The New Scheme

Chapter 2

Luka wished he knew what to do. He thought he did for the longest time. Music. That's all he wanted. He wanted to embrace music and share it. That's why he attended a music school, while Juleka attended Collège Françoise Dupont. Luka was always the sibling who had everything figured out. People assumed he wanted to be a musician due to him always making and producing music. On the contrary, Luka actually never had interest in pursuing making music. He wanted to create what made the music. He wanted to create what made the inspiration for many skilled individuals. 

Luka had been doing that for around a year now. He was making violins, violas, and even cellos. When he was working on his first violin, he was inspired by his sister, Juleka. When he had felt like giving up on the violin, he met Marinette, the girl who stole his thoughts. That moment he had finished the violin was the happiest he had been in a while. Then she broke his song. Marinette always flooded his thoughts now, but Luka didn't flood hers, Adrien did. 

Adrien had shattered Marinette's heart, but she still got back together with him. Luka had to admit, what he heard about their breakup did not seem like Adrien at all. Regardless, he had no idea why Adrien was given a second chance, when Luka was never given a chance in the first place. The constant smile was starting to wear off, the constant pain was starting to take over. Which is why he was now standing in front of two little kids looking forward to learning how to play instruments. 

Evan and Olivia were very bright kids. Each were interested in a different instrument. Evan wanted to play the violin, while Olivia wanted to play the guitar. Every day, they would come over to the ship and take lessons from Luka. It was a breath of fresh air for him. The kids did not ask questions about how he was doing. They didn't force him to lie to them by saying he was fine. Instead, they were more concerned on how his hair was blue or how his nails were black. Every day, Luka looked forward to seeing these children and their mother. Their mother, Lydia, would drop them off every day, regardless of how much mental or physical pain she was in. Luka was unaware of what Lydia's accident exactly was, but he had heard that it was the result of an akuma attack. Apparently it was the same attack that led to Hawk Moth's capture and Ladybug and Cat Noir's reveal. Luka always assumed Lydia had gotten injured before everything fell apart, as the attack was near the aquarium she worked in. 

Luka was astonished when the kids showed up with the exact people Luka was avoiding. Ladybug and Cat Noir, also known as Marinette and Adrien, the sweethearts of Paris. Luka looked at the hands that were clasped together before dropping his eyes to the kids wit big grins on their faces.. Their excitement made Luka push the couple out of his mind. 

Luka bent down in front of the twins, "did you guys do the homework I assigned you?" Luka asked, a warm smile on his face. 

"I did!" Even said proudly, holding out the piece of paper in his hands, "Olivia didn't, though! I told her to!"

"Olivia bent her head down in shame, "I didn't understand how to do it, Luka," then she shot a glare at her brother. "I asked Evan for help and he refused to!"

Luka chuckled, "don't worry, Oblivio, it was just practice, we can go over notes again today."

"Why did you call her Oblivio?" Marinette asked.

Luka inhaled, the genuine smile on his face becoming a fake one, "I showed them the news during Oblivio's attack to show the hand-eye coordination of Ladybug and Cat Noir. Olivia thought it was a cool stage name so she decided to adopt the name Oblivio."

Marinette smiled, "What's Evan's stage name?"

Evan burst into tears and ran into Luka's outstretched arms. "He doesn't know yet, which is perfectly fine, right, Evan/" Luka said, patting the kid's hair. Evan shook his head, rubbing his snot on Luka's shirt. 

Marinette's panicked face quickly thought of a response, "you're still young, Evan! You have plenty of time to—" Marinette's attempt to stop the crying ended up in Evan wailing.

"Evan," Luka said, "Jagged Stone doesn't have a stage name, so it's okay to not have one! You're just cool like Jagged!"

Evan pulled back, "really?" Luka nodded back. "Why don't you both go remove your instruments from their cases? I'll teach you which strings are the proper notes. The kids ran off immediately. 

"Wait, Luka, can we talk to you?" Adrien said. 

"Sure, Adrien, what do you need?"

"Well, Lydia's doctors have said she can't get out of bed for a bit so she won't be dropping the twins off anymore, we will be."

"That's sad to hear," Luka said, "will she be alright?"

Marinette hesitated, "we don't know."

"Seeing as to how an akuma did the damage, shouldn't you, Ladybug?"

"Excuse me?"

Luka lost his smile, "it sounds more like you just don't know what to do to cure her. How would a doctor know how to help her when it was caused by magic? Shouldn't you know, Paris' savior?"

Marinette furrowed her eyebrows, "it's more complicated than that, you don't know the whole story."

"I don't need to, Luka said, "I just know that medical school doesn't teach you how to cure a patient injured by magic. I bet being the guardian of the Miracle Box does teach you that, Ladybug. 

"Don't talk about things you're unaware of, Luka," Adrien chimed in. 

"I am aware of Lydia's injury, though and I'm also aware of how Lydia struggles because there's no cure. A cure Marinette has failed to find and use."

Marinette's hand grew tighter around Adrien's, "stop—"

"I won't stop, Marinette, you are the reason Lydia is still facing pain. Until she gets better, don't show your face around here. I can pick up the kids or do the lessons at their house. What I'm not doing is looking at your face everyday."

Marinette turned around after Adrien as they walked off the boat. "I'm sorry, Luka," she said, before continuing to stride off. 

Luka let our a breath of relief. He wouldn't have to see their faces every day. Whenever he saw them together, he felt like there was a hand being wrenched into his chest and compressing his lungs. Even seeing her face made him feel nauseous. Knowing they were meant to be together just hurt even more. They both got a happy ending. What about Luka? Who was he supposed to depend on? Who was supposed to support him? Why could Luka never be selfish? Why was it always others first?

"Luka?" Olivia said softly, surprising Luka. "I broke the guitar string."

Like's invading smile took over his face again, "don't worry, Oblivio, I'll teach you how to change the strings."

When heading towards Evan, who was observing Olivia's music, the monster of negative emotions only grew larger as every second passed.