Miracle Box - an MLB rewrite

Book 3 - Blind Rage

A/n
Sorry for almost a month gap between this and the last chapter. Life is busy ig. I'm going to Greece tomorrow though so that's cool (and part of the reason I decided to post this so that the gap between chapters doesn't end up egregiously long).

Have fun.

"Marinette, I want to break up."

He's not serious, is he?

"I've been thinking about it for a while. And I just feel like you don't care for me the same way I care for you."

No, he can't be serious!

"You seem preoccupied with something else."

It's to protect Paris!

"And you never tell me anything."

Identities have to be kept secret.

"And something happened recently, I don't know what, but it's like there's a giant hole in my life that I can't fill."

How could this happen?

"So I'm sorry, Marinette. I have to let you go. We're holding each other back."

This is the worst possible timing.

"I hope you understand. I love you."

The voicemail ended there. Marinette didn't know how to take it. She was completely shocked yet felt like she knew exactly what she was going to hear before each sentence–no, each word–came out. This was predictable. This was a long time coming.

"I fucked up," Marinette vented. Tikki was beside her, and had just listened to the entire voicemail on repeat about three times with Marinette.

"You're a hero. I told you, responsibilities such as that come with a cost."

"Oh, what do I do?!"

Tikki frowned up at her and flew in front of her face. "Weren't you JUST saying that you had feelings for Chat Noir?"

"No!" Marinette lied defensively.

"Yes!" Tikki inched closer, "you did!"

"What's it matter? He's in hiding anyway."

"So you're over Luka already?"

Marinette boldly thwacked Tikki in the forehead. "I have so much to worry about right now, don't you dare jump to that conclusion!"

"Well?"

"Well what? I'm not over Luka in just a few seconds! I care about him so much and I feel like such an asshole! I've been neglecting him! We rarely hung out and when we did I usually had to run off to save the city! His perspective on this is right! I seemed like I didn't care, or give a shit about his feelings."

"And of Chat Noir?" Tikki questioned.

"You're really hung up on this, aren't you?"

Marinette frowned. "I don't know. Right now, I'm freaking out over Luka. So would you DROP the Chat Noir thing already?!"

Her phone began to buzz in her hand. Thinking it was possibly Luka, she dropped it. She had to scramble all the way off her bed to fetch it again and–

"Chat Noir?!" she exclaimed in surprise. She forgot that when not transformed, his calls to her would automatically sync to her phone if she was wearing her earrings.

She looked up at Tikki helplessly. Tikki looked deeply concerned. "Might be an akuma," she said darkly. Marinette nodded, and answered the phone.

"Chat Noir! Is there an akuma?! Where should I go?"