When Walls Crumble

Chapter 30: Something Wrong

As it turned out, Kagami got no practice with her new powers before being forced to use them.  It was safe to assume Lila had no intention of relinquishing the butterfly miraculous and that she fully intended to be the villain.  And she had absolutely no shame.  

Captain Anarka Couffaine sat on the deck of the Liberty flipping through her phone's gallery.  Her little black-haired baby boy, sitting on her lap with her guitar strap in his mouth.  A quick 17 second video of his first steps.  His first acoustic guitar that her sister gave him for his fifth birthday.  A two minute clip of the first song he learned to play with four year old Juleka singing along.  Pictures of his dyed hair at age ten.  Pictures from his little band's first performance.  A couple shots of his graduation.  His first concert as a solo musician.  Marinette and Luka laughing together at the table, the day he brought her to have lunch with his family.  Several moments from the engagement party.  Myriads of wedding photos.  Several random moments of Luka's short life.  

The funeral was the next night.  She wasn't ready to let go of her son yet.  She had visibly changed, her demeanor distraught and her actions shaky.  

Juleka's outward personality hardly seemed to have changed, but any one who knew her could see the pain in her eyes as opposed to their usual shade of moodiness.  She wandered around the ship aimlessly, her expression hollow and empty.  The one person in the world who could always read her mood and knew exactly how to cheer her up was gone.  Even her best friend Rose never touched the level that Luka understood her.  She looked up and found herself in his cabin.  He had taken most of his stuff with him, but his childhood guitar was still there, along with most of his pick collection.  She picked up the guitar and sat down on the bed.  After a quick mental debate, she decided to play it.  Turning it around and lifting the shoulder strap, she came face to face with something taped to the back.  

Juleka gasped.  She...she remembered that.  It was when she was five years old and a bully teased her, calling her boring.  Luka, who was six, found her crying in her cabin and gave her a hug.  When he heard what the problem was, he gave her a mischevious smirk and an idea.  She laughed and called him silly, but he assured her he was serious.  Dubious, she drew his suggestion.  With her limited art talent and a box of worn crayons, she presented him with a stick figure drawing of the two of them:  Luka with blue hair and Juleka with purple.  He had smiled and promised that one day he would do it.  He kept that promise.  Once he had the money, he took her to the salon and they scared their mother upon their return.

But he kept the drawing?  And taped it to the back of his guitar?  She cradled it in her arms, allowing her tears to slip out of the mask.  She barely noticed when her mother sat down next to her and wrapped her arms around her daughter.  Her hand naturally closed around the frets, falling automatically on a Dm7 chord.  The two women were so absorbed in the past that neither noticed the little black akuma that phased into the guitar.

"Accord Mineur," a low femine voice murmured.  "I am Hawkmoth.  The music of you life was suddenly silenced.  I offer you the chance to play it again.  All I ask is a small favor in return.  Will you help me?"

Anarka and Juleka nodded as they fused together into a larger-than-life villain.

Marinette was walking home to the Sea Serpent when a loud crash resounded behind her.  She whirled to face the villain, a two-story figure cloaked in black with flowing luminescent purple and grey hair.  Her face was streaked with tear stains and her glowing purple eyes settled on Marinette.

Lila smirked.  How perfect.  She projected her voice to Accord Mineur's mind.

"This girl stole so much time you could have spent with you dear one before he died.  And it's her fault he died.  Don't worry about the miraculous; we have time.  Why don't you get even?"