previously: luka doubted kagami, luka revealed mages saying any demon's name makes them stronger, the king's men attacked kagami and luka showed his powers.

originally adrien was supposed to appear in chapter fifteen, but i thought it was too rushed. he's now coming in chapter seventeen, please don't hurt me. have kagami comforting mari by kicking her instead.

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Chat Noir © Thomas Astruc

"So, the king wants to kill me," Marinette concluded. "I can't say I'm surprised."

Kagami tilted her head to click her neck. "It is unfortunate."

"You say you've been marked as a traitor, but they weren't trying to kill you," she pointed out, furrowing her brow. "Did they want to question you?"

"To prevent it happening to the other mages, most likely," was the response to that. "Mistakes should not happen a second time."

Luka bluntly asked, "Are you going back?"

Kagami frowned at him. "No."

Her stomach twisted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Kagami replied. There was barely any emotion in that response; no tears or anger from what she'd been put through from associating with her, all of the negative emotions pushed down to appear unbothered.

"I am," Marinette insisted, running a hand through her hair, gripping at the roots tighter than necessary to ground herself. "This—it's all my fault. You're only doing your job and now you're a wanted criminal because of it."

Kagami stated, "I am still doing my job."

"Yeah, but you're not going to be thanked for it," she rebutted. "If you show your face again, you'll be killed."

Kagami questioned, "Why would I leave you?"

"You don't have to stay with me," Marinette murmured. "I can—I can go the rest of the way with Luka. You can go off and live however you want. There's nothing tying you to me."

Stubbornly, Kagami lifted her head up. "I am not leaving."

Luka suggested, "I can find you a safe place to live. It can be far enough in demon territory so you will not have to be scared of the king."

The rejection is swift. "No."

Marinette sighed. "You hate demons, I get it. But—"

"I am not leaving," Kagami repeated, raising her voice a little. "I will not leave until I have assured your safety and repaid my debt."

Luka squinted. "Do you mean me?"

"Yes," Kagami confirmed. "You helped me."

"I only did that to stop Mari," he bluntly told her. "I do not care what happens to you."

Kagami nodded. "The feeling is mutual."

The Kagami from the beginning would've followed orders without complaint. Marinette didn't need to guess that she would've gone along with the men without fighting back, and she certainly wouldn't have fought back in an attempt to escape.

For as much as she tried to play it off as her doing her duty, Kagami cared.

Marinette's chest felt warm at that.

Kagami was awkward, but they were friends.

It was another matter with Luka altogether.

"Great, you're not friends," Marinette said, clapping her hands once to get their attention. "Can we get you out of those bloody clothes first? I have spares for you somewhere."

Kagami looked down at her ruined outfit.

Luka snorted.

The trauma of what had happened didn't hit for a few hours.

-x-

Kagami and Luka were almost at the stage for banter.

They'd moved past Kagami trying to maim him a while ago, thankfully. The stint with the king's men had caused them to stop glaring at each other, though that didn't mean that they were immediately friends.

It had been weeks since Marinette had been scared she'd wake up to either of them murdering the other. All of the time on the road had loosened them up, enough so that Kagami gave in and wasn't as stubborn about trying to do everything she could that didn't involve magic.

That didn't mean that she wanted to acknowledge it directly, though. There was a difference between getting along with a demon begrudgingly because of who was in their company and admitting that they weren't automatically evil because they weren't human.

"No," Kagami said.

"You are being too narrow-minded," Luka told her, though there was no heat in his voice. He sounded close to bored as he led the way up the rocky path of the hill. "Demons can offer things that humans cannot. Your hospitals are already overrun with patients that have no hope of being cured."

Marinette was in the middle of them, happily listening to them talk without butting in. Sometimes when she let them ramble, she learned more than if she was the one asking the questions.

"Trading control for potions is not the way forward," Kagami countered. "Denouncing the king is a death warrant. Second chances are not given easily."

Luka sighed. "And what of the places that have successfully been under our control for decades?"

"They have no contact with the outside," she replied. "Travel is restricted. Without forged documents, they are unable to cross the rivers to visit other countries."

Marinette didn't mention that they hadn't had to use documents to board their boat.

He asked, "Is that what you really think?"

"I know," Kagami countered. "I've witnessed it."

"Have you?" Luka didn't sound convinced. "Unlike in the capital, humans don't have to be identified to visit other settlements. They can travel freely. A lot choose not to because they don't have the courage to do so."

"You say you provide them a better life, yet now you are telling me they're too scared to travel," Kagami said. "How is that any better?"

"Their quality of life is better," he countered. "I've seen the starving villages with my own eyes. How can you say the king is right to ignore them?"

Kagami sounded hollow as she replied, "You do not provide for the weak."

"We do," Luka stated, leaving it at that.

And yet, the topic wasn't dropped. Marinette didn't need to turn around to know that Kagami was pissed off as she accused, "You do not protect them."

"No?" Luka questioned, looking over his shoulder with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "What makes you say that, knight? You're the one that's been abandoned here, not me."

"The king is not the first to do so," Kagami spat out. "I have experienced your kind's generosity before. As soon as danger came, they fled with their tails between their legs."

"Strange, tails are not usually a feature we keep," Luka mused. "Are you sure you're not imagining things?"

Kagami's voice was flat. "I did not imagine my family dying because you demons escaped and left us to die."

Marinette suddenly felt small and completely out of place between them.

The death of Kagami's family was one that she knew before, but not the reason behind it. Suddenly, it made sense why she had no faith in Panya if she'd grown up in a demon-ran village before being abandoned.

Kagami had said that no one was spared when the king's men came to fight.

The princess had spared her life—that was also a titbit that she knew, but now it was fitting together into a personal puzzle that wasn't hers to know.

"Is that where this animosity is coming from?" he asked, keeping his gaze ahead. "I am not a representation for every demon, just like you are not every human."

"I do not like you," Kagami told him.

"That's nice," Luka replied, the laugh that left him entirely forced. "I am not fond of you either. It's not the most pleasant thing being killed, you know."

Kagami replied, "You were reckless. It's not my fault you let your guard down."

"I was happy to see Mari," he said in return. "I thought you would have continued to be oblivious that I differ to a normal cat."

"Normal cats cannot make it across the country," she replied. "Do not think so little of me."

"I have promised not to hurt you," Luka reminded her. "As long as you have Mari's best interests in heart, I will not lay a hand on you. And I won't allow anyone else to."

It was almost a grumble as Kagami said, "I'm a criminal because of you."

"It's my fault over anyone else's," Marinette chimed in for the first time, sure her nervousness was coming across in her voice. "I fucked up and teleported us. If it wasn't for that, we would've still been in the capital."

Kagami kicked the back of her leg.

Marinette shrieked.

"Children," Luka chided. "We are not in friendly territory. Keep it down."

"Okay, dad," Marinette muttered.

He laughed. "I'm not your father."

"How old are you?" she asked.

"Twenty-one."

She tried to say, "And in human years that's—"

"Twenty-one," he repeated, amused.

Marinette clapped. "You two are the same age! That's even more reason for you to get along."

Kagami kicked her again.

"I regret healing you now," she grumbled, limping a little from the sudden throbbing in her leg. "I should've left you bloody and defenceless to make you like me more."

"I like you," Kagami replied, emotionless as ever.

She snorted. "That's so reassuring."

-x-

"So," Marinette started, drawing out the sound of that single word. She was sat on a rock, kicking her feet as she watched Luka slowly turning the the meat above the fire. "Why do you get stronger from me saying your name?"

"I do not know the exact details of it," he replied, sitting with one leg propped up so he could rest his arm on his knee, lazily holding the stick out to cook the food. "It is simply... accepted now. I'm sure there are some books somewhere that would have more information."

Kagami had gone to scout the area, preferring to go alone.

She huffed. "What good are you if you can't tell me anything?"

"I am trusted with fire, unlike you," he pointed out.

Marinette glared. "I'm not good at controlling fire yet."

"Accepting your faults is good," he praised, smile showing his canines.

She scoffed. "You can tell me I'm shit, it's okay."

"I would never," he denied.

"I don't even say your surname, so wouldn't it... empower all Lukas out there?" she theorised, putting her hands back on the rock and staring up at the sky that was darkening above them. The sight of all the stars had slowly lost its charm the longer they were camping. "Because none of this is really clear."

Luka's response was to ask, "Surname?"

"Last name?" she replied, tilting her head.

It hadn't really hit her that no one had been introduced with a surname; not even the princess, or any of the other members of staff at the castle.

"It is not a custom here," he clarified.

She frowned. "There's a king and a princess, but is there... I don't know, a duke? That's usually a thing for these places, I think."

"I do not know what that is."

"No other noble titles?" she questioned.

"As you said, it is limited," Luka pointed out. "For kings, queens, and their direct children only."

It didn't make much sense to her, but she was thankful that it wasn't something she'd had to focus on. Alya had never been offended when they addressed her casually, and none of the guards had reprimanded them for not being overly formal.

Then again, that probably wasn't the case for anyone native to the world.

She persisted and asked, "You really have no clue why you get stronger because of me?"

"I do not have that information," he admitted. "Mages have been—the last record of a mage being born in this land is from over a century ago. There are some myths passed around, but I cannot tell you the validity of them."

"Well, does you saying my name make me stronger?" she asked.

There was always the chance that it was because she hadn't given her full name.

"No," Luka denied.

She blinked. "No?"

"We are not the same species," he replied matter-of-factly.

"What." It didn't come out as a question. "We're not—what? What? When you were going to tell me this?"

Looking over his shoulder to look at her, his unimpressed response was, "Can you turn into an animal?"

Marinette threw her hands up in exasperation. "I don't know, like, half of what I can do!"

"Did you not—did the castle teach you anything?" he muttered, running a hand through his hair and pushing it away from his face. He pointed at his face. "Demon."

She frowned and copied him. "Human?"

He seemed pleased with that response. "Exactly."

"That... explains nothing," she told him, incredulous. "What are you even talking about?"

"The key difference between us is ageing," Luka explained, taking a skewer off the fire and passing it to her to eat after he'd inspected that it was fully cooked. "Your potential for magic depends on how much you train and becomes stunted as you get older. That was the problem for mages that were born here in the past—past their prime, their powers started to diminish before being inaccessible."

She gratefully started eating, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "And you?"

"It is luck," he said. "I was born with a high aptitude for magic."

"And me saying your name, like, nudges it a bit more?" she queried, trying to understand what he was trying to say. "Unless you mean it's luck whether you can get stronger or not—"

"It seems to be decided at birth," Luka admitted, inspecting another piece of food before placing it down safely for Kagami when she returned. "It cannot be fully evaluated until puberty, though. Magic comes in gradually as we grow up."

"Right, so I've got a magic tongue that helps you beat genetics a little," she concluded. "And I don't need to worry about getting wrinkles and losing my magic because I'm not even from this world."

He nodded. "Correct."

"Do you lose it?" she questioned.

Luka simply replied, "No."

"No?" she persisted. "Why?"

"My species is superior to yours," he said.

Marinette scoffed. "You just told me that I'll be able to get better at magic than you."

"You are a different case," Luka pointed out, rotating his own food over the fire and brushing off some of the ash that had landed on him. "After our bodies are fully developed, we... stop."

She frowned. "Stop?"

"Ageing," he clarified. "What is the point of being weak with old age? My kind are not like yours."

"What the fuck?" she blurted, almost spitting out her mouthful from surprise. "You—stop. As in, you don't age even a little bit like me?"

"Somewhat," he agreed, amused by her reaction. "My hair will continue to grow, though. Sorry to disappoint you there."

She narrowed her eyes. "Are you fucking with me?"

"I am being serious," Luka assured her. "I can die from the same wounds as you, so it isn't as though I'm a god."

Marinette was still suspicious. "You're not going to say you are one later, right?"

"No." He laughed. "I am simply a demon, Mari."

She hummed. "Sure."

"It's true," he insisted.

"You're the bad guys for your eternal youth," she muttered, pointing her food at him. "I'd want you dead, too."

He wasn't insulted in the slightest. "It is evened out with our terrible birth rate."

"Weak sperm, got it," Marinette concluded. "You can't have it all, eh?"

-x-

Back in her world, Marinette had never been on a hike.

She'd never participated in a marathon, was below average at all sports at school, and chose to spend her free time lazing around at home instead of going out to meet up with friends. The time with her parents had been treasured, and remembering being cosy on the sofa with a blanket wrapped around her seemed like such a distant memory.

It had been over two months since she'd been on the road with Kagami and Luka.

There was a routine now; a rhythm to things as she washed clothes in a creek and took a bath there instead of wasting her mana to conjure enough clean water to get the job done. While it meant lowering her standards a little, it wasn't that bad.

Kagami had no complaints about the food.

Marinette was still squeamish about skinning animals for their meals.

The emotions she felt outside were ever-changing.

There were times where she was huddled up in her blanket to sleep, tears welling up in her eyes as she remembered the ease that Luka had murdered guards to protect Kagami. It was brutal and over in a matter of seconds, so fast that it could've been a daydream if it wasn't for her frantically pouring a health potion down Kagami's throat after and getting covered in blood in the process.

She could still remember how it felt on her hands.

Yet when Luka laughed with her and smiled, she didn't feel any fear.

He'd never done anything to be threatening towards her; sure, his first impression when she'd been in the tree had been terrifying, but that hadn't been his intention.

They were all awkward in their own ways.

It wasn't a common thing to trust someone so fully to protect her life, yet she'd managed to find two.

There were days where it wasn't optimal to keep moving. When it was raining too hard, they sought shelter and stayed there for as long as necessary, fetching wet wood and stubbornly using fire on it until it caught alight and stayed providing them warmth.

Marinette had lost count of how long she'd had dirt underneath her nails.

With Luka, she had someone who knew more answers to her ridiculous questions.

"So," she started, pointedly looking down at her fingers. "If I lost a nail, would it grow back with a potion?"

He closed his eyes, crossing his arms to try and stay warm. "Yes."

"What about teeth—"

It was only when Kagami demanded for her to be quiet that she listened, letting there be some silence. After all, she couldn't fill in every lull in conversation with her babbling.

That didn't mean she didn't try, though.

When they came across a demon city, Marinette was overjoyed.

It was one of the biggest that they'd been to thus far; with tall walls that made the inside unable to be seen from a distance, stepping through one of the guarded entrances felt like an out of body experience. She had to wonder whether the capital would've been like that, though she'd never seen past the small snippet from the castle and the carriage she'd stepped out of.

She excitedly took Kagami's hand and tugged her around, inspecting all of the streets.

There was even a fountain with a statue in the middle of the city, surrounded by different kinds of plants that were still in season in the winter.

She marvelled at it.

The statue wasn't of a person, though.

"Are there any ones of Panya?" she asked, directing the question at both of them. "For all the places we've been, I don't think I've seen... anything?"

"Panya does not have a appearance," Kagami informed her, sitting down on a bench with a sigh, stretching out her legs.

Luka made a noise that was suspiciously like a snort. "Humans believe Panya to be the one that made mana accessible to them in the first place."

She raised her eyebrows. "Panya made mages?"

"That is the belief," Kagami confirmed. "It's more... everything good?"

"Fuck us, I guess," she muttered. "Let a faceless being get the credit, okay."

Luka laughed.

"You're not wrong," Kagami agreed.

While she'd known that Kagami didn't believe in Panya, she'd never been so open about it before.

"No one's making human sacrifices to this god, are they?" Marinette bluntly asked. "Or anything else shady? Just to make sure. I'm curious."

"No, there is no tradition of that kind," Luka informed her.

She made a thoughtful noise. "How did they summon me here, then?"

There was no response to that.

She sighed. "I'm starting to suspect that no one's ever going to be able to tell me that."

"My... boss might be able to," Luka awkwardly pointed out, still finding it hard to address him like that. "There is a lot that I don't know. He is... the most knowledgeable person I know."

Kagami muttered, "And the most evil."

Marinette clapped her hands. "Let's not fight."

She got twin glares for that.