Work Text:
The knife embeds itself less than an inch from his torso.
It would have been deadly if he had moved just a millisecond slower.
He wrenches the knife free of the wall. Chloé is watching his movements, stalking closer to him. Eventually, they are close enough to touch — and she reaches for the knife in his hand.
“I wish to take back what is mine,” she says, and she wrenches it out of his hand. He does not stop her. “And you are blocking me from it.”
He stares at her. “Just why do you want so badly?”
“My goals are beyond your understanding.” She tosses her ponytail over her shoulder, but the gesture doesn’t look as pompous with her staring straight at him. “All you do is listen to Ladybug. You treat her word as though it’s that of a goddess, but she is only human.”
“Forgive me if I trust her more than I trust you,” he bites back. “You have never been trustworthy, Miss Bourgeois. I will not listen to you now. We must stop here.” He slithers out from where his back is pinned to the wall. “Until we meet again.”
He can feel the weight of her gaze lingering as she exits the room.
Chloé doesn’t pursue Luka, despite every part of her screaming that she should. It’s only fair — her trap was never going to work, and engaging him in combat would only lead to a more humiliating defeat.
She slips the knife into its holster, and exits through the skylight. Félix is there when she gets back to the base — at least it isn’t Lila or Hawk Moth himself. Félix would berate her less — she had no idea what his agenda was, but she knew his loyalty wasn’t fully to Hawk Moth. Especially after Adrien defected.
“Just what exactly is your goal with all this, Chloé?” Félix stares straight over the desk at her, but she refuses to be cowed. “Why are you so obsessed with him?”
“He’s the weakest link,” Chloé says. “I can break him away from Ladybug.” She just needs to convince him that her words are worth listening to.
“You know Hawk Moth thinks trying to turn them is futile. Lila’s the manipulation expert, and she’s fallen in line.” He sighs. “Why is he worth disobeying Hawk Moth for?”
“I think Hawk Moth is wrong. The more we disrupt Ladybug’s thrall over her agents, the less outnumbered we’ll be, and the closer to victory we will get.” She sighs. “Ladybug’s been able to do the same to us twice, Félix. First with Kagami, then with Adrien.”
She loved Kagami before. They had something that was just between the two of them, barely anything worth talking about. But Kagami betrayed them all, and Chloé moved on.
It was honestly worse when Adrien did, because he was like a brother to her, and yet he would betray the cause because he had fallen for Ladybug, of all people. The chessmaster on the other side of the board.
“It’ll be payback when I get him on our side,” she says. “For now…don’t mention it. He got away, but I managed to injure him.”
“Right,” Félix answers, typing something up on his computer. “I believe you.”
He does, in fact, inform Ladybug about the nature of their encounter — Chloé’s surrender was indeed a trap, she threw a knife at him, he made it out unharmed but is no closer to guessing at her motive.
“She won’t try that ploy again,” Ladybug says to him. “You’re okay, right?”
“Slightly shaken. But I think I’m closer to finding it out, Ladybug. Let me pursue this case.”
“I am no closer to comprehending your obsession with Chloé than I was before,” she answers, shaking her head.
“I could fix her,” he insists. “There is some part of her that has regrets, some part that desires to get out of her situation.”
“How do you know?” Ladybug asks. “Don’t forget she wants you dead.”
“Yeah,” he says, “but I don’t plan on dying anytime soon.”
“Luka…you have to remember. There was a time where Hawk Moth and I worked together,” Ladybug says. “Before the schism that tore us apart. Chloé chose him during the schism.”
“So did Adrien,” he says. “And now the two of you are…”
“Hawk Moth is part of Adrien’s biological family,” Ladybug says. “Adrien first took his side because he thought he had no other choice. His sympathies were always with us. You absolutely cannot say the same for Chloé, and it is dangerous to think you could fix her.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” he says, “that we’ve managed to pull away someone that was legitimately loyal to Hawk Moth, either.”
“Kagami never used lethal force — or force that was meant to be lethal,” Ladybug argues in return. “You would be better off trying to get to Félix — Adrien could provide support on that attempt.”
“There’s something about Chloé,” Luka insists. “Something that makes me think she can change.”
“If you insist,” Ladybug answers. “I think you’re capable of trying, and I trust your judgement, but I also…knew what Chloé was like before the schism. I’m not sure that she can change.”
“I’ll try my best,” Luka says. “And maybe…I’ll have to give up. I don’t know.”
They face each other again atop a train. It’s the sort of high-speed action thing that she would never have wanted to do in real life, and yet she’s here, trying to keep her feet planted on the rails and avoid getting thrown off of the train.
Ladybug’s sabotaged their operation again.
“I thought robbery was beneath you,” Luka yells as he jumps between train cars. “What were you getting out of this?”
“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to, Couffaine,” Chloé replies.
“I do want to know, actually,” he says. “Because it informs us about what you’re up to.”
She just smirks and doesn’t say anything. He attempts to sweep out her legs from underneath her, as though she’s not having trouble finding her balance as is. But he seems to be able to right himself easily after she sidesteps the attack, which is totally unfair. He faces her in a defensive stance. She narrows her eyes, but does not attack. The two of them stand facing each other, ready for something to happen.
And then the train whistle sounds, and she tackles him into the space between cars just as the train approaches a tunnel.
He feels Chloé’s weight hit him hard, and the two of them fall backwards into a gap between two train cars as he realizes that the train is hurtling towards a tunnel.
Did she just save his life? The two of them are balanced, for now, but they duck into separate train cars — he goes into the one behind him, while she exits through the door behind her.
He thinks she just saved his life. That’s…something. That’s proof Chloé has the potential to do better — if he had been facing Lila, she would’ve saved her own skin, and he either would’ve died or been severely injured.
Because of Chloé, he’s mostly fine, aside from some bruises and scrapes that’ll heal.
Ladybug’s in person for once when he gets to one of their satellite bases — usually he only sees her through the screen of a video call, but she’s here right now instead of at HQ.
“I think you were right about her,” Ladybug says. “I…heard about what happened today.”
“She saved my life,” he says quietly. “I think I might be right about this.”
“I’m starting to think so too,” she answers.
“Marinette,” Luka asks, addressing her by her real name instead of the persona she’s created for the sake of everyone that works alongside him and underneath her, “how well did you and Chloé know each other before the schism?”
“Not very well.” She shrugs. “She always thought she was better than me because of her wealth. We weren’t kind to each other in the least. I have…somewhat of a grudge against her, and that’s clouded my judgement, but I can acknowledge that I was wrong now. You’ve got the opportunity to reduce Hawk Moth’s numbers. I believe in you, Luka.”
“Why are you here?” he asks. “In person, that is.”
She smiles. “Adrien, Kagami, and I are having a honeymoon. It’s…representative of what we are to each other. None of us know how much more time we have together. Polyamorous relationships can’t get married, but…” She withdraws a chain from inside a pocket, and fastens it around her neck. “It’s as married as we can get. No one wanted to exclude the third.”
“And…that honeymoon took you out here?” he asks, because he doesn’t believe for a second that she’s actually taking a break.
“We’re going all around Europe. I brought my Ladybug gear just in case something happened to one of our ongoing operations, like yours.”
He nods. “Then…I hope you have a good honeymoon.”
“Keep up the good work,” she says, patting him on his back. “Good luck, Luka.”
Why did she tackle Luka? The question burns in her mind as she paces through the traincar. She saw Luka get off a few stops ago — the train line will be ending soon, at which point she will need to get off, but she will at the very least have put enough distance between them where she will be alone for some time until he has it in his head to pursue her.
She could’ve just let the tunnel do her job for her. She’s always wanted him dead. The tunnel would’ve killed him, and she wouldn’t even have taken the blame for it — it would’ve been his own foolhardiness that killed him. Because he wouldn’t have realized — he barely seemed to have registered it when the train horn went off.
But she attacked, and she saved him at the same time.
And then they didn’t fight anymore, because they couldn’t get back in a space fit for fighting. They just…parted ways there, without saying a word.
Why did she spare him?
It would’ve been easy. She would’ve gotten what she wanted, and she would’ve been rewarded for another one of Ladybug’s operatives down. Perhaps she could even get a facsimile of what she wanted, the Stinger technology that once belonged to her. Perhaps Hawk Moth would let her…
After all, Ladybug — Marinette — held a grudge against Chloé. If Ladybug had anything to say about it, Chloé would never get her hands on the Stinger technology again. She caused the schism that drove Hawk Moth and Ladybug apart.
She was responsible for everything.
But…that wasn’t a bad thing, right? Both Ladybug and Hawk Moth had hurt people, both directly and indirectly. Neither were without sin. Ladybug wasn’t a saint, and Hawk Moth was not the demon to be feared, no matter the public perceptions of the situation.
Chloé sighs. What should she do?
She should stay on her side. She should earn back the Stinger technology by triumphing over Ladybug. Hawk Moth will guide her to greatness.
But still…she’s had a number buried in her communicator. Adrien’s.
Luka watches Ladybug leave, and then he collapses onto one of the beds kept here. Who would’ve thought that Ladybug would ever take time for herself? Still, he’s glad that she’s happy with Adrien and Kagami.
He can’t stop thinking about Chloé. Why did she save his life? It wasn’t even just sparing, really, it was straight up preventing him from dying.
And then he realizes — he wants her. He wants her to be with him. Is he really following in Ladybug’s footsteps?
Luka rolls over, and does his best to think about what he’ll do if this ever ends.
***
“I’m leaving,” Adrien whispered to her one night, when it was just the two of them. Both of them always had trouble sleeping — typically in the mornings they’d be found piled atop each other. “I always thought I had to follow Father.”
“What’s happening?” she asked quietly.
“Tonight,” he whispered. “I’m leaving here tonight, Chloé. Because…I love her. I love her enough to overcome Father.”
“You love her,” Chloé breathed. “Right.”
“You’re my sister, Chloé. You always will be,” he said, taking her hands. “But I have to do this. I hope that you’ll understand.”
She didn’t.
“I’ve been planning this for a while,” he confessed. “Here. I’ll give you the number for my new communicator. If you ever need me…call.”
She didn’t respond, but held out her arm, so he could write in pen on the back of her wrist. She messaged it through her communicator afterwards, and then spent a half-hour scrubbing the mark off of her wrist.
The buzzing of Luka’s communicator wakes him up. The call’s from Adrien — strange, he thought Adrien was on vacation too. Do none of the three know how to leave work behind for vacation? The organization would survive a week without Ladybug, honestly. Alya and Nino would do well.
“What’s going on?” Luka asks.
“Chloé just called me,” Adrien answers. “I…gave her the number from my communicator when I defected. It was a risk, but…”
“The seed’s always been planted,” Luka says. Because if Chloé had really wanted to hurt Adrien, she would’ve turned in the number, used it against Ladybug. “What did she say?”
“She said that she was having doubts. I told her that Hawk Moth manipulated almost everyone that sided with him in the schism, even Lila. Nathalie’s the only one who he didn’t actively manipulate, and she would’ve followed him to the end of the world because she loved him.” Adrien takes a deep breath. He probably doesn’t like remembering everyone that sided with Hawk Moth in the schism. “You should go find her. She got off at the end of the line yesterday that you two fought on.” Luka straightens. “And…I think she’ll go with you, Luka. It can’t be any of the three of us. I’m an old memory. Kagami is her ex. And she still doesn’t really like Marinette. You’re different from us, you came into everything post-schism. You have a different perspective.”
Luka closes his eyes. “Alright. I’m in. But I need more sleep first.”
Adrien sends a text telling her to wait at the train station in around two hours. She wonders how he knows — but then again, he probably spoke to one of Ladybug’s people. She thinks Luka’s the only one that’s close enough to get here in that amount of time.
And then she spots him — he’s being discreet with a hat, but she can still recognize the black leather jacket and the ugly pants that are an affront to fashion.
“Luka,” she says, and the two stare at each other for a moment.
Oh.
She…wants him.