Prologue: Grief And Knowledge
Fanfiction.Net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14068025/1/He-Knows-A-Miraculous-AU
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38623443/chapters/96553800
***
That’s it, it’s over…
Adrien entered his room, exhausted. Today was perhaps the longest day of his life, standing next to his father and watching his mother’s casket lowered into the ground. The mud on the grass stained his shoes, just like it stained his heart. He threw his tie on his bed and sat on its edge. As the child prodigy, he was told not to cry, and he never cried. But today was different, and the tears welled up in his already swollen throat. He covered his face with the palm of his hands and wept. The tears flowed like a river into his delicate palms. He couldn’t breathe. He gasped for air like there wasn’t enough of it. He wished his mother would wrap him up in her arms. He wished he was floating in the clouds, as her arms gently rubbed across his back.
But she wasn’t here. She was gone.
-
“Adrien, can you come to my office please.”
It had been one week since the funeral, and Adrien was weary. He barely slept and his eyes were swollen from the tears. His face felt puffy and warm, and he ate very little for the past week. He laid on his stomach in bed, looking at pictures of his mother, grief stricken. The sound of his father’s voice ringed in his ears, it was so sudden. He sat up quickly to see his father in the door frame of his room. Adrien looked up in shock, he hadn’t seen him since the funeral. His eyes were still little slits, but he could see his father’s mannerisms, which were reminiscent from before his mother’s death. The fact that he is even coming to his room is frightening. He never came to Adrien’s room, it was always Nathalie. This must be important.
“Yes father.”
Adrien hadn’t said anything for days, his voice was raw and groggy.
“Follow me Adrien” his father said in monotone.
Adrien followed right behind his father’s feet. He was confused. Why wasn’t his father crying or feeling emotion? Sure, Adrien’s father was never an emotional person, but they just went through a horrible loss. And why didn’t Nathalie come get him instead, why his father? Questions swarmed Adrien’s mind as they walked towards his father’s office, which was piling up with dust, except for a huge area of the wall, which has a huge painting of his mother. This was new.
His father placed his fingers on the painting to open some secret door. He pulled Adriens close to his chest and they descended into a mysterious elevator. Adrien’s eyes widened for the first time since his mother’s funeral. He could not believe what he was seeing. A bridge made of metal stood before them alongside a lake of water. The bridge led to an area full of grass, bushes, and white butterflies. The window pattern even looked like a butterfly, and it projected sunlight onto a white and gold casket.
Adrien’s father placed his hand on his son’s shoulder and walked towards the white and gold casket. As they got closer, Adrien noticed white cocoons on the leaves of the bushes. White butterflies flew by his face, creating a small gust of wind. The scenery was beautiful, it was like a secret garden.
His father walked up to the casket and placed his fingers at the base, only for it to open. Adrien stared at the person laying in the casket. This wasn’t any ordinary human being.
It was his mother.
Adrien wasn’t sure if he was dreaming, or if this was real. He just saw his mother go into the ground a week ago, and now she is here, but how? He reached to touch her skin, as smooth as he remembered. He twisted her hair, which was still in perfect golden locks. He suddenly gasped and jumped away from the casket. His breaths were heavy and immediate as panic ensued.
“Adrien,” his father began to speak calmly. “I thought about keeping this from you, but my heart aches as it has one too many times this past week. Your mother is here, and is alive. She is in a deep sleep that cannot be healed on its own. This casket provides life support to keep her body preserved.”
Adrien could not believe what he was hearing. He had so many questions, but could only squeak one out in between gasps.
“But… Why father? Why tell me? Why keep her body here and not move on?”
His father sighed and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a box and carefully opened it to reveal a brooch; a brooch in the shape of a butterfly. A light shined and circled around Adrien’s face, almost blinding him. He raised his hand to protect his eyes, but it quickly died down. The light dimmed to reveal some sort of purple creature. Adrien’s jaw dropped, and he smiled for the first time in weeks.
“No way, is he like the genie in the bottle?”
Adrien reached to touch the little creature, but his father raised his hand in front, which signaled to stop. Adrien put his hands in his pockets and waited for his father to finish.
“This is Nooroo, and he is a Kwami who grants me superpowers. This brooch is a miraculous, a jewel that is the most powerful of the land. When I wear it, I can use those superpowers for a special purpose. I found it with your mother on a trip overseas…” He paused and wiped a single tear off his face. “I am going to use this brooch to get two other miraculous, the one of the Ladybug and the one of the Black Cat. When those two miraculous are unified, they give the ability to grant a wish, any wish we want. I am going to use those miraculous to bring your mother back. Adrien. This is going to be a difficult task, but I am doing this for her… for you…for us.”
Adrien looked into his fathers tired eyes as he paused. The light was shining directly onto his fathers face, and Adrien could see the truth for the first time. He could tell his father hadn’t slept, just like him. He could see his father’s wrinkles more pronounced than ever before. Even his platinum blond hair was fading, and gray hairs were taking over, showing his true colors. Adrien was not the only one grieving the entire week, his father suffered the same fate.
Adrien tried not to cry, but he looked down at the ground and clenched his fists. His eyes began to water and his vision became blurry. The emotions were overwhelming, and he was full of fear. What if his father did not succeed? Was this false hope? Would his father get hurt?
His father placed his hands on Adrien’s shoulders, and Adrien looked up into his weary gray eyes.
“Adrien, I know I am risking everything for this mission, but I know you miss her, and I miss her dearly. I know I am taking a huge risk, but I am afraid that something might happen to you as I go through with this. That is why Nathalie and I both decided that we are going to enroll you in Francoise Dupont, a school that I have full confidence in for your education. Your friend Chloe Bourgeois attends there. It will keep you safe, and I expect you to still keep up on your fencing and Chinese lessons as well as your modeling career. Do you understand me son?”
“Yes father,” Adrien replied with no hesitation.
“Good. Your first day will be next Monday. I am going to prepare for my mission. You can stay here or you can go back to your room. The choice is yours.”
Adrien watched his father bring his hands behind his back and walk away without a glance. Adrien stood there alone in front of the white and gold casket. He turned around and stood face to face with his mother, who is in a peaceful sleep. If only she knew the turmoil she had caused for not just Adrien and his father, but the entire world. He wished she told him she was sick instead of pretending things were fine.
He placed his hand on the casket and rubbed his palm across the glass. Tears fell from his face onto the casket. His father was making a big sacrifice that will change their family forever, and Adrien questioned what could happen. Despite all of the fears and questions Adrien had, one thing was for sure.
He wanted his mother back.
“Mother… I don’t know what our future holds, but father and I will bring you back.” His hands shook violently. His lips trembled. His eyes squinted shut. All of the anger and sadness he felt during the funeral was coming out again in an uproar of emotion. He told himself that these feelings needed to escape his mind. He has a public image to uphold. He took a deep breath and wiped the tears from his face. He looked straight ahead out of the butterfly patterned window. In a cold stare, Adrien mumbled the words that would haunt his thoughts from this day forward.
“I promise mother.”
