the ring and you will have nothing to spare you from your previous life in the cage I pulled you out of. Do you understand me?”
Adrien—no—Chat Noir thoughtfully touched at the strange hexagonal patterning of the material covering his body, no traces of his original clothing left behind even when he tugged the odd bell hanging from the zipper pull down and checked underneath the jacket only to find his bare skin. Odd how comfortable it all felt but his thoughts were disrupted when the same voice from the man he had been ignoring before suddenly snapped into his head rather than through the space in between them.
Understand?!
He clapped his hands over his ears at the volume behind the outburst in his head. His hands didn’t help but he couldn’t help pressing his palms a little harder as it echoed through his mind. Chat Noir slowly straightened back up and lowered his hands to his sides. He should have wilted at the snarling voice that had ripped through his head but he couldn’t contain the utter glee at the concept of being let loose on the streets of Paris and this time, Nathalie wouldn’t be able to stop him. The beginnings of a mischievous smirk curled at the corner of his mouth and he dipped into an exaggerated bow, his arm out at his side while he inclined his head to the man standing before him.
“Okay, Papillion.”