Ways to be Wicked - Descendants 2 AU

Chapter 13

 Marinette wasn't entirely sure how the day could end up being so odd. She had been perfectly fine in her self-imposed exile that morning when she had gotten up, resigned to her new lot in life as a villain once more. Then Adrien had appeared in her hideaway, begging her to come back to Auradon, followed by the appearance of Luka, someone who had told her to leave once again for her own safety. Now, she was laying on her battered and patched-together couch with Luka sitting and her feet in his lap, hands resting on her ankles as he looked at her, waiting for a reaction that she wasn't quite sure she could muster at that moment.

Falling back into this familiarity had been shockingly easy. Having Luka there, in her space and far closer than most people were allowed, was like rediscovering an old comfort. That comfort had once been the bane of her existence, the old Marinette despising his growing affection for her and calling it a weakness. The universe enjoyed proving her wrong though because in that moment she wanted to soak up that tenderness for all it was worth.

They had been like that for a while after Marinette had finally stopped sobbing like a child. Luka had taken his seat at the opposing end of the couch and hadn't moved or said a word since Marinette had collapsed with her arms covering her eyes. She could feel him watching her, she always could with the way it seemed to linger on her long after he had looked away. He was waiting for her to speak, to put words to the mess that had sent her spiraling in the first place. Eventually, she managed to find her voice.

"How can you stand to be near me right now?" She asked, her voice muddled and thick from crying.

Luka snorted, making Marinette peet at him through the canopy of her arms, wide-eyed and confused. She could already tell he was going to say something poetic from how his face had softened. Despite growing up in the streets, Luka was a lot like Nathaniel, an oddly soft soul despite the cards life had dealt him. Others would think of it as a weakness, something to be exploited and used against him. Marinette had only ever thought that it meant he was far wiser than they had ever given him credit for.

"You assume that because you're such a fiery personality, that all you can ever do is burn the people around you," he said plainly. Marinette managed a snort herself at the odd comparison.

"No, I think the burning comes from the actual fire that comes from my hands," Marinette said half-heartedly before sighing once more into her arms. "But your so-called assumption sounds pretty apt to me."

Luka patted Marinette's ankles for emphasis, drawing her attention to him to look him in the eye.

"That's your dad talking," Luka said emphatically. "He only ever told you that you were a means of destruction to keep you under thumb and use it to direct you down his path of evil for you. He didn't want you finding out what the real benefit that fire can offer to others."

His eyes bore into her then, obviously waiting for her to ask him what exactly her greater purpose was, but all Marinette could manage was an impatient shrug. She didn't have the energy to try and unravel any riddles at that moment. Luka sighed, looking at her with what almost looked like pity.

"Fire is something warm," Luka explained. "Something that brings light to other people's lives. That's what you do to others, Marinette."

The Isle teen couldn't help but laugh at that statement. No one had ever compared her, the daughter of death, to something so bright and positive before. No one but Adrien... but he was a hopeless romantic raised in a fairytale. Hearing Luka say it just reaffirmed why she had had to let him go in the first place.

"Only saps would call me something do idyllic," Marinette told him, sitting up on her elbows to sneer at him. Luka however, was unfazed by her leering.