"It's okay, Adrien. You don't need to panic."

No need to panic? Adrien screamed mentally, A stranger who just raided my room and discovered my deepest, darkest secret told me not to panic? Is he out of his mind?

While the blond was having a meltdown and busy debating with his life choices, Master Fu stood up then walked towards the study desk to check the picture frames littering on the area.

"I didn't know that Emilie has a son," the old magus muttered sadly as he traced a particular picture deftly with his fingers.

The words finally broke the boy from his reverie "You know my mother?!"

"Oui," Fu answered without averting his gaze from the picture "Emilie's role was a support during Akuma battles, and with her Miraculous healing powers, she could heal the entire team's critical wounds in just a minute. We had fewer casualties and deaths during her time."

"I have no idea that Mother was affiliated with the Order before," he uttered with disbelief, then gave the old magus a skeptical look "No wonder Father was blaming you for my mother's death."

Fu sighed exasperatedly "I didn't know that Emilie got an early retirement because she was getting married, or that she agreed for a surgery because she wanted to have a baby."

"A Miraculous wielder can retire?!" the blond rose up immediately, "I thought they were stuck in the Order for the rest of their lives?!"

"That's what the propaganda says – which is quite beneficial to us since we can keep the anonymity of those who left our group."

"But…but you mentioned about mother's surgery because of a baby…" he trailed off as he wobbled towards the bed "Are you referring to me?"

"I only learned about these things after conducting a thorough investigation, and that includes bypassing some privacy rules," he glanced at the boy with deep concern "Surgery doesn't guarantee that your magus' blood will never be passed down to your offspring. Emilie knows that, but she wanted to be a perfect 'normal' wife to Gabriel, and later on, a perfect 'normal' mother to their future child."

"So, she – "

"Emilie was given a one-year observation in case the surgery was a success, only to find out that she was pregnant three months later. They have no choice but to withdraw her medicines, which ended up damaging her aura. By some miracle, she survived for nine months carrying you, and few more years taking care of you."

Adrien sat down on the edge of his bed with a shell-shocked expression "Does my...does my father know all of these?"

"According to the reports that I've gathered, yes," Fu scooted himself beside the blond, and quite relieved that he didn't give him a cold shoulder when he tried to sooth his back "No one is to blame, Adrien, not even you. Your mother was aware of the consequences, as well as your father, and I'm sorry that you were not informed about your parent's past. If only I can tell you more about your parent's first meeting and how they fell in love, but those were too personal to be included on the reports."

"I guess that explains why I have a magus' blood," the boy sniffled as he wiped his stray tears "And why Father was pretty strict with me."

"Gabriel did it because he loves you."

"Does she know? Ladybug, I mean?" he balked "Does Ladybug know about my magus' blood."

"That's not my secret to tell, young Agreste," Fu answered with a shoulder pat "Besides, I'm not supposed to dig into your records and reveal these things to you."

"Yet you did. That's why you're here. Is it because I have an ancient magus blood like Ladybug?"

"I really appreciate the Dupain-Chengs' effort to explain everything to you - which saves me a lot of time - despite the fact that they were compelled not to tell to anyone. So it's either you broke the seal unknowingly or you revealed your secret to them."

"I don't know about the seal breaking, but I decided to come out clean this time," muttered Adrien with staid eyes on his lap "If only we were honest to each other, we might've spared ourselves from this mess. I don't mind sharing my suppressants to Marinette if she allowed me."

"You and me both know that high-caliber suppressants will never work on you, especially on Ladybug. Even surgery is out of the option," the old man pointed it out "Your raw powers are far more superior than any Miraculous wielders combined, and almost on par with Papillion's."

"So you're saying that Papillion has an ancient magus blood like us?"

Fu confirmed it with a nod "If you will join the Order, not only we can help you in controlling your powers, we can also liberate France from Papillion's tyranny in a short amount of time."

"So it's like 'go with us or else' huh?" he scoffed indignantly.

The old man shook his head "There is no 'or else', young Agreste. We don't force our fellow magus to embrace our movement; though I'm aware that the reward money we issue for every Akuma kills was the main reason for their stay."

"I'm aware of your feelings towards Ladybug, so I want to give you an opportunity to be with her as her equal," he went on "Creation and Destruction are always hand in hand since the beginning of time. They are inseparable, the Balance, the Yin and the Yang. Soulmates."

"I - uh..."

"I'm going to leave you my contact information in case you want to change your mind," he stood up promptly then paused to look at Marinette's pin-up board "You didn't know how you broke Ladybug's glamour?"

Adrien shook his head glumly "Not that I'm aware of."

"Same with Cataclysm?"

He nodded.

Fu made a noncommittal hum then eyed the confused blond again "I hope you will consider my proposal. Your abilities are indispensable to the team."

Adrien didn't make any further comments.

"And one more thing," the old man added with a wink "If you ever accept my offer, you can kiss your sheltered life goodbye."

"What do you mean by - "

In just a snap of his finger, the strange old man vanished into the thin air, leaving a calling card on its wake.