When Walls Crumble

Chapter 17: Till Death Do Us Part

A few doors down the hall, the boys were ready hours ago. Now they were simply sitting and talking, trying to distract Luka from his fears of literally everything to go wrong, from forgetting his lines ("I do") to someone getting akumatized to Marinette running out.

Nino was going over the playlist he mixed for Luka while Adrien and Ivan shared stories with Luka's cousins who were unfamiliar with the Parisian superheroes.

"Yeah, that Hawkmoth is just too clever," Adrian complained.

"You remember what happened to Kim on Valentine's day all those years ago?" Ivan reminisced.

Adrian shook his head. "I apparently missed a lot with that one, but everyone seems to think it's too long a story to explain."

Luka cocked an eyebrow. "That's what Cat Noir said. And he's the one who got kissed. So I don't know exactly how he managed to avoid all the details."

His cousins turned in surprise. "You've spoken to the superheroes?" the older one asked incredulously.

Luka nodded. "Sure thing, Adam. The day I met Marinette, Mom was akumatized. I didn't see much of Cat Noir, but Ladybug saved us. And our first date, a guy who had a crush on her was akumatized. Ladybug was detained, but Cat Noir was great. He saved her. And Ladybug showed up eventually, so it all worked out."

Adrian noticed how well he spun his words.

"But wasn't that the day the blue one showed up?" Nino asked. "Viperion?"

"Woah, back up," Raphael, the younger cousin, complained. "There are three heroes and the villain is still out there?"

"Well, there are two villains," Adrian explained. "And both of them have long-range powers. Hawkmoth and Mayura have only been seen in public once each, and once together."

"Also, there are nine superheroes," Ivan pointed out. "First there was just Ladybug and Cat Noir, but then they started recruiting. The other seven are only enlisted every now and then and rarely all together. Rena Rouge was the first to show up. She has illusory powers from the fox miraculous. Then we got Queen Bee. Everyone knows who she is. Chloe Bourgeois. She announced it to the world. So they can't get her that much.  Too dangerous.  Then there was Carapace, the turtle, with his magic shell. Ryuko was only ever seen once since she also jeapordized her identity, but she was cool.  Kagami Tsurungi, dragon miraculous.  Poorly defined powers.  Then Viperion showed up on Luka and Marinette's date. He can go back in time. Snake miraculous. Then there was Pegasus who can teleport and Monkey King who can mess with other powers."

Adam and Raphael exchanged confused looks.

"Dang," Raphael whistled. "Sounds exciting. You have freaking superheroes and we only get invited up for your wedding."

"Nevermind that," Adam said. "What I want to know is how we've been in the country for three days and only now heard about this magic."

"Please," Luka sighed. "You've been here for less than 48 hours. And last night at the rehearsal dinner, you were too busy trying to hit on the maid of honor."

"Who happens to be my girlfriend," Nino interjected.

The room exploded in laughter.

An hour more, Luka thought, then we'll be married. He sighed, remembering the goofy smile Marinette gave him last night while they were standing at the altar and the priest was fast-forwarding the event of a lifetime.

It took too long for Luka, but finally, it was time to line up. His mother sought him out and tucked his 'lucky' guitar pick into his front pocket. She gave him a hug and talked about how her little boy was all grown up and she remembered changing his diapers, but it all flew over his head. He saw the girls coming out of their dressing room and although he didn't get a good look at Marinette, she made his heart stop. All too soon, Adrian was playing Paccabel's Canon with Juleka on the violin.

And then the moment of magic. Marinette and her father walked through the doors of Notre Dame.

And she was beautiful. Her home-made dress wasn't flashy, but it was classy and elegant. Her hair was pulled to the side in an artfully messy braid. The veil fell in front of her face but didn't entirely obscure it. He could see a tear glistening in her eye as she reached up past her head to her father's arm. He was way taller than her and it almost looked comical. But he was crying too.

All too soon, they were standing across from each other, barely noting anything the priest said. Just lost in each other's eyes.

The priest asked if they would take each other, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse until death did them part.

Was that even a question? He would love her to the end of the galaxy and back a million times over. The look in her eyes told him the same.

"I do."

The priest repeated the question to her.

"I do."

The moments blurred together until he said what they had been waiting for since...well...the day they first met, probably.

"You may now kiss the bride."

Luka gently brushed Marinette's cheek with his hand, cupping around the back of her neck. She placed her hand on his shoulder and then they were kissing.

Marinette was so happy in Luka's arms that Tikki was beginning to get suspicions that it was too good to be true.

You see, Lila managed to be invited.

And she found out about Adrian and Kagami. And she wasn't at all happy. Of course, Gabriel noticed. And his plan finally paid off. He told Lila that he was targeting Marinette and Adrian and used them as potential backups. But his real target all along was the liar. He sent her another Akuma, this time giving her invisibility and a hatred inducing touch.

And all would have gone to his plan if Cat Noir hadn't just transformed and prepared to drop in as per his promise. He noticed the black and purple smoke covering Lila and then the fact that she wasn't there.