Fun fact: My age increased by 1 a few days ago. 

Me and my sister have been getting into some anime recently and the most recent one we finished watching was Moriarty the Patriot and I highly recommend it if you like Sherlock or you like the sort of mystery etc. I don't usually get into anime too easily but this is one I definitely got really into.

............

"What are you writing in there?" Luka asked from where he was standing beside her, but before he could look over her shoulder to see, Marinette turned around and smiled at him, her hands firmly on the table where her lantern was stationed.

"If I tell you, it won't come true now will it?"

From besides her, Alya laughed, "I'll tell you this now Luka. If Marinette doesn't want you to know, she will never say it. It may not seem like it, but this girl can hold onto secrets with dear life."

"Hey!" Marinette pouted, "What do you mean it may not seem like it? Clearly, I am an excellent secret keeper, otherwise the whole world would have known of that thing we found out about the other day," and subtly, Marinette quickly glanced at her friend's stomach.

"Shush girl," Alya looked to her husband who was giving them weird looks, as if he wanted to understand what they were trying to say, "I just meant that you can be such a blabbermouth that people who don't know you too well would think you wouldn't be able to keep their secrets at all."

"Alya!" Marinette exclaimed, but soon both girls burst out into laughter which lasted more than a few seconds. 

Despite not understanding everything the girls had been talking about, both Nino and Luka looked at each other and let out small chuckles as Marinette and Alya collected themselves and gathered their lanterns, getting ready to send them off, into the endless night sky.

They reached a crowded place, where a river ran through, separating people into two sides, yet everyone was there for the same purpose. There were a few people in different areas, standing on large boxes and coordinating everyone in a way so lanterns were not being lifted off all at the same time. The group waited patiently for their turn.

When it came for the time to let them go, Alya and Nino went a small distance away from the other two to release their ones together, both laughing happily as they watched the brightly lit lamp flow with the gentle breeze of the area. 

In one of the lamps was written, 'Mommy and Daddy cannot wait to meet you.'

Alya proceeded to tell Nino the secret she had been keeping for a few days, and watching the way Nino shouted out in joy and lifted his wife up, spinning her around happily, Marinette couldn't help but smile at the sweet scene. Already, one of her wishes were coming true. Luka had already released his lantern before turning to see what the commotion was about. He moved to the happy couple in order to ask. Marinette let him leave, even if she had once wished to have released the lantern with him. Now she was more than content with doing it on her own.

She sighed as she let the lantern go, watching it slowly fly up as she recalled the wishes she had written inside.

'I wish for the people in my life to be happy.'

'I wish for myself to find happiness.'

They were pretty simple wishes, one that most people would write. It was nothing out of the ordinary. But Marinette had added one more wish, something so arcane that people would wonder if she was crazy, had they have seen it.

'I wish I would be able to see those eyes again.'

Her own eyes slowly drifted from where her lantern was, having lost it in the flurry of light everywhere. Instead, it became fixed on something on the other side of the river. Green eyes, despite the face it was part of being in the shadow of the people around, staring at her. Looking at her with a sense of worry, of anger, of yearning. Once again, she wanted to reach out and-

"Marinette! We have something important to ask you!"

She turned to look at Alya, who was speeding towards her, Nino right by her side chastising her for going to fast, already afraid and fretting over the safety of the new mother and the baby.

Marinette jumped and turned her head once more to the spot she had been looking at before her thoughts had been interrupted but, almost as if she was expecting it to happen, the green eyes were gone again.

'Am I hallucinating? How can I-'

Even if they were gone, one thing was for certain. She had to find that person now, more than ever.

............

Marinette felt her shoulders drop as she watched the carriage holding Luka slowly move out of sight. She didn't even know if it was in relief or in actual sadness that he would be gone for a whole month. Either way, Alya wrapped her arms around the petite girl and soon was guiding her back to the centre of the town where they bid their goodbyes for the night. 

"I'll see you tomorrow Mari. Get home safe."

Marinette hummed in response and waved at the other girl, silently watching as her friend turned around and walked to the home she shared with Nino- who had went ahead to sort some things out before he too would be at home. Luckily, her home was closer to where they had been, so Marinette knew that she didn't have to worry that much.

Once Alya was also out of sight, Marinette quickly went to her home, made her presence known to her parents and waited until she knew they were asleep to promptly jump out of her window, wearing a large maroon cloak to keep her warm, the insides laced with several snacks and a small water-skin in case she needed sustenance.

"Find me Marinette," the voice had spoken in her head for a few days, alluring her to do as it said, "Come to me."

"I wish you were here with me."

"I wish you could remember me."

"Where are you Marinette?"

"Let me bring you home."

Ever since she had seen those eyes, her dreams had changed. Images of the guy begging for her to come to him. Pleading with her in a way that was so unlike himself- and she just somehow knew that, knew him- that it made her want to find him. But it was the word- no- the feeling of home that made her heart ache with certainty that she needed to find him.

With Luka gone for the month, it would be easier to do so. But she would still stay in the shadows. Away from the eyes of the few that would still be awake. Away from the suspicious eyes that would always be lurking in the night. 

At least that's what she thought for a while. 

She had kept herself hidden pretty well, having learnt over the past few days she went to find the voice, and from her experience living in this town all her life, she knew the best spots.

She also knew that someone was trailing after her, as if she was their prey and they were waiting to jump out of the shadows and catch her. 

She turned and twisted around an obscure path, less to do with finding the voice, still beckoning her in the back of her mind, and more to do with confusing the one who dared to follow her deep into the darkness. But she could still feel their presence stick closely, inching towards her as if any second now, she would be captured by the unknown forces which followed her.

Her breathing went ragged as she quickened her pace, and went straight into the forest at the edge of her town, hoping that she would finally get rid of what she would describe as even akin to a parasite.

She ran inside, and ran for a long time, or maybe it was short and she just was too befuddled that she couldn't even be aware of the length she was running for. She didn't even care for the fact that she had twisted her ankle, badly, the adrenaline and fear causing her to continue running.

She ran and ran and ran as she periodically looked back, hoping for the lingering presence to become further and further, but to her dismay, it was just as fast, if not faster than her. As if it was playing with her. Letting her stay ahead and think she was in the lead. But it had trapped her already.

She ran faster than she had ever done before, and she ran until she bumped into someone, who caught her without toppling.

Fearing that she had been caught, she screamed and tried to get away.

But the person was quicker and had been able to press points on her neck which rendered her unconscious. She collapsed in his arms and the man stared at her with his bright green eyes full of sadness and apology as he tried to feel the spiritual energy within her.

'Restricted, even more than before,' he mused, his lips curling in disdain as he thought of what could do this to her.

"I should of come to you sooner," he whispered as he brought his hand to her face, lightly resting it on her cheek, "I should have found you quicker."

She was living her life as a mortal, and that meant she couldn't remember him. She was living here, in the mortal realm, with no idea of who she was, of how powerful she was, of how important she was, not just to all the realms, but to him. 

But she couldn't remember.

Someone had taken her through a specific portal, meant to erase her memories, meant to stop her power from flowing through. Meant to stop her from feeling the very thing that kept her alive. 

It had been a few weeks ago for her, when she had woken up in his arms, had allowed herself to cry on him, had gotten into a sort of normality that made them both feel content, even when she was at odds with him for hiding her identity from her. It was almost two years for him. Two excruciatingly long years. 

Now it was as if they had taken a larger step back, all the way to the point where neither of them had really known each other. Where she was still a young girl, learning of her betrothal to the future God of war. Where he hadn't even learned the weight of his own powers. Yet only he had gone forward in their life, whilst she was left in the past, oblivious to the peril and the challenges they would face. Not knowing all that they had gone through to even get to where they had been only a few weeks ago.

It was bad when she was Marinette, the 3000 year old fairy. Whose powers were restricted but were on it's way to coming back. But it became better because her memories seemed to be slowly making it's way back to the forefront of her mind in the form of her natural responses towards him. Once he had told her, although at first she struggled with it, she seemed to start realising and accepting that she was never Marinette, the weak fairy with a huge sense of determination and even larger goals in life. She was Marinette, Princess of Soleria and the Goddess of creation, whose powers had been locked and slowly coming back. 

It became better when she was showing signs that all the memories they once shared together, wasn't just going to stay hidden inside his own thoughts for much longer. 

It was like his heart was being gouged out now she was Marinette, the mortal. Who, once again, had nothing to do with him, had no thought and no recollection of him. Who screamed in his face as if he was about to take her away to a land unknown to her- which, even if he wanted to, he couldn't. Not without her permission. Not without her knowing exactly what she was getting herself into.

He could only faintly feel her energy.

She had spent too long. Too much time with her powers being restricted. And she was getting weaker. Within a year she would likely implode due to her own powers breaking through the barriers of her physical body so forcefully. Being a mortal now, the impact would be so much worse. She could be reduced to nothing but dust. She would be gone and nothing could bring her back. Not even herself.

But he didn't know how he would be able to get her to remember so easily. He couldn't just steal her away and force her to remember. Even before, when she had some of her magic, he didn't demand her into doing so. Even though he ended up telling her a lot of details, he didn't expect her to remember immediately. The process of remembering was delicate and messing with that could have harmful consequences.

So instead of taking her to where he wanted her to be, in his home, safe and away from the rest of the world (and absentmindedly he thought of how Kagami was still in a coma, only just stable enough, thanks to the notes Marinette had made before she was taken), and so he decided to take her to the cave he had been able to feel out, just a small distance from where they were standing, and tend to her until she woke and made the decision for herself.

He wished he had found her sooner so they wouldn't be in this mess. He wished he had never let her out of his sight in the first place.

Just when he was about to turn to the direction of the cave, he noticed a presence watching them.

He set her down gently, resting against a large tree and placed his cloak around her body to cover her from the natural cold of the forest.

He pounced.

............

"Are you sure it's him?"

"I'm sure my Lord. There's no one else it could be. You told me to keep an eye on her but I barely got out of there alive. I don't understand why he seems to want to be around her though. She's nothing special," The man didn't even realise the deadly glare that was sent his way when he decided to run his mouth more than he should, as his focus was on the band on his finger, and he was spinning it nervously, "It's a good thing you gave me this ring just in case, or I'm afraid I would be dead."

"Mhn," the reply was nonchalant, but there was a slight edge in his voice that was desperately trying to overcome him, "And what of the others?"

"I'm unsure, My lord. I think I was the only one to have escaped," the man paused, "I-I have a question though," he seemed to be scared of asking.

"Speak."

"H- How did you come up with the ring? It's incredible. It could be used against thousands of those demonic monsters!"

The other man felt something flare up inside him, anger, resentment, aggravation. But he just grinned manically and didn't answer his question, instead raising his hand and forming a ball of purple energy in his hand. The man beneath him flinched at the show of power.

But he didn't care. This man had overstayed his welcome.

 "Did I permit you the want to know more than you should?"

"I- I," the man quickly fell on his knees, afraid of the power which surrounded the God before him, as well as the way the God's voce distorted into something that wasn't recognisable as him, "My Lord! I apologise. I wasn't thinking straight."

"You weren't," the voice was becoming deeper, wrathful, malevolent, "And I can't have someone so incompetent working for me can I?"

The last the man saw before he disintegrated into nothing but ashes was the looming figure of the God of War smirking down at him, his eyes becoming a violent shade of, ironically, violet, the colour he associated with the lavender his wife used to bring him before she passed. 

'At least we can be together again my love.'

The God watched as the man became ashes before his very eyes and he vanished them to where he knew his wife rested. The violet had gone and he looked at his hands once again, wondering just what he had just done.

Don't feel sorry now. There are more important matters you need to tend to. Sorrow is nothing in the bigger picture. Only your fury against Destruction can save her.

The voice was too persuasive. And it's hold on his thoughts were getting stronger, as if any second now, the true owner of the body would be trapped completely as he watched his possessor use his name and his power to achieve the agenda it hoped to fulfil.

Chaos. Evil. Destruction. 

The only emotion worth helping you is the anger inside you. Let everything else go and you will win against him.

"But I can't leave just yet! My mortal life is-"

Not as important as this goal of yours. But I guess you could wait for a bit. Let him think he's won. And then strike when he least expects it.

But his words were too compelling. They scratched into his mind and his heart with nails, sharper than his sword, and reached deep inside, snatching at his desires and bringing them to the surface so he himself could reach out to it, clutching it tightly and subjecting himself to it in all of it's entirety.

"I-uh- Yes Hawkmoth."

............

When she woke up, it took her a while to realise where she was. In fact, she didn't even know where exactly, just that she was in a cave, the entrance almost hidden by the weird formation of rocks which made the path inside that lead towards her, curved. It wasn't too big for a cave, but it was definitely larger than her home. 

She tried to lift her head but a finger, adorned in silver claw like jewellery, unlike anything her eyes had seen before, pushed her head down. Surprisingly, it didn't even pinch her. She gulped.

"Stay down. The pressure points I hit will make you feel dizzy if you sit up too fast. You may even knock yourself out. Give it a few minutes before you get up."

She couldn't help but blurt out as she tried to get up again, "That's absurd!" But his finger stayed where it was and she could do nothing for a few minutes as he kept it there.

"You can sit up now. Slowly."

For some reason, she did as he said, possibly because his hands were placed gently around her arms, helping her up, "You- who are you? What did you do to me?"

"I apologise. Truly. But you screamed and I didn't want to draw attention," his voice came from behind her and she suddenly realised just how close the unknown man was to her.

"So you kidnapped me? Were you the one who was following me?" She raised her voice and it echoed around the walls of the cave.

"Once again I apologise. But you are injured and sooner or later you would have tripped due to your injury, perhaps making it worse."

It was then that she finally noticed the dull pain in her leg and she looked to where her foot had been propped up by a very intricate and comfy cushion (and where did this man even get this from?) and it had been wrapped in bandages with a cooling medicinal herb that worked wonders on numbing the pain she should have been feeling.

No wonder she hadn't noticed.

She turned her head to the side- though she couldn't quite see his face from the angle her head was turned- and said, "Thank you."

He hummed in response before answering her other question after clearing his throat, "I wasn't one of the ones following you. You just happened to bump into me as you were running."

"What were you even doing out in the forest at this time in the night?"

"I was... looking for someone."

"Who- wait! Did you say one of the ones following me? There was more than one?!"

"You do not need to worry. I took care of them. They won't try to harm you anymore."

"How-" she turned her head to see him more, her body twisting to aid her doing so.

When she saw his face fully, her jaw dropped and any word she wanted to get out paused in it tracks, just at the tip of her tongue. 

Just like that, the person she had been looking for was right in front of her, the green eyes she had wanted so much to see up close were staring right at her, as if they had always done so. His face remained indifferent mostly, but Marinette could detect just an inch of worry in the way his brows were slightly creased and his nostrils flared as he focused on her.

She had really just been indulging herself in trying to find him, as if she was a little girl playing hide and seek with her imaginary friend late into the night when her parents would think she was asleep. But she had never truly thought, even with her wishes, that she would see him properly, not just in a dream, not just at a distance- and even that she had begun to think she was hallucinating about (she didn't know yet, but she had been).

He was just meant to be a figment of her imagination, a fantasy she had created. Her last attempt to grasp at the unrealistic lengths of happiness she had wanted to experience.

So how could he have been so easily on front of her and how could the aura around him feel so... so...

"I promise. You are safe from those people."

Safe.

She felt safe.

She felt as if she could trust him. Like he was the same person she had seen in her dreams, who had loved and cherished her without the need to say it out loud. Who held her in his arms and made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. Even now she wanted to reach out and finally experience the way her hand would fit into his and how her head would feel resting against his chest-

She looked away, so sure that her face was showing more colour than it usually did. 

But she still asked him, her voice much quieter than it had been, "Who are you looking for? I know practically everyone in Du Pont so I may be able to help you as gratitude for saving me."

A hand rested on her shoulder and even as she shivered at his touch, she didn't shrug him off, "There's no need. I'm just glad I was able to help you."

............

".... and in the end he left for his work and I didn't even feel anything more than relief but if I tell my parents this. If I tell him this I'll just let them all down. And Alya and Nino are so stuck on the fact that Luka and I will be their child's godparents together and I don't want to disappoint them. Especially Alya! It's stressful for the baby! But I just wish I had the guts to speak up to them to make my feelings known. But-"

"But you don't want to hurt them."

She didn't even know how it had happened. One moment they had been sitting in silence as he checked on her ankle to see how it was healing. She willingly let him. Meanwhile she had been thinking about anything and everything that her mind could think about and soon enough she had been thinking of the one subject which had caused her to stay up for longer than she was meant to in the past few weeks. 

As if he could sense the amount of thoughts that flooded her brain, "Speak your thoughts out loud. Let it all out. I will listen to all of your worries."

And it prompted her to speak about everything. It was like there was no filter on her mouth and all the words which were stuck in her mind flew straight out of her mouth like a flock of pigeons finally being set free from the cage they were in. Adrien watched as her shoulders, which had been tense as she bounced slightly with nervous energy, relaxed as she continued her spiel, glad to finally have her heart be heard.

"Of course I don't. I love my parents and I love Alya and Nino."

At that his eyebrow raised, "But not... not him?" It was an innocent enough question that Marinette didn't realise just how much the man on front of her was looking for pure conformation of his question. 

He had finished redoing her bandages and his hand rested on her foot in anticipation, even more because it was just a reflex at this point. She didn't even seem to mind. Of course she wouldn't. Even back in Soleria she hadn't minded.

"I- I don't know- I," she looked down at her lap and sighed, "I always thought when I was younger that everything would just fall into place. That, as he was to be my spouse I would be able to love him unconditionally because I liked him back then. So what would be next if not love?"

"But, I'm guessing, you were naïve back then. You just thought that because the people around you had arranged it for you and their life turned out so well, why not listen to them and do as they asked of you? And as you grew a bit more and realised more of this world, you couldn't feel everything fall into place as you had expected it to. It disappoints you. But you'd hate to disappoint your parents more," he could read her so easily even as when she was just a mortal with no powers brewing at the surface of her soul. Probably because it reflected his own.

She looked back up and smiled at him wistfully, "Despite how young you look, you are rather wise."

"I've had a lot of experience."

She snorted, "Okay then. Master of experience, tell me this. What more can I do than not disappoint my parents? How could I get what I want without doing so? It would crush them."

He pondered for a moment and then removed his hand from where it had been placed on her foot, only to shift closer and place it on her shoulder, "Someone I know was in a very similar situation to you, though rather than her parents, it was her uncle who she didn't want to disappoint. But she told me one day that if her parents had been alive, she would have- albeit after gathering a lot of courage- wanted to tell them that she didn't want to marry who they had arranged for her. I asked her how she could be so sure she would want to do so and she said: They may be disappointed for a while or maybe even longer, but I know that all they would have wanted was for their daughter to truly find happiness even if it was a little different from what they would have expected."

............

They had just been talking under the sky of the celestial planes, lying on the ground to witness the beauty that surrounded them, by request of Ladyb-Marinette herself. 

"Do you think..." he started as she lifted her hands in the air, acting like she was going to grab a piece of the sky and eat it like a dessert.

She dropped her hands and turned to him with a pout, "What?"

"Nothing," he said.

But she wasn't having it and she sat up, placing her hands on her hips in a sort of intimidation tactic she thought worked on him- in reality he just found it cute- and she demanded, "Tell me now."

He sat up as well and raised his palms to his chest in defence, "Okay, okay! I just was wondering.... if your parents were still- uh-"

"Alive?" the girl beside him offered.

He gulped but nodded, "Uh. Yeah. If they were, do you think they would like me?"

She didn't expect that to be the question so for a while they were silent. 

Finally she answered, "They may be disappointed for a while or maybe even longer, but I know that all they would have wanted was for their daughter to truly find happiness even if it was a little different from what they would have expected. If you make me happy why wouldn't they like you?"

He still looked at her incredulously and scrunched his nose, "Do- do you not care if you would disappoint them even one bit?" He looked at her like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

She shrugged, "Well I wouldn't really know how it feels like. I don't exactly have parents now, do I?" At that, his eyebrows raised so high that she thought it would even blend in with his hair that had been held up in a ponytail. She laughed, "Don't fret. It's fine. Seriously though, I don't think them being disappointed would matter too much if it wouldn't last long. Uncle always said my parents had the biggest hearts in Soleria so I believe that since they loved me, they would have eventually agreed with my choice of husband even if it wasn't their initial choice."

"I wish I could have met them."

Silently, she wished he could have done so too. Maybe things would have been different if he had. Maybe relations between their realms would become better. Maybe she would have found the love of her life sooner.

"Okay stop now. If you make me feel sad and I start crying, I'm afraid my parents would truly hate you."

"Well," he smirked and leaned in so they were so close to each other that they made the temperature around them become neutral, "I know something that can make you extremely happy and then they won't hate me."

Her eyebrow quirks up and she says, "Oh?"

Their lips meet soon after.

She pulled back and smirked, "I'm not so sure. My father would attempt to murder you if he saw this. My uncle most likely would too."

"Well, it's a good thing we are alone then. I can make you happy all on my own."

He leaned in and quickly captured her lips again.

............

"Whoever she is, she sounds very wise."

He just hummed in agreement as he looked at her with such intensity that it caused her to look away, "She is."

They were silent for a bit.

Marinette decided that she couldn't take the silence for much longer and turned back to face him, almost caught off guard by the way he was still looking at her, observing her, an unreadable expression on his face. 

"So..." she awkwardly started, "Will you tell me your name?"

Immediately he replied, "Adrien. My name is Adrien."

'I know,' She couldn't stop herself from thinking.

She held her hand out, "Pleased to meet you Adrien. My name is Marinette."

'I know,' He couldn't stop himself from thinking. 

He reached out and shook her hand and once again he couldn't help but stare into her exquisite eyes. Neither of them could look away.

............

By the way, the important thing that Alya wanted to ask Marinette was if she could be her and Nino's child's Godmother.

And if it wasn't clear enough, Marinette was practically hallucinating Adrien from her dream so the eyes she saw weren't actually him, just her imagination going insane because it's trying to help her remember. 

We are about halfway through the main story now. I actually just finished writing the whole of part 2 though I will have to go over and edit when the time comes for it. In the meantime, I finally started writing part 3 and I am finally getting to write the whole conclusion to the story which I'm excited about. I've been itching to write it for ages but if I cannot do things chronologically, it will muddle up my thoughts.

See you soon lovelies <3