Here is your reminder that Luka is still being very influenced by the akuma inside of him. However, a lot of his actual emotions do come into play in this chapter.

Warning. This chapter is very dialogue heavy. 

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

It was almost a month later and Luka was due to be back any second.

Marinette had thought about it a lot over the weeks, had twisted and turned in her bed and argued with herself on whether or not she should listen to the advice Adrien had given. One day she would agree, the next day she would feel less confident about the decision she would make and then the next she would once again shake her head and tell herself that she deserved to be selfish at least for something as important as her own marriage.

Soon she had been able to convince herself to gather the courage to reveal her true feelings to her parents and so she asked them to invite Luka's to join them for dinner on the day he would come back.

Somewhat ironically, Luka's parents were actually divorced but when it came to matters regarding him, they would always both be there, especially when it was matters regarding his marriage. When they were younger, it had been his parents who had asked the both of them if they liked each other and only when they had both said yes had they went to her parents and began the talks of a marriage contract. For the two parents who had only married for the sake of raising their son, and a few years later, their daughter, they wanted to secure the happiness of their son. 

It was the same for their daughter and Luka's younger sister Juleka, who had fallen in love with her best friend, a sweet and bubbly girl by the name of Rose. Although she was two years younger than her brother, she had actually already married her sweetheart almost a year ago, and so, their parents focus was more on Luka. 

But Marinette couldn't help but think that her and Luka's situation was different. They liked each other, yes, and their parents had seen that. But she felt that they had been too hasty in confirming that their children would be together forever. But that was just a fairy-tale concocted by parents who wished for their child to be happy, as did all well meaning parents. 

Back then, Marinette had been ecstatic at the thought of living her life with someone as handsome and kind as Luka. She knew that if she would be his wife, her life would be as comfortable as how she had been living with her parents. It could be enjoyable because she would be able to follow him around as he made music, and possibly even make his outfits. The smile and the thanks she would get would have been enough for her. It always had been when she was younger.

Was it enough for her now? Was she allowed to be so selfish and say that it wasn't?

Was she allowed to tell herself that she wanted more?

Wasn't the point of not only Luka's parents, but her own when they decided on this marriage, that it was for the sake of their happiness?

What would they say if she told them she wasn't happy?

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

She had met Adrien a few times (read: many) within those weeks and had asked him once those exact questions.

"No one should stop you from wanting a greater chance at happiness. You are allowed to be selfish. It's not always a bad thing to do so."

 The more she confided in him, the more she believed in herself to do what was right for her. What felt like the best decision for her. 

She picked up a daisy from the patch of grass they had been sitting on in his garden. Adrien had very quickly bought a house big enough to house ten people once he had confirmed that Marinette was in this village and he wasn't surprised when Marinette had taken a liking to the wild garden which had come with the house. He didn't mind that she would pick at the flowers either.

"When this is all sorted and I am not engaged anymore, will you go travelling with me?"

He raised his eyebrow, as if he was in disbelief that she would ask such a thing- she had only known him for a month after all- and so he replied, "Um. I- uh- Marinette. Are you sure?"

She nodded, oblivious to his shock, as she played with the daisy she had picked from the ground, "I am. I've been thinking, I need to learn about what I can do to make myself happy, rather than others. To do that, I need to go away from this town for a bit and rediscover myself. However, I don't actually want to go alone and well, Alya is pregnant so I can't ask her to come with me. Nino can't live without his wife so if he came along Alya would have to be there too. Obviously, I wouldn't let them anyways. My other friends all have their lives to get on with. I wouldn't want to bother them either. And well, Luka..." she paused and gave him a look, "Yeah that's not going to happen. The only person I could trust enough to come along with me is you. And it will give me a chance to get to know you better. Maybe I can even help you look for whoever it was you were looking for."

"How long?" 

She waved her hand quickly, "Not for too long. I promise. Perhaps a month or so? Maybe less. Maybe more. But I don't want to be gone too long because I want to still be there for Alya during her pregnancy. Especially in her later months."

He looked up and shielded his eyes from the brightness of the mortal sun- though it was never as bright as the one in Soleria, "I'll come with you."

Two hands rested on his bicep and squeezed excitedly, and Adrien found himself being shaken, "Really?" she exclaimed, her eyes wide. She hadn't been sure that he would agree.

He nodded at her and she promptly screamed in delight and gave him a quick hug, before picking more daisies up from the floor and making a flower crown.

Later, he would return inside of his home after seeing her off from the back entrance, only known to the both of them and away from the sight of other people, and he wouldn't take the crown off until he had to succumb to the minimal amount of sleep he needed.

He walked up to his room in this house and went straight to the mirror, reciting incantations to activate it, and he walked right into the mirror. It didn't shatter, only broke like a pool of water when a person emerged themselves into it, and it took him straight to his own room in his own realm.

He placed the crown in a glass box and whispered something as he lay his hand on top, preserving the crown for all eternity. 

He went straight to sleep.

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

Only a few days after she had asked him to travel with her, something happened that neither Marinette or Adrien had accounted for. 

It was Alya. Who, during her pregnancy had become a lot more emotional, as was expected and had been missing her best friend quite a lot on a particularly peculiar evening. She had told her husband just that and so they had set out to go to the Dupain-Cheng household to find their best-friend and coerce her into having a sleepover full of baked treats and late night talks, like the three had done so many times before.

When they had arrived, they had found that Marinette wasn't even there. Her parents shrugged and said that she had been invited over to dinner by a friend and would be late home as a result. When asked who it was, they had told Alya and Nino that they didn't know much, only that Marinette had been helping out the young man who had just arrived a couple of weeks ago to settle in his house and that, as a thank you, he had asked her to have dinner with him. 

"He seems like a lonely little thing that dear. But he is a gentleman I promise you. Whenever he has interacted with us he always left us quite impressed by his courteousness. It's a good thing that Marinette decided to be his friend. It seems that he needs it."

"And... you don't see anything fishy about this at all?"

Sabine smiled at her, "Of course we did at first. But that young man has nothing but good intentions towards our family. And Marinette has gone over to his house multiple times before. They really are great friends. I'm glad. It's been a while since she has made a new friend. Other than the two of you and Luka, she hasn't really spoken to too many people recently. I was getting worried she was becoming closed off."

Alya still wasn't convinced and, once they were out of the bakery, she turned to her husband, "So... where is his house again?"

Nino sighed but indulged his wife, knowing she would be restless if she didn't quench her need for knowing details, "Come on. I'll take you. If only for the sake of my sanity," he mumbled the last part but even then, he too was curious about this new friend of Marinette's.

He held her hand and led her on the path to the house at the edge of the village, not too far from where they themselves lived. All the way to the outside of a large house which had been built quite long ago by the head of the village but never used until it had been bought entirely by the young man that now resided in there.

They knocked on the door but no one answered. They knocked twice more but still no answer.

But Alya wasn't going to just let it go and they started to walk around the area in hopes of even finding just a glimpse of the two.

Finally they heard a faint but familiar laughter.

They followed it until they found themselves near to the other side of the back of the house where a small lake resided, though big enough for several little creatures to make a home there.

"Shh. Quickly. Let's hide," Alya immediately ushered the two of them behind a bush.

"But I thought we were here to actually talk to her."

"We will, we will. I just want to see..." she mumbled but her eyes were focused on the two figures sitting by the pond.

Nino prided himself in being able to read his wife well and he knew that she just wanted to gouge out the situation Marinette was in so she didn't make her judgement just based on Marinette's testimony. As much as the two of them trusted Marinette, they knew that the girl sometimes didn't know the weight of whatever she had gotten herself into.

Or maybe she did but she was too worried about other more pressing matters in her life to think too much about those things.

Namely, her impending marriage with Luka. She thought they didn't notice, but Marinette had a habit of muttering to herself when she was arguing with the voice inside her head. 

They'd let her tell them at her own pace.

They watched the two by the lake. They were sitting side by side, so close yet not quite touching. They were looking at each other and were in what seemed to be a very deep conversation. They obviously knew immediately that the girl was Marinette- their friend had a very distinctive appearance. One they would recognise anywhere. They could only see this guy, this so-called gentleman from only the side of his face but they could understand why people would immediately be infatuated by him.

He looked like a prince from a fairy-tale, yet there was a sort of darkness which surrounded him, like he was a handsome villain from a series of illustrated books Alya had found herself indulging in recently. But the darkness wasn't foreboding or gloomy. It was like it encircled the aura around him so only he would be able to shine brightly amongst the darkness. 

Everything but himself and the girl next to him was left untouched by the darkness. 

For it was like he was the moon that guided the darkness whilst she was the sun which shone over it, sending the darkness towards him to collect and command. 

He sat up straight as he looked at Marinette whilst she spoke, looking in her eyes as he listened attentively to what she was saying. His hair was held up in a tight ponytail which cascaded down his back, even longer than the girl sitting on front of him. His jaw was defined from the side, but there was a sort of softness that continued across the side of the face they could see that made Alya think he must have likely inherited most of his features from his mother.

Whom, unbeknownst to them, was the topic of Marinette and Adrien's conversation.

When they watched the man frown before speaking a bit more and turning his head to look at the lake, they didn't understand that the reason Marinette rested her hand on his back and then proceed to lay her head on his shoulder was because she wanted to do it in an act of silent comfort. 

A few moments earlier he had told her, after she had asked whether or not his parents would agree to him travelling with her, that they had not been alive for a long time. He told her that it didn't matter anymore and that he had gotten over it when she tried to apologise to him for just assuming he had his parents still. Even if he wanted to deny it, she could see that he hadn't gotten over it. 

"Do you want to tell me about them?"

He tilted his head a bit, wondering if she was serious and hesitated even though he could see that she was, "They- uh."

"Take some time Adrien. You don't need to say anything if you don't want to."

The other two couldn't see, but he moved his hand to rest on her knee in quiet refusal, "I- I want to. I've never really- only one person knew about this. And now, not even anymore- but that doesn't matter. I want you to know. Not everything just now but... some things."

She moved her hand so it was on top of his, "I'm listening."

The side of his mouth lifted before he opened it to speak in a low voice, "I-uh. Back home- uh," he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but he remembered who it was that was listening and opened his eyes with determination. He looked directly into her dazzling eyes, the moon which reflected in them making him feel right at home, and he spoke, "Contrary to popular belief, I didn't have the best relationship with my father. He was harsh on both my brother and I, however, more to me. But I let him be because he expected more of me, everyone did. Including myself."

"You know, if there is something I have learnt in these last few weeks, it is that you shouldn't let the expectations of everyone else get to you. You taught me that."

He looked away and bit the inside of his cheek, suddenly feeling more vulnerable than he had felt in decades, "It's not- I can't-" he looked back at her, "It's not realistic for me to not try appease the expectations of people. There are people who rely on me more than anything."

She was curious about just who exactly he was talking about but she could tell it was a topic he didn't want to discuss in the way he averted his eyes to look anywhere but her eyes for a few seconds, "And what about your mother?" She felt relieved when he looked at her again, and a small bit of gratefulness flashed in his eyes as she changed the subject.

And then a wave of sadness glossed over them just as he thought of his mother, but he smiled still, as he remembered, "Mother... She was the best. And despite everything that made people scared or hate my father, there was no one who could dispute the love he had for my mother. She was like the eternal sunshine in a realm which was shrouded in darkness. Everywhere she went, it was like the sunlight followed her every footstep even though, where I'm from, you don't get to see much sunlight."

Why did it sound so familiar to her?

"It must be a very cold place then," and maybe she had only realised now, or she had probably even realised before, but he had always been cooler to the touch than most people.

He gave a slight nod, "It's how it's always been. But I'm quite adept to other weathers so don't worry about me when you choose where to travel. I'll just follow you."

"Can we go to your hometown?"

"One day. Hopefully soon," he replied, tone as hopeful as his words, and, finally he turned towards the lake again, a faraway look making it's way to his face as he thought of how long it would take for them to return. How long it would take for her memories to come back and how long it would take for them to finally end everything that threatened to take away their happiness. 

A hand rubbed his back in soothing motions and Marinette lay her head on his shoulder, also facing the lake. There was nothing he found more comfortable than her presence and her heart knew it. For a few moments it was just the sound of their heartbeats matching pace and the livelihood of the night which naturally accompanied them.

Their peace was interrupted only a few seconds later when rustling behind them was heard and a very loud, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng!" was cried out.

Marinette turned and hastily stood up as not one, but two very familiar people came marching towards them, one who seemed to glare at the two who had been previously sitting with almost very murderous intent. Adrien quickly went on front of Marinette, glaring back at the women, cautious from the hostility she was displaying. 

Despite the hostility, Alya and Nino listened to every word Marinette told them and supported her decision wholeheartedly, even with their reservations.

They were just worried about how Luka himself would react when Marinette told him finally.

They didn't even get to comment that night how close Marinette seemingly was to Adrien, too shocked at the revelations that their friend had enlightened them with.

Only a few days after had they confronted the both of them (separately, of course), where both parties had very much denied that there was anything going on with them. They insisted they were: "Just friends."

Alya could feel a headache coming but Nino, the sweetheart he was, already brought her some ice.

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

"There is something I must tell you all," Marinette finally spoke up after eating half of the plate of food her parents had given to her in a peculiar silence that the other five people in the house noticed.

Sabine set her spoon down and smiled at her daughter, "Of course dear. We're all listening."

Marinette also set her utensils down and quickly used the napkin sitting on her lap to wipe her mouth in order to talk more eloquently (at least that's what she forced herself to believe. In reality, it was very much due to the nerves), "Promise you will hear me out before you go off in a bout of rage. It is something I have taken a lot of consideration into deciding and I want you all to respect that."

"This seems serious," Sabine once again spoke.

Marinette nodded, "It is."

"Tom, please help me clear the table."

The man did as instructed and Marinette diligently waited until the last speck of food on the table was gone and her parents were sitting once again. She didn't even dare to look Luka, who was sitting beside her, trying to catch her line of sight but she sat upright and looked straight ahead as she cleared her throat.

She declared with all the confidence she had been building up in the past few weeks, "I, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, am breaking off the marriage contract between myself and Luka Couffaine, henceforth dissolving the engagement between the both of our families as well as the two young individuals sitting in this room."

She waited patiently until the indignant shouts of shock and anger (from next to her) washed over. It was then that she finally found the guts to look at Luka. He looked as if she had betrayed him over and over again yet, every time, he would come back to her and let himself be betrayed.

It was a look that seemed familiar to her somehow, almost like she had seen it before.

He let out a strangled, "Why?"

She winced at the frustration in his voice, "You said you love me Luka."

He nodded enthusiastically as he said it, "I do Marinette," as he pleaded with her to believe his desperate words, he tried to hold her hands. She let him.

"And for that I am so grateful. Luka. I am. But you deserve someone who can love you back. With all of their heart."

"No," he mumbled, shaking his head as his grip tightened around her hand, "No, Marinette. I only want you. Please."

Marinette tried to move her hand out of his but he wouldn't release her so she scrunched her face in discontent, "Luka. Do not let me lose my tolerance with you right now. Let go," she felt herself begin to grit her teeth despite not wanting to get angry, "And let me talk."

He finally seemed to realise his own actions and, reluctantly, let go, "I'm sorry. I- I didn't mean to-" he looked down, ashamed of himself.

"Look," she sighed, "Luka. I know it will be hard for you. But I believe you can find someone better than me. Who won't think of abandoning you like I have. Who will love you like I can't."

He sighed too and looked back at her, but she couldn't read the expression on his face as more than misery, "Tell me why? Why can't you love me? Why can't you let me show my love for you?"

She took a deep breath, "It's as simple as that. I- I don't love you. Not like a wife should. Believe me. I tried so hard to love you. To understand how to do so. But... I just can't. And you don't deserve someone who isn't even willing to give all of herself to you when you would do exactly that. It's unfair-"

"I don't care! I love you, Marinette," He put his hands on her shoulder this time, "Shouldn't that be enough for you? For us?"

She harshly moved her chair back so he couldn't touch her and she let out a bitter laugh, "Why is it that you get to dictate what is enough for me?" she turned to the parents who had just been sitting, watching and waiting to intervene, "Do I not get the chance to let my feelings known?"

Luka's parents seemed to be in shock from her outburst and even Tom and his own parents, but Sabine sternly looked at her daughter before flicking her eyes to the young man who had held her daughter more aggressively than any of them had expected and addressed the whole room, "No one speaks but Marinette."

Luka's mother tried to protest but Sabine shot a glare at her.

Giving a small smile to her mother, Marinette once again explained, "I will not marry Luka, simply because I do not love him. Yes, when the engagement happened I said I liked him and it was true. It still is. But the more I have gotten to know him, the more I have realised that it was just childish infatuation lingering from my younger years when I garnered an embarrassingly huge crush on him. But something like that... it just doesn't matter when it doesn't really progress to more than that. And I tried to make it progress. I tried so hard and I know Luka tried his hardest too but," She looked at the man in question, "You and I both know that it isn't working. That sooner or later the peace between us would shatter and never repair if we didn't intervene with ourselves. If I hadn't decided to do this today."

"Marinette," Luka whispered weakly.

She looked sad. Of course she was. Though she knew she was making the right decision for herself she knew it would hurt others, mostly Luka in the process. She closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her forehead as she leaned her arm on the table, close to breaking down herself.

"Luka," she murmured, "I am so sorry. I know that doing this is going to hurt you. I know that you wished we could spend our lives together and we still can, as friends. But never as husband and wife. Knowing what I've told you today, do you really think you could carry the knowledge that your wife would never truly love you as much as you love her?"

"Yes! I would willingly do so if it means I have you by my side. Not as my friend but as my wife."

Another incredulously bitter laugh, "Do my feelings not even matter to you?"

He looked taken aback, "No! They do matter to me. Very much, Marinette. You have to believe me!"

"Then would you listen to yourself? I understand that you are angry at me but do not let my respect for you go downhill!"

"All I said is that I want you to be my wife. I don't want to break this contract. Does the idea disgust you so much that you react like this?" he spat the words at her like a venom which caused her to recoil back in shock.

Still she glared at him, her rage growing by the second and the words just flew out of her mouth, "And all I want is someone who sees me as an equal. Who values my opinion as much as he does his own. Who won't just disregard me unless I'm his perfect little trophy wife who will stick by his side as he goes along his journey as an artist. I remember now. You told me once that you just wanted me to follow you for the rest of our lives. Yeah, well. Have you ever considered that maybe, just maybe that I don't want to follow you. Maybe I want to take my own path not curated by so many people who aren't myself?" His mouth flew open as she spat right back at him, her words equally, if not even more venomous than his own. At this point she was just angry. She wanted to accuse him of the worst. She knew she would regret it later. But right now it didn't matter.

He stood up, pointed at her and screamed, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng! You- you- How could you?"

She too stood up, not afraid to speak her mind as she took a dangerously scary step forward to him, causing an involuntary shudder to travel down his spine, "How could I? How could I?" Her voice rose up as the fury within her clouded her rationality, "What? How could I want someone who makes me feel like myself? How could I want someone who I don't have to pretend around? How could I want someone who doesn't just want me to be their wife but the person they can come to no matter what? The person they can confide to? How could I not want someone whom I could easily confide in? Who would comfort and protect me and in return make me want to do the same for him. How could I want to love someone so passionately that I would willingly lay my life down if only it would mean I could save him?"

Flashes of the dreams she had been having, still to this day, went through her mind as she tried to catch her breath from all of the pent up resentment she had been holding inside of herself released. She huffed and puffed for a few seconds, letting the words sit inside the other's minds as she recalled the dreams she had of Adrien in the fantasy world. Of how she had, on multiple occasions, expressed her willingness to sacrifice herself for him if it meant he lived. How he had done the same back but then had made her promise not to do anything of the sort. How, in her dream, she had broke her promise in order to protect him from the evil forces that were trying to consume him. 

"We agree to the dissolving of this contract and consider it void," their parents had finally spoken and Marinette realised they they had probably been silently conversing as she let her emotions out, giving her time to finally express them, whilst they made the decision as they continued to listen to her points.

Still, she was astonished that they had agreed as she had thought they would want to push them together as much as they could.

Marinette let out another breath and nodded at them, before making a beeline straight to her room upstairs. No one followed her. No one dared to.

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

"They're gone sweetheart. And they just wanted to let you know that although this whole thing will obviously cause you and Luka some issues, they don't want you to feel like you aren't part of their family. You are always welcome to them."

From under the covers, Marinette let out a sniffle, "I'm sorry Maman. I caused so much trouble for you and Papa."

The covers were lifted from her head and Marinette's head was softly caressed by her mother, "Nonsense!" Her father bellowed from behind, giving his daughter a wide smile though the shock of the whole situation had made him more alert and jumpy, "Your Maman and I are sorry too. We should have noticed that something was up and we should have not assumed that after all this time you wouldn't have changed your mind about marrying Luka. We really are sorry my little cheesecake. We didn't realise how pressured you must have felt with the contract. And we didn't ask about it either."

Marinette sat up and quickly disagreed, "No! Papa. Maman. I don't expect you guys to notice everything that I'm feeling. But you gave me a chance to let them be known today and I'm thankful for it."

Sabine put her hand on her daughter's arm, "We're your parents , sweetheart. We want to know if anything is troubling you. You may have grown but as your parents we always want to know how you are doing. What you want to do with your life. We never want you think we won't be here to listen to you and help you in whatever you would like to achieve."

Marinette felt a sense of déjà vu as threw her arms around her mother, who gladly returned the sentiment before they were both engulfed in the strong arms of her father. 

Her father said as he held his wife and daughter in his arms, "One thing however. You do need to apologise to Luka next time you see him. He should too. Those words you said to each other, I know some of them weren't true and you just wanted to hurt each other. But as much as it feels right in that moment you say it, it never is. You have known each other for so long. Don't drift apart because of this."

Marinette thought for a moment and started to feel the guilt. Solemnly, she replied, "I will Papa," as she thought over her own words and although she mainly felt relief for getting it all out, she still felt regretful that she said words that specifically hurt Luka. 

She hugged her family closer. The family stayed like that for a while, not saying anything though even in the silence the immense gratitude Marinette had towards her parents was evident. After what felt like hours, Marinette slowly manoeuvred herself outside of her parent's comforting grasp and wiped the tears which had run down her face when she had been embraced.

"There's something else I have to tell you," she said, as she looked at her parents with a new sense of determination, "There's another reason. Why I cannot marry Luka. Though it is something I had only just realised."

And this was the most important reason. The one which she had to admit out loud in order for even herself to acknowledge it fully. 

"We're listening."

She took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and thought of the reason. Of all that had happened which had led to it. Which had caused her to fall further inside without ever truly meaning to. But it wasn't a bad thing. Where she had fallen was not pitch black. It was not an endless, dark tunnel which mocked her and taunted her for falling in. 

What it was was a devastating abyss, so complex in the way it worked, yet so welcoming to the life she brought to it. And she wanted to be there. To nurture it. To help it grow, not to be less complex, but to become more open to the endless possibilities it didn't even know it could contain.

Her eyes remained closed but not in shame or embarrassment. She was glowing with the certainty of this new reason.

"There is someone else. Whom I love dearly and would like to give my heart to. Whom even with the short amount of time we have known each other, I can see myself being wed to. I know it's so early, but I have been thinking over this for a few days. With your permission, I would like to court him."

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

Woah that was intense. I'm tired from writing this. I wrote this whole chapter within a day. Alongside some other stuff I did. 

Final edit Persia here- this was exhausting to edit. Why do I do this to myself? And why are these chapters getting longer? They used to be 2-3k words and now they are 4-5k at least. I make myself suffer.

My goal is to finish writing the third part by the end of August since I will be starting Uni in Sept so I will be busy closer to that time. Wish me luck. 

Don't hate on my boi Luka though. He's the best boi in the show and he knows it. Like, he's an actual angel. Truly. Wonderful. He's the best. I'm still suffering from the aftereffects of him leaving. Edit: He's back! Yes! 

See you soon Lovelies <3