He couldn't do much.

Hawk Moth simply left Mayura all alone after that night and tried to hurry home, but it was no secret that his steps became slow and felt weighed down by the burden of unspoken sorrows.

It seemed as if even the city would've been cloaked in shadows to only amplify the echo of his melancholy.

The dim streetlights cast long, distorted shadows that danced along cobblestone pathways, mirroring the intricate twists of his troubled thoughts.

As the villain wondered through the labyrinth of narrow alleys, the ambient glow of lamplights barely illuminated the profound sadness that was painted across his face.

Tonight not even the majestic architecture of Paris that once echoed tales of romance and vibrancy could draw a smile onto his lips, now they stood as a silent witness to his somber journey.

"Can you believe that Nooroo?" Hawk Moth spat in frustration after saying the de-transformation words and taking a moment to settle down as his real self.

His gaze suddenly focused onto the Seine which whispered stories of forgotten love and heartfelt nights.

Needless to say that this didn't help, it only made the man angrier;

"Can you believe how crazy she is!" Now he yelled. "I hate her!"

"M-m-mayura?" the small butterfly mumbled in a shaking voice.

Poor Nooroo was trembling himself to say the least and the terrifying expression of his owner didn't help at all.

However, before another breakout of rage could've hit the designer, he unexpectedly fell to the ground.

"Master!" The kwami almost immediately cried. "What's wrong!?"

Gabriel didn't respond, he simply rested his hands against the cold ground as if he were seeking solace from the earth itself.

Truth was that he was just too lost and hurt to even be able to communicate or do any actions other than breaking down.

The man who long ago believed in the warmth of love was now sobbing because of unspoken words and the ghostly fragrance of memories which hang heavy in the air, intertwining with the symphony of his cries.

"Everything Nooroo." he admitted.
"Everything is wrong. I lost myself, Emilie and now Mayura too. I feel as if I would be losing Adrien too. Worst part is that I don't know how to help it. It's as if I would have this deadly sickness that had no cure, no way to ease the pain. I-I-I just c-can't anymore-" His voice was filled with grief and regret of all kinds.

The man almost felt haunted by the echoes of dreams that were too far out of reach, like getting Emilie and reuniting that once happy family.

In that moment this all appeared as broken wishes scattered widely across the canvas of his efforts.

The hopes that once sparkled with inspiration now seemed dimmed, this representing a harsh moment of realization that it would never come true.

It was impossible.
It always had been.

"Master" the weak voice of the little butterfly could be heard faintly.

He was really scared to say what he wanted to, but after all Nooroo couldn't bare seeing his owner like this.

Even if Gabriel had hurt him a million times, used him to create evil plans and terrorize Paris, there was something, some sort of friendship which the kwami felt between himself and the grey haired man.

Therefore, with a lot of built up courage and effort Nooroo said: "Maybe Mayura did make a fair point" his voice shook as Gabriel's eyes lit up in pure anger "...she was only protecting her own feelings, you can't blame her for that."

"I-..." the designer was too lost for words, so without much hesitation or thought, Nooroo took his chance and continued to speak;

"Master you must understand that to her this whole situation looked different." The small kwami tried to sound confident "You talking about your wife and how you want to get her back, then in a few weeks switching to saying that you want her must be really confusing for poor Mayura."

"Oh Nooroo please stop it!"

"Master forgive me for saying this, but you don't know who you love, so how could she trust you? How could she throw away all her dreams, plans and wishes just for an unsure man?"

"I don't know! I really don't." He sighed. "I would want to say that Emilie is the love of my life after everything we've been through, but I can't ignore this tiny annoying feeling I get whenever I'm near May! And now I hate you for making such fair points!" Gabriel covered his face with his hands in exhaustion.

He was so lost, no idea what to do.

His shoulders, his heart and mind were too burdened by the weight of shattered dreams.

"Whenever we meet I-I-I just feel the same type of admiration and passion that I did the first time I met Emilie!" The man cried "I hate do admit it, but it's true. And she's right, I'm cruel, I'm the one choosing between people as if this all would be some game." With a heavy sigh, he drew a deep breath, attempting to inhale strength and exhale the fragments of pain.

Though it was clear that in the quiet corners of his soul, the man found himself entangled in the intricate web of emotions, a melancholy symphony echoing the dissonance within;

Love, once a beam of clarity, now cast shadows that obscured the path to his heart.

Confusion, like a relentless storm, raged within him, tearing through the delicate fabric of his emotional landscape.

Because of this the faces of those he loved seemed to have appeared before him, then cruelly blurred into a haunting collage of uncertainty.

Needless to mention how everything was only getting worse and worse with every passing second.

Each tender moment replayed itself, refracted through the prism of doubt, leaving behind a residue of ache that settled in the recesses of his chest.

By now Gabriel's eyes became a vivid shade of crimson, swollen and bloodshot, but with all of his remaining strength he pushed himself up from the ground.

At last he was standing, trying his best to look a bit more collected than how his soul truly felt, but the dampness of the earth clung to his clothes which acted as a tangible reminder of the emotional tempest that had just unfolded.

In the meantime Nathalie was also not in the best of moods tonight.

After Hawk Moth's dramatic leaving she too had collapsed beside her little floating friend, Duusu.

"I hate him!" Her voice echoed through the apartment. "He is so mean and stupid a-a-and-"

"Miss you should really take a deep breath and calm down." The small peacock tried to ease the tension, but in a blink of an eye that went all to waste.

"Shut up Duusu! You don't understand what it feels like to never experience pure love, unconditional love. You don't know how terrible and degrading having to beg for attention feels like! That's my life!" Her voice sobbed from the very depths of despair.

Natalie's cries teared through the stillness of the room with a raw and aggressive intensity.

Each convulsive cry seemed to emanate from the very core of her being, an outpouring of pain that echoed against the walls like a haunting lament.

"Miss." Duusu had also teared up by now without a doubt "Please don't do this." She too had tears rolling down her little, precious face "Don't do this!" Her tiny body convulsed with each heaving sob, shoulders trembling under the weight of emotions too heavy to bear.

However the assistant couldn't stop, a waterfall cascaded down her cheeks while the air around them thickened with the acrid taste of heartbreak, and the room seemed to shrink in response to the magnitude of her agony.

All she could think of was the tragic distance between herself and that stupid...stupid villain she hated, yet she loved deep down.

Without him for some strange reason the echoes of silence with a hint of her sob became too loud.

She wanted him back, wanted everything back.

Those unspoken words, hidden passions and emotions made every second pass by with a deadly ache in her heart.

The tough of them; in separate houses, but beneath the same moonlit sky, it slowly, minute by minute pierced the assistant more and more.

This night both individuals found themselves caught in the quiet grip of an emotion too intricate to untangle.

Aching hearts mirrored each other's pain, and in the silence, tears welled up, slowly escaping the corners of their eyes.

Love seemed like a labyrinth of uncertainties; an impossible reality.

So as the night pressed on, the weight of their shared solitude grew heavier.

The loud quietness, their true tears, stories of unspoken desires and the ache a bittersweet truth that love, for all its beauty, could also be a source of profound sadness.

So in the dim light, they wept, feeling the weight of what could have been, and what was.

To be continued-