Author's Note: This story is a Christmas gift for my friend Remasa, whom I've met on fanfiction . net, thanks to our fascination with Gabriel. Check out her fics when you have time, they are great!

I am sure this isn't the first fic inspired by Christmas Carol in this fandom, although I haven't searched for nor read any. If you know the original, and it's hard to think you could not, then you can predict where this is going, but I hope you will still enjoy the ride and like my idea of how to get there.

And who knows, maybe you're up for a surprise or two along the way.

A special thank you to callmecirce for beta-reading this. Her suggestions were most valuable!

Chapter 1. An unexpected visit

The butterfly rested calmly on the black glove. It fluttered its white wings, hypnotized by the honeyed voice whispering over its head. It didn't flee when another black glove moved over it and trapped it in leather darkness. It waited patiently to the tingling feeling of energy crawling up its legs. Little sparks of magic fell from its wings and discharged themselves on the walls of the tiny black space.

Then the upper glove was removed and the butterfly shook its wings experimentally. When they got trapped in the moving darkness, its sisters and brothers always came out purple. This time the butterfly's wings were pink. The insect took flight and started circling the enormous dome, waiting for the honeyed voice to tell it where to go. But instructions weren't coming. The pink, glittery butterfly was confused.

Hawkmoth stared at the strange akuma with a frown. Did he do something wrong? He felt the negative feelings of a possible champion. He concentrated on them. He poured his will and power into the butterfly, which would allow to establish a connection. Why wasn't it purple and black like usual? Maybe it was sick? Nooroo never said anything like that could happen. Then again, Nooroo wasn't exactly the most cooperative being Gabriel had encountered. Not since he learned about Gabriel's plan to acquire two main miraculouses.

The moth wielder raised his opened hand invitingly once again, hoping the akuma would come back, but it didn't. It fluttered in ragged circles under the roof, glittering in the scarce light of December afternoon.

Hawkmoth sighed. This was supposed to be a quick try. On Christmas Eve the mansion was for once more or less empty. Adrien went to visit his friends before Réveillon and the rest of the staff either took their day off or was engaged in dinner preparations. It was calm and quiet, perfect conditions to find some unpleasant feelings and send an akuma their way. And it would help him busy his thoughts with something else than her and the fact that yet another Christmas had come while he still hadn't brought her back.

A rustle of fabric roused him from his musings. He turned around to see a floating… something. It looked pretty much like a fruit bowl flying upside-down and covered with a white sheet. Had he been a four year old he might have thought this was a ghost. Then again, Gabriel had been a rather bright four year old so he probably wouldn't have been fooled even 40 years ago.

'What is the meaning of this?' He demanded. Was this Nathalie's prank? Impossible. She had no sense of humor whatsoever. It was actually one of the requirements for the job.

The flying fruit bowl cleared its throat and a tiny voice announced, 'Hawkmoth! Time has come for you to come to your senses!' The bowl must have acted as an amplifier because the voice had a distant echo it shouldn't have, being so tiny.

Then Gabriel heard another voice, whispering frantically.

'Really, Tikki?! That was your line!'

'Shutup, Plagg, you're ruining everything!'

The hushed whispering under the fruit bowl didn't seem in the least scary, but Hawkmoth felt unease nevertheless. He prided himself on the quality of the security system in his lair. It was impossible for anyone bar him or Nathalie to access it without raising alarm. Yet someone clearly managed to break through and was now throwing a show.

'Oh, believe me! You've already ruined it,' the whispering continued.

'Well, excuse me for trying to make something useful with your stupid ghost idea!'

More importantly, the pink butterfly decided to narrow its circles and hovered directly over the apparition.

'Who the hell are you?' Gabriel felt his patience growing extremely thin at the possibility of causing accidental fruit bowl akumatization. He had no idea if fruit bowls had feelings, but judging by the frantic exchange this one had plenty. He silently prepared his cane and angled it to touch the sheet.

The whispering had stopped, yet the ghostly bowl started to jerk and squeak instead; clearly an internal fight was happening under the glass dome. In one swift motion Hawkmoth wrapped the sheet over the tip of his cane and yanked it back. The fabric slid from what indeed turned out to be his own crystal fruit bowl, which usually stood in the leisure room. Two shapes hovered underneath, holding it aloft.

'Uh-oh,' the dark one with electric green eyes murmured, nudging his companion.

'What- oh,' the red shape replied. 'Hello, Hawkmoth,' it finished, bowing with dignity definitely too serious for such a small creature.

The moth wielder raised a brow, contemplating what to do. These were clearly two kwamis, close in size to Nooroo, and with similar tiny voices. The black one looked like a tiny cat with pointy ears, tail and whiskers. The red one was more bug-like, with a single black dot on her forehead and magnificent cerulean eyes. Judging by the coloring they had to be… they had to be the occupants of the jewels he was after.

Hawkmoth didn't waste time with useless rhetorical questions. He was already sure who he was dealing with.

'Why are you here?' he demanded. 'And could you put that fruit bowl gently on the floor?' he added with a wince, 'It is valuable.'

He observed the crystal piece as it drifted to the ground, still upside down. Were those two kwami so dumb, they would trap themselves underneath? Just in case, he came closer and was about to press his hand to the bowl when red and black dashes phased through the glass with a tinkle and zipped to his eye level. Could Nooroo perform that trick too? That matter would have to be investigated further, when this nuisance is over.

'Gabriel,' the red kwami bowed again and he had to suppress a gasp at hearing his civilian name. 'I am Tikki and this is Plagg,' she pointed to her black companion floating silently beside her. 'I can see you've already figured out who we are.'

Hawkmoth nodded stiffly in acknowledgement. When he offered nothing more in reply, his guest wiped the friendly smile from her features and stared at him with concern.

'We came to warn you,' she stated solemnly, while the flying cat glared at him so intently, Gabriel felt shivers down his spine. 'Your quest is not going to bring you solace, but more suffering.' She took a deep breath and wanted to continue, but the other kwami chose this moment to interject.

'What you're doing is wrong,' the black cat waved an accusatory paw at him, 'and it will bite you on your stiff purple butt!' he spat. Could the fact that the green-eyed sprite seem co crossed with him when the the red one remained so calm and composed, serve as further confirmation of his suspicions about Adrien? Or was the black cat just bad tempered and generally hostile towards him as an enemy?

Hawkmoth almost cackled at the ridiculousness of the little kwami's rage, but he stopped himself in time. Were these two even serious? What could they possibly do to him without their holders and jewels?

'My goals and my means are my own business,' he said doing his best to keep the sinister lilt contained. After all the one calling herself Tikki was polite towards him, and Gabriel was a gentleman. 'I can assure you there is a greater good that will result from my mission. I don't have to explain myself to you.'

'A little respect for older creatures wouldn't hurt,' the one name Plagg chided sending him another venomous glare.

'You can't know the future', Hawkmoth shrugged. He wasn't going to let them get to him, doubt himself or question his mission. He knew what he was doing and what the stakes were.

'On the contrary,' the red kwami shook her bulbous head. 'Kwami are millennia old. You'd be surprised by what we've already seen and what we can extrapolate from that,' she stated matter-of-factly and Gabriel saw the sad certainty of her claim in the dim blue eyes.

'Been there, done that,' her companion piped in. Not for the first time tonight Hawkmoth was under the impression that these two talked like they were one being, interjecting or finishing each other's thoughts, translating them into phrases that they hoped he would understand. Well, he was still confident they didn't understand him. If they knew his reasons, they wouldn't be like that.

'This time it's different-' the moth wielder countered and faltered under the black sprite's deadpan look.

'You humans like to say that a lot,' the red bug sighed, disappointment marring her features. 'You all think you're so exquisite, special, but the end is always the same.'

'"I didn't mean that",' the black kwami whined in a mocking tone. He was looking straight at Gabriel. '"I didn't want that", "Please make it not happen!"' he ended with emphasis. His eyes hardened even further as if recalling other times when he has been on the receiving end of that line. 'Well guess what! Kwami are not like genies. What happens, stays happened!'

'But Ladybug's Lucky Charm-' Hawkmoth tried to interrupt them again.

'Yeah, yeah, it reverts the direct damage caused by an akuma,' Plagg dismissed him with a flick of his paw as if Gabriel was a school kid that got a question wrong.

'But only physical damage,' again the red sprite picked up her companion's thought, but with much more calm and patience. 'It can't change the heart, it can't clear memories, it can't create better ones. It can't heal what's already broken.'

'And there's always a price,' the flying cat added. 'And I don't even mean the price that comes with using our joined miraculouses,' Hawkmoth furrowed his brow at this unexpected and new bit of information, 'but the mundane small price that you unknowingly pay every time you release another akuma.'

'You are going to regret this all,' the one named Tikki repeated her warning.

Even if she was nothing but patient and well mannered, Hawkmoth still wasn't used to being caught in a crossfire of accusations and reproofs. 'Is that why you're here? To lecture me? Spare yourselves trouble,' he all but snarled at them and turned to leave.

'Oh, no, Monsieur. You are going to listen to us,' the black cat reciprocated with a growl of his own. He caught the edge of the purple sleeve and pulled with a force surprising for such a small creature. 'We have a gift for you,' he stated sourly dragging him back into the center of the dome and Hawkmoth instantly understood that nothing pleasant could possibly come out of any gift the black kwami got for him.

'Because it's Christmas,' the red sprite supplied but there was not even one happy sound in it, 'and because the people you're hurting deserve better-'

'-Out of all those confused, misguided, poor guys widely known as supervillains,' her companion again continued her thought as if they were one, 'you get a chance.'

'Because we believe your heart hasn't been corrupted yet,' the ladybug kwami concluded.

Gabriel was already disoriented with the way they spoke to him and treated him. 'A chance?' he asked, frantically trying to think of a way out.

'A chance to make it not happen,' the one named Tikki said, as if this would explain anything.

'I don't understand,' Hawkmoth decided to play for time.

'Oh you will, soon enough,' the black sprite murmured ominously and Gabriel shuddered at the deep, sinister tone of his voice. He turned his questioning gaze at his two unwelcome and unexpected guests but their attention had shifted to something above their heads.

Blue and green eyes locked onto the confused pink butterfly that still hovered high under the dome and Hawkmoth suddenly felt his insides churn with an unpleasant sensation of trouble approaching.

'Now, Plagg!' the ladybug kwami hissed, throwing herself in Hawkmoth's way while her companion launched himself at the pink butterfly. His paws were already steaming with black bubbles of cataclysm.

The moth wielder stopped inches from the red sprite as if he had hit a wall. With eyes wide opened and lips curled in a shocked scowl he watched as the akuma, still charged with his power, blackened and disintegrated into dust under the black cat's touch. A subtle butterfly outline made entirely out of light flickered in its place for a moment and disappeared.

Hawkmoth felt the cataclysm deep within himself, as if some invisible force drained his energy at once. He dropped to his knees. 'What have you done?' he whimpered clutching his reeling head. A deep growl tore from his throat, 'You will pay for that!'

Tikki smiled wickedly and Gabriel thought she would be the last creature he would suspect of being cruel or unkind. Yet there she was, hovering over him with a self satisfied smirk while he could barely breathe. She brought her paws together in a motion similar to what he did when he poured his power into an akuma and silver shine glimmered between her joined limbs. It got brighter and brighter until it erupted like a supernova, sending a shockwave that forced him to close his eyes before they would burn. A strange afterglow flickered under his eyelids and he didn't dare to look again until it faded completely.

Hawkmoth no longer had his usual composure. The calm that he had used as his shield dissolved into a mixture of confusion, rage and fear in the face of the assault. He barely had enough of coherent thought left to see what happened to the kwami.

A silvery-pinkish shape fluttered between the red sprite's paws. The akuma returned, recreated by the demigoddess. Dark lines snaked and twisted over the surface of its wings. Hawkmoth watched helplessly as the ladybug kwami whispered something in a language he didn't recognize. The butterfly quivered and took flight.

In his direction.

'What have you done?' he yelled and tried to move away. 'What have you done to my akuma?!'

'This is our gift to you, Gabriel,' Tikki replied revelently. 'Use it wisely.'

'Now!' Plagg hissed and the butterfly charged at the retreating man.

Hawkmoth swatted at it with his cane, but there was no stopping an akuma when it chose its target. The butterfly landed on the miraculous brooch and disappeared inside. Grey mist engulfed the man's feet and crawled up his legs.

'What's happening?!' He waved at the smoke in a vain attempt to chase it away. 'What have you done to me?!'

'Aren't you familiar with this process, Hawkmoth?' the black cat snickered, casting him a disbelieving look.

'Answers are coming, Gabriel,' his blue-eyed companion said soothingly.

'More answers, than you could possibly wish for,' the black sprite murmured under his breath. 'Enjoy the ride,' he added with a condescending smirk, leaning leisurely on Tikki's shoulder.

At that the mist swallowed the whole purple figure and with a faint pop, Hawkmoth disappeared in a puff of smoke.

AN: This is only chapter 1 out of 5 that I've planned. I wanted to finish this before Christmas, but life had other ideas. For now there's no fixed schedule, but this story currently has priority and I will try to update it soon.

I hope your holidays are happy!