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One minute Ladybug was fighting another akuma, and the next, Marinette found herself next to Luka, looking around the cramped helm of the Liberty where the old compass spun wildly.
"Why are we here?" Luka asked from behind her.
"To face our hidden truths," Marinette whispered, reaching out but not quite touching the compass.
"What—and how?"
Marinette turned, focusing on Luka. He looked adorably confused. And handsome, always handsome. "There was an Akuma. Mantikraze. He was yelling about breaking lies and freeing truths… I think this is a construct of my mind."
"We're in your head?"
She shrugged. "Something like that. He had a key that he was waving like a wand. People kept stopping, frozen, wherever they were. Chat and I were just…"
She stopped. Apparently she couldn't lie in here, not even to protect her identity. Not even to herself.
Oh.
Luka studied her for a moment; his eyes were gentle but no less intense than she expected from him. "So why am I in your head?"
Marinette shook her head, like she could dislodge them both. But the truth wouldn't be quelled. "Because my truth affects you as much as me."
He nodded once, but because he was Luka, he didn't ask. Didn't push. "So, how do we get out of here… Paris is doomed without Ladybug."
That was true, and if she was frozen, she was a sitting duck. Her earrings were as vulnerable as the rest of her. "I think I have to be honest with myself. And with you."
She swallowed against the ache in her heart. She shouldn't prolong it… It was the only way to escape. But things were different now. Luka… he had Irupé now.
Not that she didn't deserve it. She had lied to herself about so many things for so long, and hurt him along the way.
Luka slipped his hands around hers. A tether, so warm and tender. "Marinette?"
She felt a tear slide down her cheek. "I thought— so many things. And you always made my compass go haywire. But I was so sure… and so wrong. You slipped through all the cracks, filling all the broken spaces and I never—" She pulled a hand away to scrub at her cheeks.
"Never what?" Luka breathed.
"Never told you I loved you when I had the chance. I never even told myself I loved you, and now—"
For one perfect blissful second, Marinette thought Luka would kiss her. Then she was Ladybug, standing on a Parisian street surrounded by frozen people, trapped in their own lies, waiting for her to rescue them.
She took a deep breath, focusing on reality, before she jumped back into the fray. She had a key to steal, a butterfly to purify, and a boy in Brazil to call.