Realms Against Us, We Chose This Destiny

Part I: Chapter 8

It's a good thing I have these parts already written up so by time I'm done with my exams I can write more and possibly even post twice a week. 

Anyways, where have we left off? Oh right. Marinette's friends came to inform her that she had passed the practical of the exam.

...............

It was a few hours after her friends had left when he came back. She was once again asleep on her bed, her arms and legs curled into a comfortable position and her breathing at a steady pace, showing no outward signs of distress.

He took his time to really look at her. How her pale face contrasted so strongly to her blood red lips- stained with a semi-permanent lip tint that was the rage even in Luneith. How, if she was looked at closely, the tiny spots and freckles dotted around her face were more apparent. How her eyelashes were as curled as her sleeping posture and when she opened her eyes (not that they were open right now) they would reveal the most expressive sea of emotions he had ever seen.

The more he looked at her, the more he recalled the one who made his hell of a life less daunting before she, herself imprisoned him. Maybe the reason he hadn't recognised her earlier was because she made it that way. Only after her powers started coming back, could he truly recognise her mark. And all of a sudden, with her right on front of him, he didn't know what to feel. 

It was ironic. 

His father had always told him to keep his emotions in check. That the only emotion worth letting control him was his anger. But here, looking at her, he didn't want to feel angry. He didn't want to feel happy either. 

She had betrayed him when she had sacrificed herself. She had broken her promise that she would always be there for him- but had she really? Still, he could not understand why she had done it. And why then? Why not before they had gotten to know each other as more than just the enemy? When he could just be angry at her without the hidden layers of feelings that he shouldn't have even been able to feel, seeping through and tainting his rage and resentment towards her. 

He still remembered when the animosity between them had first dissolved.

It had been before the war and before his parents had been slaughtered by Soleria. It was before he had fully grasped onto his duty as Destruction and reigned fury onto Solerian soldiers and officials for what they had done. It was in a time where Soleria and Luneith had been in the talks of signing a treaty, as suggested by the Goddess herself. And for once, both realms had almost successfully worked in harmony, even if only for a short period of time.

Adrien had gone to the ridiculously elegant party that had been hosted by Soleria to celebrate the tying of the two realms, but it was during a time where his parents were wary of who he was interacting with, so he had kept a low profile. They didn't want his training to be interfered with so Felix, instead, had been the one to walk around with them and communicate with others. Which Adrien did not mind at all. He thought the people at the party were mostly snobs who looked down on them even though they knew that Adrien and his family had more power than they could ever have.

He had decided to go to the garden and that's where he had seen her.

She was sitting on the overgrown grass, playing with her powers and letting the breeze flow around her. Unlike the usual attire he would see her in, the bright red armour worn during the many battles between the two realms over the years, or her matching formal robes which indicated that she was only there to do what was asked of her, never less, never more. This time, however, she was wearing a dress. Not like the tightly wrapped ones that made the other women look stiff and uncomfortable when they moved, but a light and airy dress which was in her signature colour red and matched her tinted lips of the same vivid colour. But it didn't look like her normal clothes, which made her look like the no-nonsense type of person he attributed to his father or sometimes even his mother. The fabric looked soft and loose even tough it clutched onto her shape effortlessly. On her back, there was a sky blue cape which glittered when the sun rays hit them, making them look almost like the type of fairy wings mortals liked to make up in their little tales and stories of what was typically not common in the sun realm.