Marinette and Luka made their way to the park opposite the bakery before settling on a bench.
"They're soulmates Luka, I messed everything up. I've made so many mistakes and wasted so much time." Marinette settled into Luka's side as she traced his own soulmate mark with her index finger.
She was one of the few who knew he had it. The musical notes wrapping around his arm just under his elbow like a snake reaching for his hand. They were exquisite and she couldn't help but feel slightly jealous someone had managed to bag him too. Both her boys were gone.
"How about you duet with me?" He asked.
"Luka, no, I can't you know it's not -" Luka's finger pressed against her lips stopping her from talking.
"Listen to me, Marinette. Just hear the lyrics of what I'm going to say." She nodded with his finger still firmly on her lips.
"Go out with me. We know it won't last and we won't fall in love because we're not soulmates, but it'll give you some support, some experience. When you get your soul-mark and find your soulmate you'll be free to fly. I'm not going to force you to stay with me, you know I wouldn't. You need to move on now you know he's not yours. It's time to let him go and I promise to support and help you."
Marinette nodded at Luka's words. It hurt. It hurt like hell, but he was right. Everything he said was right.
"How can you be so amazing, and not be mine?" Marinette joked. Luka began to laugh, scrunching his eyes as his hand came to his mouth from where he'd held his fingers against her lips. He knew she was joking, that's what she did. It hurt the first time she said it was a joke but it hit him like a bullet to the heart, that was until his soul mark appeared not too long ago.
"Firstly that's your heartbreak talking and secondly I'm not your destiny. I have no right to want you, you're not mine. And finally, I'm magical."
Marinette laughed.
"You truly are. Whoever is your soul mate is going to be one lucky girl." She wrapped her arms tightly around him.
"I still wish it would have been you." Marinette felt uncomfortable, it's not the first time he's said something like this but he couldn't help wearing his heart on his sleeve. One of the many reasons she wished she could fall in love with him, that he was her soulmate, but no one could stand up to Adrien.
"So, a date?"
"Sure. How about tomorrow? I'll meet you at six?" Marinette opened her mouth to agree just as her phone signalled a message. Tikki had opened her bag and Marinette could see the author of the message.
Adrien.
"One second." She lifted out her phone to read the message. It seemed they could meet tomorrow after school to start their assignment. Again fate had other ideas about her and Luka. This seemed to be a reoccurring theme in her life.
"Can we rain check tomorrow?" Marinette typed a response to Adrien as she responded to Luka. "How about Friday?"
Luka nodded as he noticed the contact on her phone. No matter what happened, no matter how hard he tried, fate would always lead her back to him. Back to Adrien. The more he thought about them the more he found it strange that Adrien had received his soul-mark, they were a synchronisation he'd never seen before. But all that would be a question for another day.
Finally, at around five in the evening, Adrien walked into the hallway of his cold heartless home, worn out from a mind challenging day. He could see that Kagami and her mother were already sitting on the sofa's in the hallway, poised ready to see him. He tried to swallow only to find the saliva was restricted as it attempted to glide down his throat. This was it! He was stuck and would forever be known as the liar.
He suddenly felt panicked and his breathing laboured in his chest. The anxiety of the situation wrapped around him and he began to shake. Adrien's breathing became shallow and he wasn't quite sure how to react, though he didn't think his body would respond even if he tried to do something.
He could hear talking in the hallway as an array of white, black and red begin to approach where he was standing. The colours were smiling. Could colours smile? His ears began to buzz overtaking the muffled sound of speech before falling to a blank nothingness. A cloud of black fog overtook his eyes and he was plummeted into pitch black.
"Kid? Kid, wake up?" Adrien groaned as he felt something poking his cheek. "Kid, come on. You ok?"
Adrien could hear the voice and feel the tiny little jabs poking into his cheek but his eyes refused to respond to anything he wanted them to do. He was stuck in this nightmare, a nightmare he was sure continued when, finally, his eyes opened.
The moment he opened his eyes everything seemed familiar. Everything seemed as though he'd been there before, as though he'd experienced the strange light colours. He looked around, completely unsure sure whether he was still the dreaming, or if he had awakened in an alternative reality.
The few seconds he was standing there, his eyes began to clear. He was surround by blue. A whole lot of blue. Water. The blue was surrounded by water. Slowly looking out into the distance, he could see the tip of Eiffel Tower poking its head above the surface. The top of the tower was reaching out for freedom from the cold depths of the blue. Ice. Everything made him feel cold. Everything was not as it should be.
"I'm sorry but I can fix this! I just need your Miraculous." He was speaking, yet his lips never moved. He was frozen in the cold atmosphere of where he was trapped. Something, or someone was getting closer. A red blob walking towards him slightly blurred through the tears pooling at the bottoms of his eyes. He was crying. Why was he so sad? He stretched his hand out towards the person in front of him, this person was soothing him. Just the slight made him feel home, it made him feel relaxed as though he'd been waiting weeks for their arrival.
Something wasn't right though. He was suited. He could tell that from the claws hanging on the end of his hand. His indestructible power was there but there was something else, it was white. His usual black as night suit was white.
"No, Chat."
"Let me make the wish. We can start again, please. Our love did this to the world, but I can fix it. All it takes is one wish." Again, his mouth wasn't moving but he could hear his own voice. Lonely and broken.
Adrien could feel the tight mask become slippery under the tears shedding from his eyes. Closing his eyes only to reopen them at the feel of something delicately wiping them away. He knew this hand meant everything to him. This hand was his life. He felt safe even through the sadness. He felt home. Looking into bright blue eyes he finally knew exactly who he was looking at, his Lady.
"Please Bugaboo, don't you understand. I love you, Marinette-"
Suddenly Adrien shot up into a sitting position on his bed. He was breathing heavy and laboured, as a coating of sweat engulfed his body. He grabbed onto his bedsheets trying to co-ordinate where he was in relation to his dream before beginning to play it all back in his head. His dream? No! His nightmare more like, but it felt so real, almost like a memory.
He was still in Paris, but it looked somewhat destroyed. Blue skies, and high tides. The famous monuments of Frances Capitol underwater never to be seen again. What had he done to the moon to destroy the order of the water flow? The sun needed the moon for water to behave correctly, he'd lost his moon. He'd lost his Lady.
He wiped one hand across his forehead and looked at the lingering moisture on his finger tips from the sweat hanging onto his skin. The memory of her fingers stroking under his eyes, her delicate fingers that he wanted to have, to love and to hold. It all felt so real. She wanted to save him. He was sure she did.
"You ok Kid? You shouted out a name in your sleep?"
Groaning Adrien pushed his hands through his hair, slicking it back with the remaining sweat from his forehead.
"It was so real. I was in my suit, but it was white, and I'm quite sure Ladybug was there but I didn't call her Ladybug."
Plagg looked at Adrien perplexed, what else would he call her? He couldn't have possibly? It couldn't have been? Could it? Adrien shook his head a little trying to regain control of what was happening, before grabbing the glass of water on his side table.
"How am I here? What day is it?"
"You fainted kid, the meeting between your father and fencer girls mother never happened. Your father was actually concerned for your health. Perhaps he's been thawing out a little today?"
Adrien scoffed out a laugh. "Yeah! Whatever. So has no marriage contract been signed?"
Plagg shook his head and flew over to Adrien's lap. Adrien lifted a hand and began to stroke the small black kwami. His best friend. Plagg knew more about him than anyone and he really did admire the little black creature. The gentle purring Plagg was emitting calmed Adrien's breathing to match.
"Happy?"
"For now," Adrien replied. He really needed to get out of this mess before it grew into someone thing bigger and uncontrolable. Kagami, poor Kagami. He was messing around with her too much, and he knew from past history she was a very powerful akuma, his deception was going to create a monster. He couldn't do that to Paris or to his Lady so he'd have to suck it up and be the doting boyfriend, to be the love of her life and to scrafice his own love for the good of the world. Who knows perhaps one day she'll meet her own soulmate and stop loving him?
"I know what you're thinking kid?" Plagg responded, obviously watching the way Adrien's face was running through this varied thoughts. "You can't do this to your soulmate. You're meant for someone else, Adrien!"
Adrien looked up at his kwami, it wasn't very often Plagg used his name. It would usually just be kid.
"She deserves her happily ever after, she deserves you." Plagg wanted to add on how she'd waited long enough, how she'd gone out of her way to make him happy, how she'd given up her own happiness for those around her. Including Kagami.
Plagg sighed, this was getting out of hand. Tikki had been furious until Plagg had explained he'd tried everything to get Adrien to stop this cruel game. He knew Marinette didn't deserve it. She was a wonderful girl, and Tikki was completely in love with her current wielder.
"You know what kid, I can't do this."
"What do you mean?" Adrien asked.
"I'm going out for a while, there's already been an akuma so you should be ok for me to leave for a short space of time."
"Wait? An akuma? But you said I'd passed out."
"Don't worry, the amazing Ladybug coped with it all alone. Not without a few hits though. I helped where I could. That girl really is something special."
Adrien's face paled, not only had he passed out when his father was going to actually spend time with him, regardless of the situation, but he'd also missed an akuma. He dragged his hands down his face.
"LB's going to kill me."
"No she won't." Plagg turned to fly away but not without whispering, "she loves you."
A sound echoed through his room and he realised it had originated from his phone which was placed on his side table. With a little additional effort, he moved to grab it.
Marinette.
[Marinette] My parents are fine with me coming over tomorrow :)
Suddenly his body relaxed. Tomorrow was a new day and he'd get to spend the afternoon with Marinette. He could feel the edges of his mouth turn up and the tight grasp around his chest slowly beginning to loosen.