Chapter Text
Luka looked over as his phone started ringing, brows raising at the sight of Marinette’s icon popping up on the screen. It’d been rare for her to call him after all the complications that came with them dating, so he was surprised to say the least.
Nevertheless, he rested an arm on his guitar and reached across his bed with his other to pick up the phone, answering the call and moving the device to his ear. “Hey, Marinette.”
“Hey, Luka…”
His heart sank at the sound of her voice. It was a whole mix of emotions, but above all else, she sounded tired. He wondered what she’d gone through for her voice to play those sorts of notes.
“Did anything happen?”
“No,” she answered almost instantaneously. She paused, then let out a small whine. “I-I’m sorry. I’m so used to lying, but—I guess I don’t have to do that anymore.”
He stayed silent, allowing her to continue.
“I—” Marinette took an audible breath, then let it out, her voice lowering to a whisper as if she were scared of someone else hearing.
“I’m…I’m Ladybug, Luka.”
Luka’s first reaction was shock, though he couldn’t be sure if it was the identity bomb she dropped or just the fact that she told him at all. Then, once the surprise died down, the idea that Marinette was Ladybug wasn’t that surprising in itself. and he couldn’t imagine who else it could’ve been otherwise.
Smart, talented, caring, selfless… it all added up.
But that also made it all the more painful when he realized what it meant. Immediately, all the dates that she’d missed and all the things he’d been concerned about made sense, and it hurt.
That was the secret she couldn’t share with him, no matter how badly she might’ve wanted to.
The last thought in particular was odd to him, and he couldn’t help voicing it, “I… thank you for telling me, Marinette, but… why now?”
She took another breath, more unsteady this time, like she were a guitar with something jammed inside the base. “Because—I’m about to forget it, and now I can’t stop thinking about everything I might forget; how I want someone to know. You were the first - the only - person I thought of.” Then, hesitantly, she asked, “Is that okay?”
Luka swallowed, feeling the whiplash of another dropped bomb right before the kind of casual compliment that made his heart race. “Of…of course it is.”
She sighed in relief. “Thank you.”
He tried to keep quiet, but couldn’t hold back from questioning, “You said ‘forget’…”
“Yeah, because I’m guardian now. There was someone else before and they gave me the ladybug miraculous, but—” She paused, as if considering something, then seemed to shift the conversation. “See, I didn’t know anything about being a hero at the start, and… I screwed up.” Before Luka could ask or recall the event, she continued, “I let the first ever akuma go, and it let Hawk Moth spread his butterflies everywhere when Ivan got akumatized again. I fixed it, but it was still my mistake that started it.”
“Marinette—”
“—and I always tried. I tried my best no matter what I did. I tried to be a good Ladybug, a good student, a good daughter, a good friend… and I tried to get Adrien’s attention.” She groaned, though the sound seemed muffled, perhaps by her hand. Her voice cracked as she went on, “That’s where everything went so wrong, Luka. I knew I had bad luck, but no matter how hard I tried, things would go bad. It was humiliating, and I kept thinking that maybe I just wasn’t trying hard enough. My parents had such a happy relationship and I wanted that, but I was just wasting my time. He was barely in my life but he got put into everything I did, and I made so many mistakes from him. There’s a liar in school who wants to turn everyone against me, and Alya thinks I’m just jealous because of Adrien. Chloe convinced me to do things I’m not proud of, and it took a while for me to be Kagami’s friend. I didn’t listen to my kwami and used my miraculous for my own gain, and…”
“What’s wrong with that?” he questioned, voice pained. “What’s wrong with using your miraculous for you? You save Paris every other day—”
“—because bad things happen, Luka,” she stressed as if it were something urgent. “Bad things happen when I… feel.”
There was a pit in his stomach. He knew he shouldn’t ask - knew he wouldn’t like the answer - but he hoped for better regardless. “Feel… what?”
“Anything.”
He hunched forward, not strumming his guitar but running his fingers along the strings, desperate for something to busy himself with. His shoulders were stiff and his chest felt tight, unable to fathom what she’d been going through compared to what he’d merely seen on the surface.
“No matter what I did, no matter what I felt… it was wrong, Luka. I embarrassed Chloe in front of the whole class and she wanted to move to New York. She’d bullied me for years and I was so happy.” She sounded conflicted, like instruments that didn’t go together. “Adrien told me it was terrible. He didn’t know why I could celebrate it. I felt awful, so I gave her a chance; I gave her a miraculous.”
Luka anxiously rubbed one of the strings between his thumb and index finger, torn between seething and trying to reassure her despite knowing that she’d cut him off.
“She got it in her head that she deserved it, but with Mayura around, it wasn’t safe to let her keep having it. I had to tell her 'no,’ and…” She let out a defeated noise. “Do you remember that day? At the park?”
She didn’t need to specify, and his voice lost all life at the memory. “Yeah…”
“Adrien and Kagami were together. I let them go. They seemed so happy together and it was the right thing to do, but…”
She paused, and he braced himself.
“When I was going to see the guardian to get a miraculous, I saw them. I got distracted and I forgot to de-transform. Because of me, Hawk Moth found the guardian, and he got the miraculouses from him. By the time I realized what happened, it was too late, and Chloe got akumatized again to ruin me. Those bees you saw—they were hers. They mind-controlled everyone, and that’s why your identities were compromised. The guardian had to give up the box with all the miraculouses in it to me - ladybug me - because Hawk Moth was probably about to kill him and become the next guardian.” She let out a sob. “Giving up the box… it takes your memory with it.”
Luka gripped the string he’d been rubbing.
“I don’t know how much he lost, but… anything about the miraculouses was gone. He didn’t recognize me. He didn’t even recognize the love of his life. He had… feelings, but that was it. All because of me.”
“Marinette—” he desperately tried to interject.
She cut him off, as he’d feared, “I’m just fixing my own mistakes. People think I’m a good Ladybug because they don’t get that. They don’t get that I’m just going in circles. My friends don’t believe in me, my parents think I’m too clumsy to carry a tray, and… it always feels like someone - somewhere - is laughing at me, with every screw-up.” She whimpered. “What good is a ladybug who gets people akumatized? Who gets her own boyfriend akumatized?”
“I don’t blame you for that!” he shouted, intentionally raising his voice to talk over her.
He heard a small noise in response, though he couldn’t tell if it was another whimper or a giggle.
“I’m sorry,” she said, though what she was apologizing for seemed vague, “and thank you, for always being there for me. I’m glad I have time to talk to you before he gets back.”
Luka had to calm himself down to ask worriedly, “He…?”
“The guardian; the one that came before the one I knew. He showed up in my room today and saw how I had all the kwami outside of the box; I guess you’re not supposed to do that, and he wasn’t happy. He told me about all these rules I broke and how I had to give everything back. I took him to meet Chat Noir, but Chat ran for it when he realized that I’d forget about him. The guardian is chasing him down now and I’m just here, with the box, waiting for him to get back.”
Luka leaned back and stared at the ceiling, overwhelmed by the rush of information she’d thrown at him all at once. He hadn’t even been the one to experience any of it and he still felt worn down as if he had.
“I—” He paused, not liking how his voice shook. “I wish I could’ve helped you, Marinette. I wish you hadn’t had to do all of that alone. I know you feel like it’s your fault, but even the best musicians miss notes and mess up. Please don’t blame yourself.”
She let out a non-committal noise and he knew then that nothing he said would help her. He was sure that she believed him, but words could only do so much, and unlearning what apparent months of suffering had taught her would be difficult.
Though, he supposed it wouldn’t matter. “Will you forget… everything?”
“I don’t know, but at least everything about Ladybug or the miraculouses will go.” She let out a half-hearted chuckle. “I guess it was all for nothing in the end.”
“It wasn’t,” Luka replied. “Marinette, no matter how many times you feel like you screwed up, you were still an amazing ladybug. Everything you said didn’t change my mind about that.” After a moment of thought, he added, “And that other guardian… how is he?”
He heard her take a breath, as if to give an automatic answer, but she stopped herself. “…He’s away from Paris, living with the love of his life.”
“See? That sounds better than being the guardian, in Paris, where Hawk Moth is,” he pointed out. “Maybe he forgot more than he would’ve wanted, but—”
“Luka,” she interrupted, as if something had just occurred to her.
He considered finishing what he was saying, but stopped himself in favor of wanting to hear her out. “Yeah?”
“A-ah… mm.” She struggled briefly while trying to get the words out. “If—if I forget too much… if I forget you… would you still visit me?”
It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about the possibility, but it hadn’t been on the forefront of his mind either, mostly for the sake of keeping himself grounded.
After having an internal debate with himself, he settled for asking, “Would you want me to?”
“Don’t say it like that,” she pleaded. “Don’t leave it all up to me. I…I’d understand if you decide you don’t want to see me again. I wouldn’t blame you, I just—” Her voice lowered to something both shy and fond. “—I’m my best self when I’m with you, Luka. We didn’t date for that long, and maybe it would’ve been better for you if we never met, but I…”
The pause she made had him holding his breath, his grip on the phone tightening. He couldn’t believe she would dare to imply that he wouldn’t do it all over again; meeting her, writing songs about her, dating her…
Marinette let out a breath, and Luka noted that it sounded so… final, like this was really the end.
“I love you, Luka.”
His heart hammered in his chest. “Marinette.”
“Thank you, and I’m sorry,” she whispered. After going quiet for a few seconds, her tone suddenly shifted as she said, “I have to go now. He’s on his way.”
Luka took a sharp intake of breath, but the click of the call came before he could speak. He could only stare down at the phone, Marinette’s contact image staring back as an emptiness washed over him.
Then, he was on his feet, guitar tossed aside, and he’d never moved so fast before in his life.
Marinette gazed at Luka’s picture for a few more seconds, as if doing so would permanently imprint it into her memory, then sighed and tossed it onto her chaise lounge. She rubbed at her eyes, wiping away tiredness and unshed tears, unable to help wondering if Fu falling unconscious after his memory loss was something peaceful for him.
When she uncovered her eyes, she noticed the kwami, all distancing themselves from her but staring at her like she was a corpse in a coffin.
“What…?” she asked, though part of her already knew the answer.
They all exchanged glances, like they were debating telepathically, then Wayzz flew forward.
“I - we - we’re so sorry, Marinette,” he said. Bowing in respect, he added, “We got so excited, and we only caused you more problems.”
Marinette shrugged, only able to offer a defeated smile. “There’s nothing we can do now. It’s too late to change anything.”
Tikki approached, her body hunched over and making her look even smaller than she already was. “I-I should’ve said something. I let him talk to you like that and I didn’t do anything to stop him.”
Marinette reached over, tempted to pet or touch her kwami in some way to help reassure her, but pulled back at the last moment, too conflicted about it.
The sound of something landing on the balcony followed, and Marinette stared up at it like she could see through her ceiling.
“…He’s here,” she stated. After giving one last look at all of her kwami, she focused specifically on Tikki and said, “Spots on.”
Su-Han descended into her room, Ladybug standing in the center and wanting nothing more but to get things over with. He approached her, raising his fist and then opening it to show her the ring inside; Chat Noir’s ring. Plagg, meanwhile, hovered aimlessly around the room, not meeting anyone’s eyes and probably sensing the tension.
“That crybaby was even more of a fool than I’d thought,” Su-Han commented, “giving a miraculous to a boy whose face is all over this village.”
“What?” Ladybug blurted out. A boy whose face was all over—but that meant—"Adrien?“
Su-Han raised a brow. "A friend of yours?” He promptly scoffed. “That makes him even more foolish.”
She couldn’t even find it in herself to respond, too busy grappling with so casually being told something she’d intended to never learn about if she could help it.
Adrien was Chat Noir? It explained a little bit of everything and made her feel a lot of everything at the same time, like the two personalities meshed together to create something both shocking yet profoundly upsetting. She saw her memories with Adrien in place of Chat Noir and vice versa, unable to separate the two and pursing her lips as she recognized that, perhaps if things had been a little different…
“Young lady,” Su-Han called strictly, pulling her out of her trance. “I don’t have time to waste here. Relinquish the Miracle Box to me, at once.”
“A-ah…” Ladybug could only nod, still dazed but at least focused enough to respond. She stared down at her hands, staring at the red and single black spot on the back of each, then sighed and closed her eyes, accepting that it was the last time she’d see them.
“I, Ladybug, hereby relinquish the Miracle Box…”
The last feeling she’d remember as Ladybug was a deep, unrelenting regret; regret for all the things she did do, didn’t do, and the things that weren’t even in her control.
Then, as her mind was fogging and she was slipping into darkness, she felt something else.
She felt free.
Luka didn’t bother saying a word to Tom or Sabine when he charged inside the bakery, both of them letting out various shouts of concern as he bolted past them and ran up the stairs. He nearly tripped multiple times, but he never stopped moving. He dashed up each flight until his eyes locked on the door to Marinette’s living room.
He opened the door in a hurry, ignoring the sound of it slamming against the wall, and headed right for the stairs to Marinette’s room. He threw caution to the wind and pushed open the trap door in the same fashion, his eyes scanning the place in a panic.
Then, his gaze fell upon Marinette, lying there on the floor, earrings gone, and he realized that he was too late. If he were honest, he hadn’t known exactly what he’d rushed there to do - try and prevent the memory loss? tell her how wrong she’d been during their call? call out the guardian for treating his beloved so cruelly? - but now that he was there, all he could think about was being there for her.
He took a moment to catch his breath, then approached and knelt down next to her. Slipping his arms underneath her, he lifted her up and brought her over to her chaise lounge, wanting to at least get her off the floor. Her phone had been resting on the chaise’s cushion, but he simply moved it to the table after setting her down.
He paced around the room, raking his fingers through his hair and ruffling it. His mind was still racing, as was his heart, and his running had nothing to do with either. He knew that, whether Marinette had her memory or not, she was the song in his head, and any pain that would come with her not knowing him couldn’t compare to the pain of not seeing her again. She wasn’t a burden, and no matter how many excuses he might have to come up with, he wasn’t going to let her be alone, especially not when she trusted him with a secret that she’d only let him hear.
He was so distracted by his thoughts that he almost didn’t hear the slight shuffling noise, though the sound of Marinette stirring was what made him fully turn around to look at her. While she laid there, her eyes were half-lidded and unfocused, darting aimlessly around the room as if in search of something.
“Marinette,” he whispered, rushing over to her. Bending over the chaise lounge, barely thinking, he asked gently, “Are you okay?”
“Mm…” Her eyes found his, and she blinked a few times before she actually seemed awake enough to answer him. “Luka?”
His breath, his words, his very sound, all caught in his throat. If he were a guitar, his strings would’ve snapped from the sudden release of tension.
“Y-you… know who I am?” he asked in a small voice.
She tilted her head at him, confused by the question. “Of course I do? You’re my boyfriend.”
Boyfriend. She said boyfriend. She didn’t just remember him, she remembered her feelings for him.
He got misty-eyed from the realization, and Marinette’s eyes widened in alarm.
“L-luka?” she called, brows furrowed with concern. She reached up with a hand, sliding it along his cheek. “What’s wrong—what happened? I swear I’m okay, I—”
He shook his head, gently holding onto her wrist and feeling the steady rhythm of her pulse to ground himself. “Nothing, Marinette. Nothing happened. You—you just had a bad fall.”
“O-oh. I…I’m sorry.” She pushed herself up with her free hand. “I’m so clumsy. I didn’t mean to worry—”
He couldn’t wait any longer. He hugged her, squeezing her with every ounce of love that’d been accumulating since they’d originally broken up. Marinette didn’t seem to understand the intensity of his actions, but didn’t hesitate to hug him back either, even humming with content and burying her face into his shoulder.
Her song sang freely to him. It wasn’t torn or twisted up, playing openly instead of staying locked in a music box. He couldn’t have been happier after she’d given him such a scare before, and any remaining questions could come later.
For that moment, he just let their duet play free-er than it’d ever been able to before.
“Luka~” Marinette called from the kitchen. When he looked over to her, she raised two different bottles of iced tea, waving them a bit for emphasis. “Which one do you want?”
He hummed, then pointed to the one in her left hand. She nodded at the decision, then put the other bottle back in the fridge, retrieving a bottled drink of her own before leaving the kitchen to join him on the couch.
The last few weeks had been a bit of a rollercoaster, but not necessarily in a bad way. He’d had to deal with Marinette’s memory loss and simultaneously piece together how exactly it’d all worked out, but all in all, it was good for her.
Most of Marinette’s memories outside of being Ladybug were in tact, and Luka had realized soon after she’d woken up from her memory loss that the reason she’d forgotten about their break up was exactly because it’d been related to her being Ladybug. He’d tried vaguely to explain it to her as if he hadn’t known that she was Ladybug, wondering if those negative feelings still lingered, but they both still wanted to date each other and thus concluded that not dating after all that would’ve been silly. He knew full well that she wasn’t going to be stressed or strapped for time anymore, so it wasn’t a subject worth debating over, especially if it meant that they could move back into dating without issue.
She’d initially cried when he assured her that he was happy to continue dating her. She couldn’t comprehend why and he’d merely hugged her in reassurance, imagining that he was also hugging the Marinette of the past who didn’t believe he’d want to date her again.
Outside of that, there were additional gaps in Marinette’s memory that she couldn’t explain, and Luka was certain that they were either Ladybug or guardian-related. Her parents had been particularly concerned by the losses, but Luka noted to himself that the lost memories were for the best. It was as if all of the memories that had caused her stress had evaporated, leaving only good ones behind.
Adrien was the big one, as she hadn’t been able to remember him at all. At best, she was uncomfortable around him, and Luka did her the favor of removing any pictures of the guy from her cork board and phone. It took him a while to figure it out, but once he put together that Adrien was Chat Noir, things fell into place. Marinette had explained during their phone call that the previous guardian had lost his memory of the love of his life, but Luka imagined that she might’ve been his confidant for so long that thinking of her as anything else was impossible. Factor in that Marinette had also explained that her crush on Adrien had seeped into her being Ladybug, and it all added up; so long as the connection between the person and the miraculouses was unavoidable, they were forgotten.
And Marinette seemed all the happier for it. To some degree, it was tragic that Paris didn’t have Ladybug anymore, but as far as Luka was concerned, Marinette needed to be rid of Ladybug more than Paris needed her, and Marinette’s health took priority over all else.
The new ladybug holder was no replacement from the original, but Luka had expected that. Despite them being an adult and having access to as many lucky charms as they desired, no one could substitute Ladybug’s instinct and ability to think on her feet.
But that wasn’t Luka’s problem, and he wholly intended to make sure that it wasn’t Marinette’s either. She’d heard that there was a previous ladybug, but had no interest in anything relating to the heroes nor their miraculouses. The most she’d said about them was one time where she’d idly commented that her homeroom and PE teachers had been “busier than she remembered,” though she’d brushed it off as being related to her mild memory loss.
He’d giggled at that. He had been prepared to have to fall in love with a slightly different Marinette, but she honestly hadn’t changed much; still caring, still generous, and still the adorable mess that he loved so much. She could afford to work on her confidence, sure, but he didn’t fall for her due to what Ladybug had given her.
“Luka?”
He blinked, then looked down to her; her and her bright, happy eyes, the darkness underneath having faded long ago. She smiled at him, oblivious to his thoughts and a brow raised in amusement.
“Were you daydreaming?” she asked curiously, her hand covering his and giving it a casual squeeze.
Luka still couldn’t quite believe that he was hers and she was his. He recalled Desperada, that fateful day where she - Ladybug at the time - had given him the snake miraculous, presumably after she’d tried to give it to Adrien. He wouldn’t have admitted it at the time, but there was a pride in being able to do something that Adrien couldn’t. He’d never forgotten her words either, knowing now that they were Marinette’s.
“You were the right choice, Luka.”
He sighed blissfully, bending down to press his forehead against hers and replying, “I’m just happy.”
She let out a small whine at the sudden and sweet gesture, but still pressed back in return. “Me too.”
They stayed in that moment until a sudden thumping noise brought them out of it, Luka jerking his head up to stare at where it’d come from: Marinette’s room. Immediately recognizing what was happening, he groaned and rubbed his face in irritation.
As expected, the man Luka had come to know as Su-Han emerged, descending the stairs and locking eyes with Marinette. She recoiled, her hands clutching Luka’s sleeve as she murmured, “Not you again…”
Luka gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, then got up from the couch and walked around to face Su-Han himself.
The man huffed. “I’m not here for—”
“Marinette wants nothing to do with you,” Luka said lowly. He went for the living room door, opening it and gesturing outside. Su-Han followed with an air of self-importance and Luka closed the door behind them, leaving Marinette safely out of the conversation.
“The former ladybug had not even informed me of what she’d done,” Su-Han explained. “Therefore, it’s time she take responsibility and—”
Luka snapped, “You don’t get to blame anything on Marinette. She did everything you asked her to and you made her give up her memories.” He purposefully left out the fact that she was better off without said memories. “You’re the one who insulted her song before you even got to hear it.”
Su-Han squinted, the phrase clearly going over his head. “…What?”
At that point, the sound of footsteps came from downstairs, Luka glancing past the railing to see Tom coming up, perhaps having heard the voices even if he didn’t hear any specific words.
The moment he saw Su-Han, Tom glared.
“Honey! That man bothering our daughter is back!” he shouted.
More footsteps followed, this time from Sabine and simultaneously much faster than Tom’s. Su-Han clearly caught on that this would be a repeat of “last time” (one of Luka’s fonder memories of seeing the man be dealt with) and quickly fled back into the other room to return to Marinette’s balcony and escape.
Once Luka had confirmed that everything was okay, he returned to the couch to sit at Marinette’s side again. She tilted her head at him, but didn’t ask any questions, Su-Han having become something of a “frequent but harmless weirdo” who she didn’t understand.
Luka held an arm out invitingly, then wrapped it around Marinette when she snuggled against him. He used his free hand to open the bottle of iced tea - finding it difficult but also not worth leaving their cuddle to allow for both hands - then tipped the drink to his mouth to take a sip.
“Hey, Luka?” Marinette called, slightly shy in her delivery.
Luka met her gaze, setting the drink back on the table so he could give her his full attention. “Hm?”
“Could we… go on a date tomorrow?” she asked, one of her hands idly fiddling with the fabric of his pant leg. “I was thinking we could go buy a movie to watch? The one with Jagged Stone?”
He didn’t know if the request had anything to do with the failed date that she may or may not recall anymore, but regardless, he was grinning like a fool. He pulled her closer, his free hand falling upon one of hers as he nuzzled her. “I’d love that.”
He silently looked forward to the day where all the new memories he made with her outmatched the time lost from her old ones.