A/N: Trigger Warning! Some depression, and please remember that I am not a professional, nor have I ever been to therapy for grief.

Luka picked the strings of his guitar, trying to numb the pain her felt.

Marinette's funeral was the day before, and many people had shown up, all to say their goodbyes and give their support, but none of them had been there when she left. None of them heard the machine stop beeping, saw her chest stop rising, watched as she grew paler.

None of them had been there, yelling for the doctors.

None of them were there when the doctor's ushered him out of the room.

And only he and the Dupain's were there when the doctor said that she was gone.

Luka's chest tightened, and he switched to strumming.

Her smile haunted him. Her voice still whispered in his ear. Her laughter still rang through his mind. Her eyes were still looking into his.

Her song… He had unconsciously started playing it.

Tears came, his hands started shaking, and his fingers couldn't play the chords correctly.

Luka threw the guitar, just as his sobs broke through.

"Luka?"

He could hear soft footsteps come towards him, and could feel small arms wrap around him.

"I loved her, Juleka."

"I know," she whispered, guiding his head to her shoulder, "I know you did, and I know that she loved you."

"I don't know if I can… I don't know if I can live without her."

Juleka's grip around him tightened, "You can. It will be hard, but you can. Luka, there are people here that love you, just as you loved Marinette."

"I miss her."

He could feel a tear drop onto his head, "I do too,"

Nora walked into Alya's room, seeing the girl wrapped up in her blankets, not moving.

"Alya, you need to come eat." She said gently.

Alya didn't respond, and Nora wasn't even sure if she was awake.

"Alya,"

"I'm not hungry."

Nora felt some relief, at least she was talking. But still, "Alya, you haven't eaten in two days."

Once again, she was met with silence. But her little sister couldn't go on like this, "Mom made some chicken soup. I'll bring you some."

Alya was still quiet.

Once Nora left the room, Alya rolled over.

She didn't want food, she wanted to stay under the covers and forget about the past few days, to somehow go back in time and make everything right. To somehow save Marinette.

Alya drew in a shaky breath, and grabbed her phone from beside her. She immediately went to photos, and started to scroll through pictures. A lot of the photos had been deleted, others were just of some outings, without Marinette or Lila, but once she reached old ones, Marinette was there.

She was so happy. They were happy. And Alya ruined it by believing a liar over her best friend. A liar who killed one of the best people in the world.

"I was so stupid," Alya whispered. The more she looked at the pictures of her and Marinette, the worse she felt. She threw her phone across the room as her vision blurred.

"Alya?"

Alya sat up and looked at her sister, "Nora, I didn't get to apologize to her!"

Nora set down a tray of food, and came over, climbing onto the bed and pulling Alya close. "I know, but it will be okay."

"No it won't!"

Nora didn't say anything, opting to stroke Alya's hair as she continued to cry.

After a while, Alya's tears were gone, and she pulled away from Nora, just as her stomach started to hurt.

"Ready for some food?"

Alya shook her head,

"Do you think that you should eat some?"

No.. "Yes."

Nora handed her the tray, "We'll talk more later," She promised.

Alya didn't want later to come.

Adrien Agreste had been through a lot in life. He had lost his mother, he was in isolation for many years, and he didn't have much of a relationship with his father. So losing a friend and a love at the same time? He wasn't ready for that blow.

He didn't know what he was supposed to feel. In the span of 24 hours, he had found out that Marinette and Ladybug were the same person, and then Marinette was murdered for being Ladybug.

He was sure that a lot of people would be feeling grief, or anger, or both. Depression maybe? But he didn't.

He felt numb.

He felt empty.

He felt like… he didn't know how to explain it.

Plagg kept trying to cheer him up, but they both knew that it wasn't working.

It was almost like, he could no longer feel emotions.

If he could… he thought that he'd be scared of that fact.

But he wasn't.

He was just… Numb.

Later had eventually come for Alya, only it also involved her parents. They, like Nora, were worried about her, and two days later, she had an appointment with a therapist.

She was a kind woman, who wanted to help. She made no comments when Alya told her the full story, including the way she had treated Marinette. This frustrated Alya to no end, but she supposed that the woman knew what she was doing.

The first session was just Alya telling her story, as they ran out of time. Her therapist told her to write down her feelings later that night, in a journal. Alya did. She wrote 20 pages of everything she was feeling, then continued to write down memories of Marinette. It helped a little, but not much.

Her next session was three days after that. The therapist asked her to tell her about the first time she met Marinette, then continued to ask her stories. Alya complied, the session ended, and she was once again told to write down her feelings, only this time to try writing a poem.

She wasn't able to write a poem, but she did write a short story about a dying flower. Her mother wasn't happy with the ending, Alya was.

It was on the third session, seven days after the first, that her therapist gave her more advice than just writing out her feelings.

"Try talking to someone who was close to Marinette."

Alya contemplated that as she walked out of the building. Who was close to Marinette? None from her friend group, for sure. Even Juleka, who did hang out with Marinette, wasn't that close to her.

Wait.

Alya changed her direction and began walking towards the river, looking for something. It wasn't long before she reached her destination.

Juleka's houseboat.

If there was one thing that Alya was sure about, it was that the one person who might be able to help her, was Luka.

Juleka opened the door as Alya was walking up the gangplank.

"Hey, Alya."

"Hi… Um, is," Alya looked down for a moment, before once again returning her gaze to Juleka, "is Luka here?"

Juleka nodded, and gestured for Alya to come inside. "Wait here for a minute," She said, as she headed in the direction of the room she shared with Luka.

Alya glanced around the room, she hadn't been here in months. Everything was the same. Except for one thing.

Alya walked over to the counter, and looked at the picture of Luka and Marinette. He was hugging her from behind, and she was laughing. They were looking at each other with love, and looked so happy.

"That was taken last month,"

Alya turned to see Luka walking towards her, he picked up the picture, and looked at it with an emotion that she couldn't describe.

"She had been working really hard, so Kagami reached out to me and together we planned to surprise her at her favorite spot and steal her for the day. Kagami took the photo, and Marinette insisted that we needed to have it printed and framed."

Luka sighed and set the photo back down, "Why are you here, Alya?"

"My therapist told me that I should try talking about Marinette with other people who cared about her," Alya looked down and shook her head, "but any happy story I had about her, was from months ago. Luka, I was horrible to her… and I never got to apologize to her, to make things right."

Luka didn't answer, and Alya felt like an idiot. Why would Marinette's boyfriend want to talk to her? She had basically bullied Marinette. There was no reason-

"She missed you,"

"What?" Alya asked, turning to look at him

Luka nodded his head, "She kept waiting for the day that you would stop believing lies. The day that you two could be friends again. She was convinced that you would see the truth."

Alya swallowed back a lump in her throat, "And you?"

Luka shook his head, "I didn't know. I hadn't interacted with you that much, but I never labeled you as a horrible person. Just misguided. But at the same time, I didn't want you hurting Marinette."

Alya nodded, "I understand… I just. I was hoping that you could tell me about her last days. How she was, what she was doing, that sort of thing?"

Luka nodded again and gestured for the couch, "She was happy whenever she wasn't at school. She had been designing more, and was getting ready to start her own brand."

"When did you two start dating."

Luka looked away, and Alya immediately regretted asking, "Three months ago."

"Luka.. I-I'm sorry."

"No.. No, your therapist is right, it's good to talk. Better than destroying things."

Alya let out a small laugh, "I wrecked my phone."

That earned her a smile, "My guitar."

"Ouch."

"Yeah.."

That seemed to be the icebreaker they needed. For the next hour, the pair swapped stories of Marinette, and Juleka had eventually joined them. For the first time in over a week, Alya laughed, really laughed. As she was heading on her way out, with a promise to visit again, Luka called out to her, "Your song is already starting to sound better."

She didn't know what they meant, but she assumed that it was good.

Juleka watched as Luka looked searched their room for something, "Are you okay?" She asked, "I know that Alya visiting was a surprise, but-"

"I'm fine," He interrupted, "Have you seen my old guitar case?"

"Under your bed?"

Luka groaned an "of course" and looked there, finding his case. When he went to undo some of the stitching, Juleka connected the dots. "I thought you were saving that money for your, 'rainy day fund' or something."

"I am."

"So?"

Luka smiled, "It's time to get a new guitar."

A/N: So... that was my attempt at grief and healing. Again, I am not a professional in how to handle grief. Anyways... I'll just be on way.