You're The Music That's Been Playing In My Head: Book 3

Luka Chapter Forty-Seven

"Have a nice day!" I tell the lady and hand over her order before going to my next stop.

I stop when a nearby broadcast on the TV catches my attention.

"Gabriel Agreste took the world by storm this morning as he presented his new ad campaign. An ambitious project that will be filmed all over the world as an homage to the universal truth of first love."

I frown to see Adrien looking so unhappy, I'll have to make sure he's not going through with it. Ever since learning he was Chat Noir, I started looking out for him more than I normally did. I wanted to make sure he was ok and that he could talk to me if he ever felt like he had to. After I make my way over to the bakery to confirm it with (y/n). Thankfully I caught up with her before she went inside.

"Luka, what's going on?"

"Is it true? Is Adrien leaving? I saw it on the news and he can't leave...He didn't look like he wanted to," I ask, almost slipping up and revealing one of the more pressing reasons why Adrien can't leave.

"Yes, unfortunately, and you're right he's not happy. You're among the few people who noticed, everyone else thinks it's a wonderful opportunity."

"So no one's doing anything to stop this?"

"Pretty much, it's just me, Marinette, and Chloé but we have no idea what we're going to do," (y/n) informs me with a sigh and I can see the weariness all over her face already.

Without hesitation, I offer my help. We head inside to find Marinette and Chloé arguing over an idea. It sounded like Chloé wanted to use her dad's power as mayor to prevent Adrien from leaving with Marinette trying to explain why they can't do that.

"Well, what's the point of being the mayor's daughter if you can't use that to your advantage?" Chloé asks, (y/n) helping Marinette.

"It's a good idea Chloé but let's save that as a last resort to see if we can come up with anything better."

With that, we got to brainstorming but within the hours we had to think of something, nothing was coming to mind when Marinette pulled (y/n) away and told her something before running off.

"Where is she going?"

"She's got an idea she wants to try but she didn't tell me so I have to go make sure she's not doing anything risky. I'll see you guys later," (y/n) explains with a sigh before waving goodbye and chasing after her.

"Well I'm going to call Daddy and get him to do something about this utterly ridiculous situation," Chloé says, pulling out her phone and walking off.

I feel an itch in my neck as I decide I would have to talk to Adrien myself even if that meant letting him know I know. I make my way out and toward Adrien's place, cutting through the park when I notice Adrien dressed up in a suit sitting on a bench. I quickly approach to tell him off but stop to hear him already being yelled at by Kagami over the phone.

"How long are you going to remain his puppet, Adrien?!"

"But my cousin is gonna talk to him and-"

"This just keeps getting better. You're letting your cousin do things for you now? Who's pulling the strings of your life? Your cousin? Your father? Me when we dated? It's never you! You're only good at doing what other people tell you to do! Dare to cut your strings, Adrien! Forgive me if I hurt you."

The call ends and I sit down next to him. 

"She's got a point you know. I know it must be hard to stand up to your dad and there's only so much I can understand but if you don't want to leave don't. It's your life and you do have a say in what happens with it. This is your fight you need to be picking, not your cousin. I've seen you pick much harder battles and come out on top before so you can do this," I encourage him my wandering to what he's accomplished as Adrien and Chat Noir.

"You and Kagami are right. I need to stand up to my father from the very beginning, not Félix. I'm gonna go tell my father what I have to tell him myself!" Adrien says determinedly as he gets up and begins heading home.

I hope things go well with his dad. Getting up I start to head back home as well when suddenly I see some spiked giant walking the streets. What was that? I get another itch and the idea of following it from a few streets behind. It was causing chaos and the superheroes were struggling. Another itch. Maybe if one of them sees me they'll give me my miraculous and I can help. Quickly I run onto the scene, throwing things at a Strikeback to help take him down, catching his attention. He goes to step on me when I'm tackled out of the way. My face reddens when I recognize the polar bear-themed suit and look (s/n) in the face.

"What do you think you're doing?! You could've gotten hurt!" She angrily yells at me.

"I want to help. Please give me my miraculous."

"I can't. Strikeback can copy powers and already stole enough if he could reverse time we'd be doomed. If you want to help Luka then please stay out of the way and stay safe. It'll make me feel better to know you're safe," She tells me before taking off to fight Strikeback.

Did...Did she just use one of my own lines against me? How is it possible for her to be this cute?! Listening to her request I head home and watch the news as the heroes fight against Strikeback for hours before it's over. When it's deemed safe I leave for my secret spot, what (s/n) did earlier was still fresh in my head when I noticed (y/n) there curled up into herself. Quickly I kneel before her.

"(y/n)? (y/n)! Hey, are you ok? What's wrong?" I ask and I see her tense up and she stays quiet. "Hey. Look at me," I tell her, placing my hands on her head gently and lifting her face to look at me.

I need you to tell me what's wrong so I can help ok? I'm right here and everything's gonna be ok," I try to reassure her when she starts crying, holding back from telling me the problem causing her to cry harder.

 I say nothing more and pull her into my arms, slowly rocking her as I rubbed soothing circles on her back and petted her head. Before I can try again Shadowmoth's laugh rings through the air catching our attention and we look into the sunshower sky as his butterfly face appears with sixteen miraculous logos surrounding him while being protected by Shelter.

"People of Paris Ladybug, Chat Noir, and (s/n) promised to protect you? Well, they let you down as you can see! I took all the miraculous from them! Now I am more powerful than ever! From now on I will be attacking you relentlessly! I will be everywhere probing your thoughts, stealing your dreams, harnessing your deepest fears. Whatever damage I can cause I will not stop unless somebody can get me Ladybug, Chat Noir, and (s/n)'s miraculous!"

Shadowmoth demands and I glare at him before remembering (y/n), Marinette, and Adrien were the guardians, and this had to have been a big blow. I look at (y/n)'s distraught face realizing why she was this upset. Determined to not let her spiral into an anxiety-ridden mindset I made her look at me and internally took a breath I had to tell her the truth.

"You're going to get through this just like you, Ladybug and Chat Noir have always done. You can do this."

"W-what are you talking about?" She stutters giving me a panicked look while I continue to smile at her.

"I'm talking about you the bravest woman I know who has done so much and had to put up with so much, can do this and defeat Shadowmoth. I believe in you...(s/n)."

Her eyes widen in shock as she asks "What did you just...You know my secret identity?"

"Yeah and Ladybug, and Chat Noir's. But you don't have to deal with that for now. There's a bug you need to squash," I tell her confidently as I help her stand up.

(y/n) looks at Shadowmoth before looking at me, eyes still glossy from the tears before pulling me into a tight hug.

"Thank you, Luka."

"You're welcome (y/n)," I kiss the top of her head before she pulls back and transforms to deal with the situation.

I watch her leave with a proud smile. "That's my girl."