End of Lunch, passing period
"Marinette?"
"Luka"
Marinette and Luka stared at each other before Luka moved to get closer to Marinette but at this movement, Marinette flinched back which stopped Luka in his tracks. Luka gave her a sad smile before he began to walk again but slowly and started speaking. "Marinette, I'm not gonna yell at you, I am not going to belittle you, or ignore your side of the story"
Marinette stared at him before walking to where he was and hugged him and thanking him. She then turned to the others and said, "I'll see guys late but I want to quickly talk to Luka. Jake and Terra, can you please tell the teacher I might be a bit late?"
They nodded their heads and resumed to walk to their class but Ruby stopped and turned to talk to Luka, "I'll warn your teacher about you being a little bit late, Harmony"
Luka nodded at her and she began to follow the others. Marinette and Luka were standing there awkwardly before Luka grabbed her hand and began to pull her in a certain direction. While he was pulling her she noticed that he wore the same outfit as Sébastian. He was wearing his earrings, bracelets, and rings I always see him with. He had on blue shoes I never saw him wear before, a blue backpack with blue lightning, and he was carrying a black guitar case in his other hand.
When they stopped walking Marinette saw that they arrived inside a greenhouse that had a beautiful garden in the center with stone benches and a small fountain. Luka took her to the bench sat her down before sitting himself next to her. He brought out his guitar which was a beautiful turquoise and blue color mixture. He strummed some of the strings and hummed a small tune before he began to speak.
"I haven't heard from you in a while, Marinette," He began before he looked at Marinette for a second before looking away again and continuing, "Are you okay?"
Marinette let the silence sit before speaking, "Honestly, I don't know."
"Have you heard that the band split up?" Luka asked
"I did." Marinette answered giving him a small smile, "How are you doing?"
"I'm ok, actually, they are sorry but at the same time...They kept following the word of a stranger than their own bandmate." Luka informed Marinette. Marinette shook her head and hugged Luka, "So you know the stranger I'm talking about?"
"Her name is Lila Rossi and she's a psychological liar," Marinette stated, she then began her story, "Around the first few months of the beginning of the school year Lila Rossi moved to Paris because of her mom's job and started going to Collège Françoise Dupont. When she first appeared I really didn't like her because she immediately latched on to Adrien and I did get jealous because of that fact"
At the mention of Adrien and her old crush on him, she looked away from Luka. Luka, on the other hand, continued playing a soft tune on his guitar, he himself knew that Marinette's heart would never be aligned with his but he was always going to be there for her because he was her friend first and would be there for her in any situation. So as the silence continued he motioned for her to continue and she nodded.
"I eventually found out she was a liar because I followed her to the library, a shop, and the park where she was meeting up with Adrien when she began to claim that she was a superhero and was a descendant of a fox miraculous holder, Adrien began to believe her but then Ladybug interrupted them and called Lila out for lying which made Lila angry and stormed off," Marinette explained, "Granted Ladybug was a bit harsh on her and she didn't deserve to be humiliated that way but in the end she yelled at Ladybug and then ran away and she became akumatized into Volpina. After being cleansed she disappeared for a while and all was back to normal."
Marnette took a deep breath and calmed herself since beginning the story she was becoming aggravated, "But about two months ago, after heroes day and everything with scarletmoth, she came and began lying again, I tried to warn my friends but then Alya told me that I was just being jealous and that I didn't have any proof of her lying but the thing is that she didn't have any proof that she was telling the truth along with getting yelled at about eavesdropping on their conversation totally ignoring the part about her lying. So after trying to prove that she was lying once more, I get yelled at, so I went to the bathroom to cool off and Lila came after me and said she would give me a chance to be her 'friend' but then I called her out for her lies and she told me she only tells people what they want to hear and then she threatened me about taking all my friends from me and taking away Adrien from me, after that she left and I, understandably, got angry which led to an akuma to come after me and when I fought it off Lila got akumatized and then after she was de-akumatized she threatened me again about taking my friends and Adrien."
Marinette began to cry a bit since she was frustrated, Luka stopped playing his guitar and hugged her. After calming down, they stayed that way for a while before Luka spoke, "That was also around the time you stopped coming to my house."
Marinette sighed before letting go of Luka and continuing with her story, "The reason for that was because little by little Lila began to fulfill her threat, she began with Alya and then it was easier to get to the others and eventually I was left alone."
"And your here now because you transferred here right?" Luka asked to confirm his thought
"Yes, actually, though it is a little redundant since starting tomorrow we have a whole week off school," Marinette giggled. She had stopped crying when Luka took her into his arms so thankfully her eyes won't be red or puffy. She continued talking, "I'm sorry that I haven't stopped by but I thought it best I avoid the others."
"I don't blame you, Marinette or else you would have been in a toxic environment," Luka assured her he began to pack his guitar and stand up while offering his hand to Marinette, "We better get going, the bell just rang and we wouldn't want to be late any more than what we already might be"
Marinette smiled at him and grabbed his hand so he could pull her up. They let go of each other and went their separate ways. Luka headed to where his music classes Marinette headed to her Fashion/Home econ class. Marinette headed to where the number of the class was and entered the classroom.
"Mme Laguna, I am sorry for being late on my first day here," Marinette apologized bowing her head and stood shyly.
The teacher only smiled at her before speaking, " It's alright Marinette, introduce yourself and you can have a seat with Jake and Terra as it would seem you know them with them informing me about you being late."
"Ok," Marinette said as she turned to the class and introduced herself, "Hello, My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, It's nice to meet you"
"It's nice to meet you Marinette," The whole class greeted
Marinette blinked at that before making her way to the back where Jake and Terra were. She took the seat between them and got out her things. She then took a quick look around the class and noticed everyone was wearing the gray blazers and she was the only one wearing a blue blazer along with Jake and Terra wearing their class representative clothes. 'I wonder why that is' Marinette thought as the teacher began to teach the class, today we would focus on fashion so they wouldn't be heading to the kitchen. 20 minutes in and Terra slid a paper to her with a question
What did you and Harmony talk about? -Terra
Marinette stared at the paper before glancing towards Terra. Terra noticed Marinette glance at her and gave her a quick smile before paying attention. Marinette decided to answer the question since apparently, she had transferred when they were reviewing their work, but Marinette already know all about the color theory. After all, she is a fashion designer.
We talked about something private that I wish to not share at the moment - MDC
Alright, although I do want to know how you know him -T
He's the brother of someone I knew-MDC
After writing that Marinette paused before sliding the note back to Terra. After that, the class went on, Terra and Marinette continued with the notes and eventually, Jake got involved with the notes, they went back and forth for the rest of the period.
Before they knew it, it was time to go to their next class, Marinette had to head back to where her classes usually are. She headed to where her business class should be and saw Felix waiting there looking around, then when his eyes landed on her he smiled and motioned for her to go to him. She let out a small smile before making her way to him and they entered the classroom together. She, of course, had to introduce herself since it was a new class and then she sat with Felix sitting by the window in the back.
The rest of the school day had gone by and now the school was letting out. Felix and Marinette made their way to where the rest of the group was. When they got there they saw that they were all looking at a video on their phones.
"What are you guys watching?" Marnette asked curiously. This prompted all of them to look up at the same time before they spoke at the same time which made them sound like a mess.
"One at a time people." Felix sighed.
The group looked at each other before Luka said, "Look I gotta go since I'm having auditions to make a new band for me, so I suggest you check your phone. Oh and have Marinette watch with you so she could see one of our missing friends from today, Ok bye"
With that, he took off to where the auditorium was and where he would hold auditions. Thank god for Nyx that he could rent the auditorium for the auditions. With him gone that left Allegra, Allan, Claude, Terra, Jake, Ruby, and Sébastian.
"If I were you I would do as he said and check your phone, but a hint of the situation might be that Nyx will need a place to stay when school ends for the year." Allegra reported, "I better get going to my flute lesson so I'll see you guys tomorrow since we are on break now. bye"
"Bye Allegra" The group yelled as Allegra made her way to her lesson.
"Claude and I have plans to go check out the new karaoke place, do any of you want to come with?" Allan asked the remaining friends
"I actually have a lesson so I can't make it but please have fun without me," Sébastian said as he bid them goodbye. He bowed and then left to go back home for this lesson.
"I actually can't, my mom said I had to be home since my medication arrived and I need to take it," Terra said as she left.
"Ruby and I can go," Jake said and Ruby nodded, "How about you guys?"
"I have time, I can also watch the video over there," Felix answers not looking up from his phone as he checks his emails and messages because load and behold there was a video sent from Nyx, "What about you Marinette?"
"I have to call my maman and papa but I believe it'll be fine," Marinette said, She took out her phone and called her parents and informed them of the situation. They allowed her to go as long as she came back home safely and to call them when she was coming home.
They began to make their way to the karaoke place, Marinette hadn't been to this part of the city yet so she was looking around and was wondering how she's never been to this side of the city. They quickly arrived at the karaoke place and got a room. Felix brought out his headphones and put an earbud in his ear while offering the other one to Marinette. They were going to watch the video while Allan goes first, (his song). Felix pushed play.
(The video starts in darkness and you can hear is rustling and movement before the lid is taken off and the darkness leaves. In the video Nyx is sitting on her hotel bed looking at the camera, she had black hair with the tips of her hair being purple, she was wearing a black vintage dress, black lace hosiery, black heeled boots, black fingerless gloves, a black hair comb, and black makeup. But she was also covered in dirt and a bit of blood)
"Hey guys, as you can see I am a mess," Nyx Hesitated a bit before continuing, "As you can see, I just came back from the funeral. Now before I begin to tell my story I should tell you that I am safe and that the blood is not mine...I think"
Nyx took a deep breath before beginning her story, "So I was at the funeral and we had just gotten done with burying the bodies and were inside to read the will of the deceased at the house of my grandma and since they really didn't own much only a few people were given the stuff. Anyway, after the Will reading, we began to head to the big house where we would get food and mourn or whatever. Then since I was the only one there because my family couldn't because my dad is an undocumented immigrant and my mom didn't want to come to a place where the people hate her and keep saying how my dad can do so much better than her. So they stayed in the states but then I found out that my parents actually separated because my mom finally, finally, finally, finally got a clue that he was bad news after all these years. About time if I'm being honest but that, unfortunately, put me in a bad position because I am at an event for my dad's side and then they found out ab…
There was a knock at the door which interrupted Nyx from speaking. She quickly put on a robe to hide her dress and cleaned her face and did the best she could with her hair. After that, she went to answer the door, at her door was a guy in a KFC uniform with a large bag. Nyx said thank you and paid the guy with a tip of $20. Nyx placed the food on a table off camera, she then came to grab the camera and place it on the table with the food, she positioned the camera so she could sit and eat while talking. The video showed she had a bucket of 12 piece chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet corn, and mac and cheese. She began to eat her chicken before there was another knock at the door and she wiped her hands on a hand towel near her before getting up. It sounded like she was thanking someone before closing the door and locking it. She came back into view and she had a subway bag with two sandwiches in the bag along with a large drink on the other hand. She ditched the bathrobe and began to eat again.
"Ok so where was I….Oh right, so my blood family at the funeral found out about it and they knew I didn't like my father so they began to gang up on me and I told them to fuck off which then made them even madder but the thing is I was already mad since I didn't want to be there, so when they began to talk shit about my mom and my sisters and brother well, girl," Nyx said as she put another piece of chicken in her mouth while then taking a bite of mash potatoes, "I went off on them, I brought out all the receipts on the cheaters and the lying and just everything that this side did unlike my mothers side that actually is good people. Which prompted some of my cousins to try and fight me and bitch let me tell you after I was done with them they'll think again before starting anything with me, thankfully only one had to go to the hospital and none of them now where I'm staying. But now I'm eating my frustration away, especially since I didn't get to eat anything at the mourning thingy or whatever that was since the fight started early on."
Nyx by this point had finished half of the KFC stuff and was making her way to the subways, "God, this is so good, I need to go to the gym when I return or at the very least restart my parkour on the roofs because fuck Hawkmoth and fuck my life, am I right. Anyway, back to my story, so after the fight, I made my way back here to my hotel room, called my mom and she told me that I was in trouble for going to the funeral when it was her who told me to go to the fucking funeral and that if I was at the funeral I wasn't part of her family anymore and I tried to tell her that I barely got the news that they split up but now she wouldn't have it so when I tried to tell her once more he hung up on me. So now both sides of my family hates me and she also told me I was disowned by them and now I have no family. God, I'm pissed."
Nyx began to eat the sandwiches but because she got herself riled up some more she ordered more food before speaking again, "So basically at age 14 I'm fucking homeless, and that's absolute shit, but what can you do. So now I'm waiting to go back but I have to visit my grandpa's grave first and then I have to visit someone else but I guess I might return a day early, maybe, I don't know. You are like a day ahead since over there will be Friday while here it's still Thursday around 9 pm so if my calculations are right over there should be around 4 over there. I'll send this in the morning around if I wake up but you might get this around lunchtime. By the way, did you guys hear that the school schedule will change but will still have our classes the same but they're changing it? Apparently, they are adding the class that we usually change in between the days or something."
Nyx gathered her trash and put them inside the bag again and began on her first subway, "But now I have nowhere to stay when school finishes and I...I don't know what to do"
Nyx began to cry a little bit as she ate, "That's all I have to say I'll see you guys when I get back and I promise not to eat all my feelings away…. Bye, mis amigos,"
Nyx then moved to end the video.
(The video ends with darkness)
Felix sat back along with Marinette and then they just stared at the phone for a bit. Allan sat next to Felix as Claude and Jake sang the ponytail song and Ruby went to the bathroom. Allan then turned to look at them and saw the face on Felix. Alan moved to grab a hold of his shoulder and shook him a bit which prompted Felix to turn to him.
"We were all thinking about offering her a place to stay and we were wondering if you would do the same?" Allan asked him, Allan knew that some of their friends didn't have enough space in their house but they would still offer and honestly they all knew that if Felix offered a place to stay, she would go to him since they were closer than they were with the others, their relationship to each other was a special one because they treated each other like family. And a family is what she needs right now so they were all hoping he would offer her a place to stay. So when Felix nodded his head yes Allan smiled at him and sent a message to the others that he would offer her a place to stay. "Let's hope she holds a bit longer than since we won't see her until Monday unless she returns sooner."
"Yes, I agree with that," Felix responded getting distracted by his friend's antics and choosing this song to sing to, "Who's going next after these two idiots?"
"Ruby will go next and then you or Marinette can go," Allan explained. The two boys finished their song and Ruby had returned just in time before she herself began to sing Reckless by Jaxson Gamble. Felix took the time to check if Marinette was ok.
"Marinette are you alright, you've been silent since the video ended?" Felix asked placing his hand on her shoulder. This startled her back to reality and looked at him before looking away again.
"It's just that, I know there are families that aren't good and are abusive but your friends' family," Marinette faltered a bit before continuing, "Is she going to be ok?"
Felix took a moment to think of a response before speaking, "From what I know about her, she will fight through this because her past...her past has always been a type of mystery to us. She has told us an extension of it and from what she told us is that she hates her father since an event that happened and that the majority of his side are cheaters and that video is actually the most we got from her in one conversation if you can even call it that and of course we will be there for her but she does tend to shut herself after a bad day and eating away her feelings."
Marinette let out a smile and giggle before asking to move on from the conversation as it looks like Felix is getting uncomfortable with the conversation, "So who's going after Ruby?"
Felix let out a snort before he answered. The rest of the afternoon went on wonderfully, Marinette had given her number to them but when the time came for them to leave, Felix called for his ride, a limo, and drove everyone to their home the last being Marinette. They bid each other goodbye and had and Marinette entered her house with her parents waiting for her in the living room.
"Hey sweetie how was your day?" Tom asked his daughter
"It was wonderful, I had so much fun at my new school, and I had fun at karaoke," Marinette said excitedly, she hasn't felt this happy since Lila arrived. She quickly gave a hug and kiss to her parents, "Thank you for listening to me and helping me through this, I love you both,"
"We love you too honey, with all our hearts," Sabine told her as she hugged her daughter back, "Now it's getting late you should be exhausted after today so go, rest sweetheart"
Marinette nodded and bid them goodbye as she went up to her room. She got ready for bed since it wasn't her turn to patrol but she doubts Chat will do his patrol. Chat has been even pushier than normal with the whole 'We are meant to be' thing and it was starting to make her angry but she couldn't really do anything without him throwing another tantrum. She has to speak with Master Fu about her situation with it. She went up to her bed, grabbed her sketchbook that she left there and began to sketch a new outfit she was based on her new school.
"Marinette, how do you really feel after today?" Tikki asked her holder
Marinette paused her sketching before continuing, "In all honesty Tikki, I feel fine but I also feel sad. I thought they were my friends but instead, it turned into me being a person they could throw to the side because they found someone new"
"Oh, Marinette," Tikki said as she went to hug Marinette's cheek. Marinette had stopped sketching before leaving her things behind her pillow and laid down and took Tikki in her hands to kiss her forehead.
"I am lucky to have you, Tikki, and I am thankful that you are here to listen to me," Marinette said, "I love you very much Tikki"
"I love you to Marinette," Tikki giggled, "We should probably go to sleep because you look exhausted."
Marinette nodded and they got comfortable before falling deeper into sleep. Just outside Chat Noir was actually on his patrol trying to call for Ladybug and ask her on yet another date. But that didn't matter, all that did matter was on how Marinette was fitting in well in her new mold with her actual soulmate.
Puebla Around 3 pm making it 10 pm in Paris
"Bueno Abuelo, Espero que ahora puedes descansar ya que tomé la carga de ti *," Nyx told her grandpa's ghost as he began to disappear finally resting for good, "Te amo y te extraño muchísimo*"
Nyx kissed her grandpa's grave before taking a box and putting it in her bag and making her way to a house she's been meaning to visit for a while now.
"I hope they got my video," She said to no one
*Well, grandpa, I hope you can now rest since I took the burden from you
*I love you and I miss you very much