Chapter |Twenty-Five
Coming back to the apartment was a feeling Marinette wished she could have enjoyed more. That night, she hadn't stayed in the tower with the others very long, but she did return back to the Parker residence. There was a part of her that was relieved to be home, because she did miss Peter and May. She missed Chloe and Adrien, she missed those she held dear. Yet this sense of reality, it didn't feel the same- not when she knew that Lucas was still at large. It had also been a good thing she went with Peter and fell asleep in his arms while the movie he picked played in the background.
As much as Peter had wanted to ask more of what happened, he didn't push her to tell. She would do so at her own time like May said because there might be something she wasn't ready to say. He was just happy to have her home, where he could see her and she was in reach. It was a reassurance that she wasn't out there in the world somewhere they weren't sure where. Yet at two in the morning, Peter was woken up by the thrashing of Marinette as she tossed and turned in her sleep, muttering under her breath.
He understood now she was also plagued with nightmares, because he spent the rest of the night laying in bed watching as Marinette sat by his window and looked out in deep thought bathing in the moonlight. Peter remembered her eyes the day they met, how overwhelmed those blue eyes were in a new city with new people in a different country. How warm and welcoming they had been then compared to the guarded look she had now.
"If you want to ever talk about anything, I'm here for you." Peter says softly, sitting up in his bed. "I will probably never understand what you went through, but I'm here for you. I always have been and will be, Mari."
She sat there for fifteen minutes saying nothing, and he let her because he knew her. Peter understood Marinette for all she was. She was a leader of a superhero team, it was why she beckoned heads to turn stepping into a room. It was a natural thing for her, but so was keeping everything in until she was ready to speak. Sometimes though, the silence was all she needed without an opinion- just given an option.
Unknown to him, his words hit Marinette deep. It brought her mind out of the haze it was in, anchored her back to reality that she was home. She wasn't running or fighting, she was safe and warm and loved. She just wished it was enough to ease the ache that was still in her chest, the memories were still fresh. Even after the past few weeks, she remembered the actions that were hers but not of her will. The time before she spent in that room bleeding, and the truth of her parents. The fear of Lucas coming to find her team or Peter, and because of their affiliation to her through Peter- Ned and MJ.
"He threatened you and May." She admits gently, her eyes never looking away from the window. "It was enough to get me to comply to not run, because I was scared he would kill you like my parents. That if I ran from there then what was going to stop him from finding Chloe or Adrien, or anyone from my team? Then his henchmen came in, and I thought I knew pain from akuma attacks. I knew emotional pain, but didn't know true physical pain until then. The baton, the whip.."
Peter watched as Marinette moved to touch her arms without realizing she was doing it.
"I remember vividly how they felt against my skin... I thought I was going to die there." Marinette brought her knees up to her chest. "I was ready too, because in that moment I felt like there was no escape. Tikki saved me, but at the cost of herself. Then I was trapped in my own head, zapped into commission. The pain of that damn chip, it was live wire in my veins. I hurt people, killed people. I don't belong here Peter. I don't have a place in this world anymore. Not in Paris, not in New York..."
For the first time she got out of bed, Marinette looked at him and he saw the tears. Not even thinking about his next action, he got out of bed and wrapped her up in his arms. This was where she completely broke down. For what exactly, he didn't know. Maybe it was for her parents, or for Tikki. Maybe it was the pain of remembering, of doing things she didn't want to do. Yet he understood now that she felt displaced, like she had no where she truly belonged.
"I know realistically I have a home, I have you and I have people who care." Marinette whimpered from where she was tucked under his chin. "But I don't deserve it."
Peter sighed softly, "You don't understand how worried I was or even your team was. Despite what happened when you were gone, Marinette you have a place in this world. There is a reason you have survived all you have been through, a reason why you are still here. What happened then was never your fault, you can't possibly blame yourself for it."
"I want to kill him." Marinette admitted again after a moment, "I want to end Lucas but I already know the truth. It won't fix how I feel, but it will save someone else from him. Tikki asked me to do right by this world. How is letting him walk around honoring that?
"I can't understand the feeling of wanting to kill someone, but is prison not good enough for Lucas? Is that how far you're willing to go?" Peter asks her softly, "Is killing him worth sacrificing what your morals are?"
Marinette silently sat there again, trying to thinking about her morals. What were her morals? When she was younger she couldn't imagine the idea of killing someone, but there was something about Lucas going to prison that wasn't satisfying enough. He caused a lot of pain and suffering to her personally, and who was to say he wouldn't do it to someone else? Then there was the honest truth that maybe it was a good thing she wasn't there for Hawkmoth, who caused her suffering as well as everyone else's.
"If it came down to protecting those I love, yes." Marinette answers, "If it meant that he could never lay a finger on you, yes I would make sure he never walked again. Some people don't deserve justice that kind."
Peter only hugged her closer, "I may never understand that feeling, but I can only hope that you do what you think is right." Because the honest truth was that Tony and the other Avengers were not innocent and had clean hands, they caused deaths as well. Sometimes it was part of the job, and maybe that was where they all lacked. Marinette had a duty, and Lucas was threatening what that duty stood for. Peter could only be her support.
"I'm broken, aren't I?" The whisper broke Peter's heart, so gently he gave a tender kiss to her forehead.
"Not broke, maybe missing a few pieces but in time you will find those pieces." He pulled back to look her in the eyes, "And until you find those pieces, I will hold you together as long as you will let me."
Marinette's glassy eyes wavered with emotions, and he could read those eyes clearly for the first time since they met. It was the first time Peter ever saw her with her guard down this low to see what he believed was her soul. Those beautiful blue eyes that were as deep as the ocean with emotions strong as the current.
"I love you, Peter Parker." It was the first time she was saying it to his face, to him looking him in the eyes. Peter saw the truth in that statement, how her eyes remained unwavering.
Softly, he placed his hand under her chin and gave her a delicate kiss. "I love you too, Marinette Dupain-Cheng."
Peter once again tucked her under his chin, wrapped up in his arms as they sat by the window. He ran his hand through her hair, catching her up on school with Ned and MJ. He told her stories about Adrien in the lab and the others since they came to New York. He wasn't sure for how long he was talking, but at some point Marinette had fallen asleep in his arms once again looking more peaceful this time.
This time, Peter stayed up running his hand through her hair and closed his eyes only as the sun started to rise.
"Do you think she'll be okay?" Chloe found herself asking Adrien, who was sitting on the couch of their floor with a physics book. "She's been through a lot."
Adrien looked up at the other blonde, seeing the worry in her blue eyes. Alya and Nino had been filled in on what happened when Marinette arrived back, and that she left with Peter for the night to rest. She was going to come back in the morning to see the others. There was something he knew for sure about Marinette, and perhaps is was once of the surest things he ever knew about his friend.
"She's resilient." Adrien replied, closing his book. "When we first became Ladybug and Chat Noir she was unsure, lacked confidence that first battle and even more when she realized she let the akuma go by accident. I don't know what changed there, but she bounced back quick. She was confident after that and nothing seemed to be able to stump her."
Chloe sighed, "I only worry because there's only so much once person can take before they break. Where is her breaking point at Adrien? How much can Marinette truly take?"
"Chlo.. we may never know the answer to that. Realistically Marinette is holding everyone an arm length away, and I saw what she went through and felt how she felt. She's trying to hold it all together, and if we pry we may just break what she pieces back."
"I can't just not do anything!" Chloe was frustrated that she couldn't help her friend and Adrien was deciding now to be peaceful and useless to her. "She lost Tikki, and she was close with her."
Plagg flew out of his spot where he was eating his cheese, the perks of Tony Stark wanting to please the pocket gods. "I realized that she needs time to readjust to life here, where she is safe and where she once knew. Time will help, but you also need to be careful of things that can trigger her. The power she has now isn't something to mess with and is tied to her emotions."
"We can't blame her for wanting him gone." Chloe says, and that was because she herself tried to envision what it felt like in Marinette's shoes. "If I lost my parents and kwami the same way she had while also being forced to do other things then I'd want that person gone too. And before you deny it Adrien, don't act like for a single second you didn't feel a dark urge to do the same to your father finding out he was Hawkmoth."
Adrien couldn't even deny that, because he did. The moment he saw his mother in her comatose state, and found out how long his father had her down there instead of seeking medical attention or searching for him and Marinette as their hero personas peacefully...there was no doubt Adrien blamed him. He was mad about the terror ranged on Paris, but even more upset he was the true reason why his mother was gone. For a fleeting moment, he wanted Gabriel to hurt as much as he hurt him.
"The truth is Lucas is a dangerous man who knows too much about the kwamis." Pollen pipped in, waking up from her small bed Chloe made for her. "He can share more than what the public already knows. Maybe he does need to just disappear."
Plagg shook his head, "Marinette can't add that to her shoulders to bare either."
"You did kill the dinosaurs and sunk Atlantis." Pollen reminds.
"I don't have an excuse for that." Plagg replies, "But for a human, taking a life changes them."
"Are we really justifying this right now?" Alya's voice cuts in as she enters the room, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "Killing a person?"
"Who isn't a good person." Chloe points out again.
"Still, it's a human being." Alya shakes her head, "Prison is where he belongs."
"He could get out, theres always a chance." Plagg says with a shrug, "My point is that if he was going to be taken out, the burden shouldn't be Marinette's. She's always one meltdown away from blowing another building up. Put her in the same room as him? I wouldn't want any of you to be within five feet of her."
It was then Kagami entered the main room of the floor they were living on in the tower, holding the familiar box of a miraculous. Adrien could just tell by the look on her face that something was up. Longg was right next to Kagami, so there wasn't a reason for her to be holding the box as if it were going to bite her. Trixx was near Alya, and Pollen was with Plagg in the room as well. There was no doubt that Wayzz was near by Nino, who just entered the room from the restroom.
"I wouldn't go in there, fyi." Nino says not even reading the room as he closed the restroom door behind him. "I tried Mexican food last night, well Taco Bell, and it didn't agree with my stomach."
Chloe made a face, "That was just a little too much information there, Nino."
"I was giving you a fair warning, next time I'll let you go in after me." Nino retorted, chuckling.
Alya shook her head at him, somethings just never really change. The situation of her and Nino's relationship hadn't changed status but they were repairing their friendship. it was touch and go for a while, but after Marinette's forgiveness for Nino- he had been more kind. It was like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and no matter how much love Alya had for him she knew she messed up. It was a step to just be back in his life.
"Is that Sass?" Alya asks Kagami, because there was only one kwami and holder uncounted for.
Kagami's expression held a grim undertone, "Luka left Sass and went back to Paris. He left a note saying he needed to clear his head."
Opening the box, Kagami watched as Sass reappeared looking a bit upset himself. It was unlike the snake kwami to have an expression like the one he had, as if something was bothering him. Usually Sass was calm with very neutral expressions.
"I told him not to leave back to Parissss." Sass says, looking right at Adrien. "My intuition warned me against it, but he was sssset on going. He left me here, but I know nothing good will come from thisss."
Kagami also was looking right at Adrien, "I called him, his phone goes straight to voicemail. Then I called Juleka, she said he never called that he was coming to town to visit. Meaning he never made it back home. I don't even know if he ever made it to Paris."
"Luka wouldn't just disappear." Alya added, frowning.
Adrien pinched the bridge of his nose, "This was why we were brought he to New York, to avoid this exact situation. If it was Lucas, who watched Marinette before she even left Paris, then we need to tell someone."
"I don't want to be the one to tell Marinette." Chloe muttered.
"Yeah, he deadman now."
"Nino!" Chloe hissed.
"What!? It's true!" Nino raised his hands up, "If she was calmed down on the thought before, this is just going to spark something back to life. Yeah I get she has Peter, but she cares deeply for Luka despite everything that went down between them."
Chloe and Adrien shared a look, knowing how true that was because of the last time Luka had been an akuma. It was the fastest and only akuma she showed up for, and it tore her apart knowing she caused it. This would only be something else she blamed herself for, but the two blondes knew they couldn't let her do that.
"Well we need to tell someone." Kagami cooly says, "Maybe one of the avengers and then Marinette. I may be wrong and over thinking things or he may have decided to truly be alone for now."
"We'll have to talk to Tony." Chloe says, clicking her phone to life to check the time with a yawn. "Though it can wait until the morning. I'm sure he's fine, besides we are in different time zones. Maybe he'll pick up tomorrow."
It was wishful thinking, but the day had already been long enough. They would sort this our for sure in the morning, Adrien knew Kagami wouldn't let it go until they did.
A groan left Luka's lips as he slowly opened his eyes, only to shut them right away as the bright light hit his vision. Rubbing at his eyes the first thing he took note of was the pounding in his head, thudding with every beat of his heart. When he went to rub his eyes, Luka couldn't bring his arms up and this caused him to become alert right away despite the headache. He found his wrists ducted taped tightly to a chair, but he was in a room with a window where the sun was shinning.
Yet he still didn't know where the hell he was, but a sense of dread filled him in the pit of his stomach. This wasn't a good scene to wake up too, all the movies he's seen was enough proof of the different out comes this situation could have. Most of those endings weren't very good for the person sitting in his shoes right now.
"Ah so you've woken up."
Lucas looked up to see the one and only Lucas Valentino, the person who was responsible for Marinette's disappearance. He could see the twisted gleam in the eyes of the actor slash model, and wondered how Marinette never did. Yet he wasn't surprised, she had been living her dream out in New York. It was too good to be true in the moment, and she missed it. Or maybe he was just that good.
"What the hell do you want with me?" Luka snippily asked, eyes narrowing on the man circling him. "Where the hell am I at anyways?"
Lucas tsked, "Still in Paris, but more on the side of town no one would really look for you at either."
"Still doesn't answer the question of what you want with me." Luka snidely reminds, and he takes in that it's just him and Lucas. No one else. No Marinette, and yeah that sent a whole new wave of dread down Luka's spine despite their situation. "Where is Marinette."
"Gone." Lucas waved his hand dismissively. "Escaped. Which answers why you are here. Simply to get her attention back, well you're more of an incentive to get her looking for me through you."
Luka let out a humorless laugh, "Me? You got the wrong guy. She doesn't care about me that much." He left out the fact of Sass, and was glad he ended up leaving the kwami back in New York. He wasn't sure what this whacko knew or what he even wanted.
"Peter was untouchable, as everyone else but you left the nest. Flocked off all on your own and was here for the taking." Lucas smirked, "Kind of defeats the purpose of going to New York to begin with, doesn't? Has it dawned on you yet that I am no Hawkmoth, once you die you die? Like Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng."
The blood in Luka's veins ran cold then, realizing that this man was in fact the killer of Tom and Sabine. Of course it had been a rumor in Paris that the baker couple were killed but there had been. no foul play on the scene. This man he was crazy enough to do that and take Marinette. He knew where they were at all times, and probably used that against Marinette.
"What did you do to her?" Luka questioned, the disgust in his eyes clear as day. Whatever the hell this guy did to her, Luka wasn't sure if he wanted to know since the possibilities were endless.
"Beat her into submission." Lucas admitted without batting an eye, "Then she escaped and I want her back."
He spoke about Marinette like she was a toy, an object to be owned. It rubbed Luka the wrong way entirely, "What is it about Marinette that has you so fucking obsessed?"
Luca chuckled, a smirk still on his face. "I can careless about the kwami's or the holders, but Marinette." He groaned and despite how Luka felt about her right now, he wanted nothing more than to punch this asshole in the face on her behalf. "In this world only the powerful are on top."
"And Marinette fits in this how?" Luka already knew the answer, because despite everything they had been through Marinette was on top of the food chain if she wanted to be. She was the Guardian, and she was the holder of the creation kwami. She was powerful and smart, and beautiful.
"She's something you cannot possibly fathom. You wouldn't understand, because you see the world makes things in order to evolve." Luka really believed this guy was deranged and wondered how the hell Marinette was doing now as he continued to speak. "She who creates and brings forth life can be thy one to destroy and take. One who surpasses the myth of the Scarlet Witch, and believed to be an original nexus- The Enchantress."
Yeah, Luka couldn't help but look at Lucas like he lost all his sanity in the past five minutes. He wasn't sure what the hell the guy was trying to say about Marinette, because he didn't even know what the hell a nexus was.
"She is the goddess of creation, thus power. A being said to guard not only humanity but the balance within it."
Yeah, that sounded about right, but it was weird because it wasn't Marinette who had the power. It was Tikki. "She's the holder of the kwami that is a goddess."
Like the cat ate the canary, Lucas looked at Luka as if he knew something he didn't and tsked. "Ah I see you don't know. I had the lovely Marinette beaten to the brink of death, and Tikki. The sweet kwami gave her very essence to Marinette so she could live. Thus the Enchantress was born."
Luka frowned, not even sure what the hell that meant entirely. He knew little of what happened with Marinette, but that didn't sound very promising. His fists clenched tightly, finger nails digging into his palm as he and Lucas stared each other down. His intuition was telling him that the situation was only going to get worse.
And his intuition was never wrong.
Sorry for being a little slow on the updates, life kind of got in the way and work is busy at the moment. I guess I'm also going through a breakup, one second its a fight and the next he's out with another girl... eh. It brings some good emotions to write my angst out on though, but it's been better!
On that note, I hope everyone is doing good and had a good Thanksgiving and being safe!
Sorry this chapter was a little eh, next chapter will be better! I'll try to post again before Christmas! Stay safe!
let me know your thoughts on this chapter :)
