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Looking out over the bay Marinette just stood there thinking. Thinking about what was happening in her life, specifically how she became something of a hero. At 14. Just 14. And look how all of this got her. Nothing but pain. It was somehow the highlight of her life but also looking back to the most awful time she ever could have had.
How can something so good happen to her but also be the worst thing for her at the same time? It was all so confusing. The water glittered from the moon and the cold helped sweep the water into waves. After everything, after feeling like she was made for something, how can she lose it all so quickly?
Maybe it was not the real gift she thought it to be? Marinettes mind whispered to her and, if she were to have this thought just a few months earlier she would have scoffed. Of course it was a gift, imagine younger her would say, and look what I can do with it. No one can take this from me.
But just yet it was taken so quickly that she didn't have time to think about her life outside of it. Before Ladybug she was so excited for her current and future life, having hopes, plans, and dreams. Then Ladybug came and took it all away and replaced it with itself.
Now at 15 she was not sure what she really wanted to do with herself with no Ladybug. How can she live in the lush life that was ahead of her but now she can't do the skills it has to be? What should I do? Who am I?
There was a sound of a camera taking a picture off to her side. Looking over almost flinching at the sound but it was just Luka. God, when was the last time I hung out with him or my other friends? Ladybug took up time, always having to leave in the middle of it, and after a while she just stopped coming.
"Hey, it has been a while since we have seen each other." Marinette said feeling awkward after all this time that has passed since the last time they had seen each other. Hoping he wont be mad about being abandoned with the rest of their friends. "How is the band going? If you guys are still doing it that is."
"Kitty section has been going well. We have a new gig coming up. What have you been up to?" Luka responds in that calm voice that Marinette always loved. Though she was not sure how to respond. How does one explain that you were so drawn in at being a vigilante that you forgot your real and current life?
"Lets just say I was around a lot of people that took up so much of my time I could do nothing else. But after everything that happened they…left." Marinette made up though it didn't feel much of a lie. In the bare bones it is what it felt like. Ladybug came to her life and brought out a new person of hers and then left when she couldn't keep up anymore.
"How about we start over?" Luka asks looking at Marinette with hope and Marinette couldn't help but feel like a giggity teenager that she once was.
"I think I would like that." Marinette said leaning against the rail, her cane leaning on her. Because the cold was making her pain worse but couldn't help but want this so she ignored it. Her cane on the other hand decided to throw itself onto the ground. Internally groaning at having to bend down and grab it but she had forgotten someone else was with her so before she could get it Luka got it and handed it to her. The feeling of blood going up into her cheeks and burning through her skin to show her embarrassment was there. "Thanks."
"Could it perhaps be a date?" Luka asks looking at her with a hesitant smile on his face she could feel her heart racing as it ran into her throat.
"That would do." She replies not really sure what she should say but it was something. Later she would think about how stupid that sounded but for now it was good.
Maybe there was more to her life than just having been Ladybug.