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"Please be okay. Please. Please be okay," she chanted, racing through the streets of Paris. She didn't dare stop until she caught sight of the Liberty where Anarka usually kept it docked on the Seine. "Please be there. Please be there."
With a running leap, she landed on the houseboat's messy deck, scrambling to remain upright and not roll into the other side. Her luck held out, landing much like her partner often did on her own two feet. Pushing herself up, she took off for the interior, seeking out the room she knew to be his.
She didn't hesitate in bursting through the hatch and sliding to a stop beside his bed.
"You're okay," she shouted between panting breaths and launched herself at him.
Luka caught her easily enough, cradling her along his length as they both fell backward on his bed. His eyes took on a sadness she hated as much as the thought he'd been seriously injured by the earlier akuma. His fingers traced her errant locks, having long since decided to leave her messy pigtails.
"What's wrong, angel?"
At a loss for words, she cupped his cheeks and pressed kiss after desperate kiss against his lips. He had to know how much she cared for him, how much the thought of losing him would devastate her. She'd thought her heart had been shattered when the akuma had held an illusion of him far above the streets of Paris, ready to toss him to his death. Was it not bad enough her first crush had been treated the same way so many years ago? Now it had to be the man she was sure she loved with her entire heart and soul?
These latest akumas had a propensity for cruelty, she thought before pressing yet more kisses, each one more desperate and loving than the last. She didn't know how much longer she could handle being Ladybug and seeing those she loved threatened on an almost daily basis. A woman could only take so much before she broke.
"Angel," he murmured between kisses, gripping her by the arms and pushing her back so he might see her eyes, "you have to talk to me. I can't help if you don't talk."
Tears leaked out, spearing down her cheeks to land in great droplets on his tattered blue shirt. She sniffed a few times, trying to get a handle on her emotions and failing spectacularly.
"Oh, Marinette," he crooned and dragged her against him, his arms wrapping around her to keep her safe and warm against him. He pressed sweet kisses to her forehead as he continued to hold her. "It'll be okay. We'll be okay. Nothing is going to take me away from you, not permanently anyway. Even if we are parted in this world, I'll wait as long as I need for you to join me in the next. You're my heart, my sweet angel."
Her nails dug tiny crescents into his upper arms as she clung to him, still working to get a grip on herself. The day had been too real, too full of potential loss. How was she supposed to leave him and go back to her room, pretending all is well?
"Wanna stay the night? I can hold you as long as you need me to," he whispered in her ear.
She nodded, lifting her head and meeting his gaze. "I'd really like that."
"Then, stay with me." He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, easing the pain within her heart and the devastation in her soul. "I'll keep you safe just as you keep all of Paris safe."
Burrowing into his side, she rested her head on his arm so she might see him in the growing darkness. Her fingers traced the pattern on his shirt for several minutes before she finally whispered, "I love you."
He smiled at her. "I love you, too, angel."