Chapter | Thirty-Two
Three weeks.
Twenty-two days.
That's how long it took for everyone to learn that both Tony Stark and Marinette Dupain-Cheng were alive, not well, but alive. When Nebula lead the two frail humans down the ship, she could feel their bodies shake. Tony had ate less than Marinette, Nebula watched as a paternal instinct kicked in for the man.
Those days, Tony had distracted her by trying to teach her simply games from Earth. Marinette wanted no part of it, usually watching the vast endlessness that space offered from the spaceship window. Both Nebula and Tony were left to watch the greif slowly claw away at her, and they let her have her space. Even when spoken too, she didn't really speak.
"She's processing." Was all Tony offered, having an understanding that it was just more of a loss for her. Peter had been her rock.
Rocket sat next to Nebula, watching the reunion of some of their new comrades. The relief on some faces and the grief on others. Tony's eyes were searching over Steve's shoulders when the super soldier pulled him into a hug. Anxiety was building when he didn't see a certain blonde, just willing Pepper to appear.
"I couldn't stop them." The words tumbled out of his lips before he registered it, forcing him to watch the light dim out of her eyes as realization settled so he looked at Steve. "I lost the kid."
Steve looked into his friend's eyes, "Tony, we lost."
"Is.." He couldn't even finish asking when Pepper ran up to hug him, and in that moment he felt relief.
Adrien had stayed in the compound for those three weeks, hope always in him that Marinette wasn't dust particles. He told Plagg that he still felt the connection he had with her in Paris, the same one Plagg used to feel with Tikki. The bond never wavered, and he knew that she was out there breathing and physically existent.
Seeing her was another story, because never in Adrien's life had he seen her look so defeated. Then he realized only 3 people came back, and the last one was neither Stephen or Peter. The lifeless look in the dull blue eyes made too much sense, and his heart broke for her even more. She lost both Stephen and Peter, two vital people in her life now. How was he supposed to tell her that May was blipped as well?
Could she survive that? Adrien wasn't sure, not when he's never seen her like this. There was always a spark of life in those eyes, some type of determination. Never nothing. This was unknown territory. Adrien watched as Chloe gave him a side eye, making the first move to reach Marinette. Watched how seeing the blonde caused a shift in her eyes, a spark of hope in realization she was here. Then her eyes shifted to look at him and Nino.
That's when her cracked voice asked one question that he hoped they could stall on, "Pe...Peter's Aunt? May?" Her voice trailed off softly.
Adrien felt guilty that it had to be Chloe to break the news, "Mari.." The tone of the blonde's voice, and the sadness that pooled into her eyes told Marinette all she needed to know.
It was nerve wracking for Chloe to watch that hope get snuffed out, how quickly the light went out in her dear friend's eyes fast than the snap of fingers. Adrien made his way there with quick strides, passing as Tony embraced Pepper in utter relief. At least some people were lucky than others.
Adrien tried to reached out to Marinette, "Mari-"
"Don't." Her whisper was soft cutting him off as she looked away from them as tears filled her eyes. Half of humanity was wiped out of existence, and in that half included both Aunt May and Peter. It seemed like half her heart was taken as well.
It felt selfish, but she couldn't stand to be right here in that moment. She wished she had done more, understood more of the threat Thanos had really posed and what she could have done more of. Stephen always said he saw one way how this ended, and asked her to trust him. Why did she do that if it lead to this? He was gone as well, not just Peter and May, or even Wanda. Her mentor was gone and could only tell her she would understand what had to be done soon enough.
"This universe is only one of an infinite number. Worlds without end, Some benevolent and life giving. Others filled with malice and hunger. Dark places where powers older than time lie ravenous.. And waiting. Who are you in this vast multiverse Marinette?"
"Marinette." Adrien repeated, recognizing the signs she used to do in Paris as ladybug when something was going on and she was about to shut down. "Please don't blame yourself, you did what you could."
Marinette didn't think that was true, her eyes narrowed in a glare that wasn't aimed at anyone but the ground. She could have done more of she tried, if she wasn't bound to be the Guardian and keep secrets. Guilt came just as fast as thought left. It wasn't the kwami's fault, she knew that. She knew it would be dangerous if people found out about them. Those were consequences that would probably be worst than these damn infinity stones.
"I couldn't save him." Marinette whispered, looking up at both Chloe and Adrien. Nino had slowly approached the group, seeing that it was tense. "He was in my arms and I couldn't fucking save him."
"That isn't your fault." Nino tells her gently, trying to pacify his childhood friend.
"I could have done more." Marinette argued, but she was suddenly hit with a wave of exhaustion. There was no warning as her knees buckled, and luckily Adrien caught her before she fell.
Bruce was quick to make his way to check on Marinette when he saw her fall, causing Tony's attention to look over. Tony watched as Bruce checked her vitals, nodding to himself as he did so.
"Let's get her into a bed and get her some IVs." Bruce says, helping Adrien pick Marinette up and into the compound all while sharing a look with Tony.
Luka didn't know why he came back to New York, he had no reason too. Maybe it was the intense guilt he was feeling. Two weeks ago he sat on the Liberty with his mom, Juleka, and Jagged Stone- who was his father. Everything had been normal as could be since he came back home. They had this dysfunctional family night every other week. Juleka and their mom had been talking as they made something in the kitchen while Luka and Jagged messed around with melodies.
"So you and Marinette aren't speaking still?" Jagged had asked, and Luka knew it was simply because his father hoped the two would fall in love and get married. It was a little surprising to actually witness how fond Jagged was of the young designer. When he found out Luka and Marinette knew each other, he became a hardcore love doctor. Which also meant he was naturally curious why the two weren't speaking to each other .
Luka gave a small chuckle, "She doesn't want to speak to me. It was a bit tense last time we saw each other."
"You know, I know there are things that I will never know. Like why she went MIA for a while, or suddenly you're moving back and forth to New York. What I do know is that life is too short for grudges. There will be times in your life you stop understanding people you thought you would always understand. People are forever changing, it our job to accept that and take the time to understand who they are."
"How do I even start that?" Luka asks, because he did try to kill her last time and said some pretty truth filled words.
"Your mum likes to remind me that an apology is always a good place to start." Jagged joked, but it was the first thing she reminded him every time she saw him. Luka just didn't have to know the number of apologies, Jagged was still figuring that one out himself.
"Breaking News, aliens have once again entered New York."
Luka's eyes snapped over to the television right away, eyes widening at the destruction of the fight going on. There were different news feeds going on showing various people, and in one he clearly saw Marinette with Peter as Spiderman and Tony as Ironman. He felt his stress levels go up when he saw a speck of red getting beamed up into the what Luka assumed was the mothership.
About two hours after watching that news clip, Luka found himself alone on the boat. The places his family had been seated around him watching the television had dust particles floating, The confusion settled in then, and that was when he heard the chaos erupt out there in the city streets of Paris. Half of humanity was wiped, and god did Luka wish he stayed to help fight this battle. Second Chance would have probably helped them win.
Two days after the snap, Luka called Chloe to see if anyone would even answer. He had tried Marinette first, naturally , but the number was disconnected. Luka hoped it was because of a broken phone. Then Chloe had confirmed they were all okay, but she wasn't sure about Marinette. No one has heard anything from them since they left the planet. There had been no way to contact them, not even through Tony Stark's suit.
Naturally Luka only went back to New York, needing space from Paris where he lost his family in mere seconds and the fact he was utterly alone. The greif was there, but in a weird way Luka had this feeling everything was going to be okay. This all was part of some elaborate divine plan. It was a weird feeling he knew that was something beyond his comprehension.
It took three weeks for Chloe to send that one text that gave him relief. "She's alive. At the compound infirmary."
Yet she didn't want to see him.
She didn't want to see anyone.
Not Chloe, or Adrien or even Nino. Natasha tried and failed to get Marinette to speak. Tony only sat with her as she kept her back towards him, but allowed Tony to hold her hand. Bruce told them it was a normal reaction, that it wasn't her just reacting to these current events but all of the ones the she ignored. She has nothing stopping her from being distracted now, and her mind was trying to process it all. Marinette had merely emotionally shut down, overstimulated by every single emotion.
Chloe, Adrien and Nino all spent time with Luka when they weren't visiting Marinette. They got to know Luka, and see how he's matured in his own ways in the time they spent apart. Chloe knew that deep down Luka was the one who'd be able to get through to Marinette. He had always been the only one besides Peter who's been able to do so. That was one thing Adrien would always envy about the other man.
It was on the fifth week that Plagg finally broke seeing Marinette sitting by the window one morning. She was watching the rain fall from the sky, lost in her thoughts. Plagg never seen Tikki's bug so lonely despite being surrounded by people who adored her, almost like she was physically broken. Marinette was all he had left of Tikki, the only physical thing that still existed linked to Tikki.
"You're doing the best you can Bug." Plagg floated right next to Marinette, looking out the window with her. A soft sigh left Plagg, " I know I've been mean, and I've blamed you for Tikki. The truth is I miss her. Even if a kwami can't fully feel love, she was my partner for centuries upon centuries, and suddenly she was gone. It wasn't easy seeing you, who also resemble her in more ways you think."
There wasn't a response, not even a noise of acknowledgment. Plagg wasn't even sure if she blinked, but he couldn't blame her if she was angry with him. She had tried again and again to be there as a Guardian, and he wanted nothing to do with it. Plagg was convinced she would never understand the emotions and pain he felt losing Tikki, but she did and more so if he had to admit it.
"I understand how it feels losing a dear one suddenly, not being able to say goodbye. They are there one moment and gone the next. She wasn't your fault, nor was your parents, or Peter. This is not your fault, not your responsibility ." Plagg needed her to say something, anything. Weeks without a reaction had Plagg more worried, and it had been a while since anything worried Plagg. "You had these expectations place unfairly on your shoulders at a young age, you were robbed of the normality you deserved, and lost more than you ever needed to. It hurts, it will always hurt. I finally understand one thing you humans say, and that's that time heals. It doesn't heal entirely, the wounds scar over and they ache, but that's life."
Plagg turned to look at Marinette, finding her still looking out the window with tears rolling down her cheeks. She said nothing, but she did move her shoulder up in the slightest of ways in a silent offer that Plagg almost missed.
"It's times like these I wonder what she would say." Marinette admitted softly, surprising Plagg she was speaking at all. "I feel this overwhelming sense of greif. This past year I lost Tikki, my parents, Peter, Stephen, May. I lost myself, and I feel confused."
Plagg said nothing, seeing that small light that let him know she needed this. She needed to vent, to talk whatever it was going on in her head out and make sense of it.
"When my feet touched the earth again, I felt a shift and I know it was the balance shifting. Everything feels off." Marinette slowly looks over at Plagg, "I don't know how I'm going to recover, not from this hole in my heart. Please Plagg, I miss Tikki. I miss her comforting me when I felt like odds where against me."
Plagg realized then what it was Marinette was asking of him. She wanted him to comfort her the way Tikki used too, she needed to feel that reassurance she wasn't alone. Without hesitation Plagg snuggled into her hair, his little body feeling the movement of her tucking her face in her knees and then the vibrations of her silent sobbing.
Five Weeks After The Snap
Adrien watched as Plagg helped Marinette slowly reopen up and regain her health. She spoke a bit more, but the smiles were far and in between. The light that Adrien was used to seeing when they were younger had faded over the years, he noticed that. The fight with Hawkmoth had taken a mental toll on all of them, especially her. Then she came to New York and she had gotten better, despite the tumble she took after her parents being murdered basically and then everything after that.
Yet she had still been okay, she was still standing. Even after the small fall out her and Luka had been, and despite Adrien not wanting to admit it- Luka had somewhat been her rock in Paris. Marinette had been a functioning human being, and Adrien would give anything to help her. Tony said it was a depression, she was still working through her emotions at a pace where her powers wouldn't go haywire.
After the failed attempt of getting everyone back, and killing Thanos on behalf of the Avengers, there was another shift. Tony had helped design a device with Bruce that would help monitor Marinette's inner body temperature. The higher it got, the more closer she was to lose control of her powers. It was also a good way for Marinette to keep track herself, and then Tony and Pepper had left.
It was hard for Tony to be around, and Adrien saw the sadness in his eyes when it came to Marinette. He also saw the hesitation, like he wasn't sure he could handle being around Marinette and risk losing her too. Yet he did give Marinette a few calls a week, and sometimes he would hear the tidbits of their conversation. Plagg was around Marinette more, as was Pollen and Wayzz.
Chloe and Adrien both sat with Marinette, and Nino. They would watch movies, and talk in an effort to slowly break the emotional walls Marinette had set. Natasha made Marinette get up to move and train, but it was one day when Steve went in and spoke to Marinette that something shifted. She came out more, spoke more. Hell, she decided to move out of the Avengers Tower and permanently into the Parker's apartment,
"They'll have a place to come home when they get back."
It was hope, and as misplaced as Adrien and Chloe thought it was- well it was still something. It was something she hadn't had before. They couldn't let that hope die, because maybe if that hope truly went out then they would truly lose their friend, Chloe would never let that happen, neither would Adrien or Nino. Nor would Luka, who was more than determined to speak to Marinette.
On week eleven, Luka made his way around New York. He had a job at the local music shop, and he was just waiting. By mere luck he ran into Marinette, who looked surprised to see him in front of her. He wanted to thank whatever luck he had, despite Marinette looking surprised to see him with how much she avoided him. Then again, she didn't know what to even say to Luka.
"You know, you weren't wrong." Luka started softly, because that was the way to start an apology right? To admit the wrongs or that the other said person was right? Luka wasn't even sure anymore. He just needed Marinette to speak to him, yell at him. Something. Anything. He pushed her away when she was drowning right in front of him, and she let him. She had given up holding onto him for support and he let her.
"A part of me had been so angry at you for keeping things, hiding things like we wouldn't understand. I was pissed at you, but never once did I ever hate you. I love you too much for that." Luka took a step closer to her, his eye contact never straying away. "You got the shortest straw anyone could ever possibly draw, but you aren't alone. I lost my parents and Juleka, Chloe lost her parents, and so did Nino. We understand how you feel."
He saw a spark in her eyes, anger. He always said something wrong, but it was too late to say anything to backtrack and take back. The one thing that was understood was that yes they knew what she was feeling, but she had been there in the fight before Thanos won. She had lost, and Luka knew she never lost. Marinette didn't know how to lose.
"Do know what's worse than feeling numb?" Marinette's voice was chilling, and a part of Luka wished he kept his mouth shut in that moment. "Feeling like you're drowning... Like no matter what you do, you can't keep your head above the water, because every time you breathe, you can feel the fire fill your lungs."
Slowly she took a step towards him, almost predatory with how her eyes narrowed. "You've waited almost three months to talk to me for what? To tell me you love me and that you're sorry after we lost everyone we loved? We lost Luka. We lost."
There were five stages of greif. Luka clearly saw they were in the anger stage and he just made himself her main focal point. Luke was sure this was why Chloe probably told him to drop the subject a few days ago. Marinette's silent phase had been denial, and once Plagg started to help her process her emotions, well she got mad easily. No one decided to fill Luka in on possible trigger words.
"You walked away from this Luka, so why do you even care now? I thought this was all too much, that my life was just too much for you Couffaine." Marinette threw the words he spoken to her like a slap in the face.
Disbelief flushed through Luka as he gave a breath of astonishment that he was seeing this new side of her, "Do you really think that lowly of me now? You want me to leave? You and me needed time apart, we needed to learn and grow and you can't tell me I'm wrong."
Marinette ripped her gaze away from his, arms crossing over her chest. He wasn't wrong, and she knew that. She hated that he knew it too. Luka took another step closer, gently grabbing her wrist. "I know you love Peter, he was your other half. I saw that bond and heard how beautiful your melody was. I hear how broken it is now. I'm not here to fight, I'm here to be a friend to a friend. We don't have many of those right now, or family. Marinette, besides Chloe, Adrien, Nino and occasionally Kagami- you're all I have left."
It was funny to her how they ended up here, and maybe she was finally losing her mind as a laugh left her lips. Luka was the last person she thought she'd be having this conversation with, and even he saw that on her face as she turned away from him for a moment before giving him a contemplative look. Quirking an eyebrow, Luka kept silent.
"I broke your heart." Marinette stated the unspoken truth they both knew, "That was why you left New York, but you don't heal from what we had right away. Not in the way we left things, the things we went through."
"You moved on already Bug, but I haven't." Luka admits, scratching the back of his head.
"You were my everything, my first love and only love so far. I don't know how I can have a life without you, especially since the kwamis are intertwined in our lives."
"Luka-"
"Don't interrupt me, please." Luka said or he might lose his nerve, "You fell in love, and I got to see that. I'm happy for you, but I not only lost your heart, I lost my parents, Penny, Juleka. The kwami's, this team, you- you're all I have left. So please Mari, please let me be here to help you. Let me be your friend again."
Her blue eyes softened seeing the tear roll down Luka's cheek, her hand coming up to cup his cheek and swipe the tear away with her thumb. "Let's let water stay under the bridge." She couldn't say no, because despite her hardships she had to remember everyone was going through something. Luka was here, he was trying to mend their broken bond, and so who was she to coldly push him away. She needed to be more open, like Plagg mentioned once. She needed to not close herself off again. "Welcome back, Luka."
Before Luka could say anything, Marinette dropped her hand from his cheek and took a step back, putting back in the distance. He could see the conflict in her eyes, of wanting to be there but he also knew she may feel a guilt due to Peter. It was better than nothing, so he offered her a small smile.
"What now?"
Marinette shrugged, "I've been asking myself that for weeks, who knows? One step at a time is what Adrien and Chloe keep telling me." She tilts her head back, looking up at the sky. "One day at a time, we keep moving, we keep breathing."
He saw how broken Marinette was in that moment, despite her trying to put on that she was okay instead of shutting everyone out. She was trying a different approach, it was one he had used to use when he was younger, before he meet her. Her melody was chaotic, broken. She was literally taking it day by day- breath by breath.
"We're a team." Luka reminded, "Always."
Marinette closed her eyes, "Okay."
Welcome to my filler chapter, sorry if it was a bore! Hope everyone is doing well! Like always, thank you for the support on this story. Now I'm thinking of writing a new story for Luka x Marinette 😂
In the next chapter we will be fast forwarding five years!
Let me know interactions you'd like to see with which characters. :)
