*Author's Note*

This story was written for Tumblr user Justknitstuff for the Lukanette Lovebugs and Snakecharmers Secret Admirer event.

I was given two prompts for me to choose from, and I went with an AU that includes witches and mythological creatures. It just instantly spoke to me. Sadly, it also meant I did a LOT of research (probably far more than I needed to do) so this thing became a bit of a beast in and of itself, which is why I'm technically posting a day late. Whoops.

The thing that killed me was that, when I generically commented on how massive this story was getting, it was Knit, of all people, to be the first to encourage me to keep going. Presumably not realizing I was writing this for her. XD So... you can totally blame Knit's prompt and encouragement for this.

Chapter 1

It was a melancholy day. The sky was dim with clouds waiting to burst open, but the energy of a storm still lingered hours away. As Luka let his mind drift along the Seine, he didn't notice his voice drifted along with it. Not until it was too late.

The sobbing alerted him to the sorrowful melody he had been humming. With a gasp, he silenced himself, and all thoughts vanished from his mind aside from one: the echoing ring of the word no.

Luka vaguely recalled seeing in his peripheral a woman walking beside The Liberty just a moment before. Sprinting to the starboard of his mother's ship, he saw the woman still there on the sidewalk, mere meters from his home. She was slumped onto her knees, and hiding her face as her tears flowed uncontrollably.

"Not again," Luka whispered to himself in mournful scolding. He jogged to the gangplank, and across to the sidewalk lining the Parisian river. Slowing his pace to a trot, he ventured closer to the sniffling woman.

"Hey." Luka's voice was soft and gravelly, as if his own throat fought against the sound escaping.

The woman flinched, and folded further onto herself, nearly resting her forehead against the concrete. The sobbing weakened to a meek whimper and a few more sniffles. Luka knelt before her, and held out a handkerchief he started keeping in his back pocket.

"It's okay, miss. There's nothing to be embarrassed about."

Slowly, the woman began to uncurl, looking through her bangs to glance up at Luka with large eyes, shining with tears and violently red from the sudden crying attack. With a shaky hand, the woman accepted Luka's handkerchief, mouthed 'thank you' to him, and started to clean herself up.

Luka cautiously wrapped an arm around the woman's shoulders, and helped her rock into a seated position. He then kicked out his own legs to sit beside her. "Anything you wish to talk about? If there isn't that's fine. I'm here either way." Luka had lost hours of his life like this, offering to help people through the emotions he evoked. He felt it was only right, though, after forcing people to experience them in the first place. This was his responsibility, and he'd take it on every time.

The woman shook her head and mewed out one last whimper of sadness. Her face now dry, and the puffiness around her eyes already going down, she handed Luka back his handkerchief. "No, sorry. I- I don't know what happened. I just felt this sadness well up in my chest all of a sudden, and I-" She let out a shaky breath; heavy and loud. "I don't know where that even came from."

Luka gently bit his lip before shifting beside the woman. He looked out over the river, his mother's ship blocking part of his view. "Sometimes that just happens. Sorry you had to experience it."

Sometimes it truly did just happen. Sometimes Luka didn't strike an already exposed nerve so much as project his own feelings onto another. This poor woman was merely caught in the cross-hairs.

He started humming a plucky tune. A goofy one. One that he remembered learning when he was young. One that made him think of sunshine and clear skies and laughter. Soon enough, the woman began laughing. It was a sweet sound of embarrassment and stress slowly stripping away. The moment she started smiling again, Luka stopped humming.

"Sorry for being a bother," the woman said as she pushed herself back up onto her feet. She held out her hand to help Luka up. He accepted. "I honestly feel worlds better now than I did even ten minutes ago. I guess I had a lot more built up than I thought I did, and I just really needed a good cry. I should have had better timing, but there you have it."

"It's no bother at all. I'm glad you're feeling better now."

"You're a sweet kid. Never lose that compassion." The woman gave Luka's arm a gentle squeeze. Shaking her head, as if trying to ignore the questions that must have been building up inside, she scooped her purse off the sidewalk, and continued on her way.

With a heavy sigh, Luka tucked the handkerchief back in his pocket, and returned to The Liberty. As he crossed onto the deck, he spotted his sister leaning on the gunwale.

"It happened again, didn't it?" Juleka intoned.

Luka ran his fingers through his shaggy two-toned hair, and broke eye contact. "I took care of it though."

"You need to be more careful with your music. There's a reason Mom built us a sound booth."

"Mom only built that for us because we asked for it. She doesn't care if I use my power. Just adds to the 'Chaos of the Cosmos'."

"Still," Juleka caught her brother's wrist and gave it a gentle tug to garner his attention. "We did ask her to build it for a reason. I know you. I know you can't stop the music from playing in your head, but you can at least resist succumbing to it where others can hear you."

"I know. I slipped up. It was just," Luka scanned the gray sky and dulled reflection of the water's surface, "so sad up here."

"So you stayed up here?"

Luka quirked an eyebrow at Juleka: his goth-punk sister who hid half her face behind draping bangs.

"Just because I would enjoy it doesn't mean I don't realize that it bums other people out," Juleka mumbled, "Either way, if you were getting depressed you should have come inside. Played it out of your system inside the booth."

"I didn't even realize I was humming."

"You can't keep doing this, Luka. People are going to figure it out."

"I know, but what else am I supposed to do? Hide my voice? Hide my talent? Like you?"

Juleka stepped away from him as if he burnt her.

"Jules, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I just-" He gingerly closed the newly formed gap between them, and brushed her bangs out of her face. "You were so good at the bass, and I miss your voice. I hate that you barely speak above a whisper now."

"It is what it is." Juleka shrugged, batted Luka's hand away, and patted her bangs back in place across her left eye.

Luka studied his sister for a second or two, then rolled his shoulders back as he stretched himself as tall as he could. "It doesn't have to be. Not for me, at least." His face hardened with determination, and he sprinted for the stairs below deck.

"Luka?"

He didn't respond to her as he vanished to the living quarters. It was only a few paces from the steps to the room Luka shared with Juleka – an arrangement he really needed to talk to their mom about now that the siblings were both teenagers – and another couple of steps to get to the side of his bed. He pulled open the underbed storage, and opened up the little treasure chest inside. It was simply a cheap little wooden mock-chest his mom had gotten him from a hobby store on his tenth birthday, but it seemed appropriate for someone who lived on a ship and was basically raised to let chaos rule. Juleka still teased him on occasion for keeping the chest for so long, but it did the job of holding important items for him, so why bother replacing it?

The chest did seem a touch pathetic in that moment, though, with only a few Euros inside. The rest of his supposed treasure consisted of guitar picks, a piece of quartz he randomly found in a park when he was about twelve, and a concert ticket stub for the rock legend Jagged Stone. Luka snatched the money out of his treasure chest, snapped the lid back closed, and then stood up, kicking his drawer shut in one fluid movement.

Marching back towards the steps, and ignoring Juleka's voice slowly raising in volume as she called out for him, Luka quickly counted his savings. It wasn't much at all. He really needed to pick up more shifts with the food delivery service he started working at. For now, though, he hoped it was enough.

"Luka, are you okay?" It was probably the most articulated Luka heard Juleka speak in years. He must have really freaked her out.

"I'm going to figure out how to control this power. If I succeed, I'll be sure to let you know. Maybe then you can sing for Rose. I know she'd love to hear it." Luka pulled his sister in for a quick hug, and placed a kiss on the crown of her head. He then shoved his money in his front pocket, and sprinted off the ship.

"Seriously?" Juleka mumbled behind him before rolling her eyes. She stayed on The Liberty, though, and watched as her brother raced through Paris.

~ Thank you for reading. Comments are always welcome. ~

*Closing Notes*

Marinette doesn't need to show up in the opening chapter of a Lukanette story, right? Luka is going to be a touch out of character here because I took his music away. Sorry about that. I hope I can still keep the main essence of our boy for this.

Happy Valentine's Day!