Right When I Saw You | Lukadrien

Chapter 13 | Comfort

   Daylight and moonlight began to intercept one another, making the sky a wide canvas of colours. Despite the fact that the person in front of the ladybug superhero was deakumatized and no longer a threat, disaster ensued throughout the streets. He turned to the other superhero present in search of an answer of how to fix that.

"Nothing changed with the Parisians... they're still panicking. How do I fix that?"

"Well, usually Ladybug throws the object that the Lucky Charm gave her in the air then butterflies come out of it and makes everything normal," Cat Noir informed.

"But the pick..." Luka leaned forward a bit to admire the streets and ground below, knowing that it would be hard to find where the pick went. I should probably-

"H-Here."

Marinette, with her head kept down, extended one of her arms. Her entire body was shaking and it was clear she was still crying. However, encased in her palm was revealed to be the Jagged Stone pick. She didn't seem hesitant at all to give it away. Did she manage to grab it while she was falling? Suspiciously, Luka reached to grab the small pick. The feeling of suspicion immediately vanished when Luka caught a glimpse of Marinette's glassy sky-coloured eyes, staring regretfully at the ground. What remained of the sun reflected in Marinette's eyes, successfully saddening the atmosphere even more. He took the Jagged Stone themed-pick gently in his hands and watched it closely as he threw it in the air. It hovered a few moments before coming back down again. Nothing happened.

"That's weird. Well Ladybug usually says 'Miraculous Ladybug' while she's doing it... Ladybug being her name. Maybe that's it? You need a superhero alias anyways," Cat Noir tried to solve the problem.

An alias? I have no idea of what it could be, Luka pondered. He stared into space for moments on end trying to come up with a good superhero name so he could revert the streets of Paris back to normal. His head started to run with names and it was hard to choose a good one. He began to rush thinking any name would be good enough when Cat Noir gave a suggestion. "How about Charmbug? It sounds weird, but I think it suits you," Cat Noir gave a small smile as he proposed the idea.

"Charmbug?" Luka thought it was a weird name. However, it wasn't extremely odd. He didn't have any better ideas for a name at the moment so that would have to do. He sighed an amused sigh. "Alright. I'm Charmbug then. Let's try this again."

He proceeded to throw the pick once more while yelling the words Cat Noir had told him to say. "Miraculous Charmbug!" This time, instead of gravity acting on the pick and it falling back down again, it stayed in the air and vanished to reveal countless white butterflies similar to the butterfly that he had recently released. The butterflies traveled swiftly around Paris and seemed to mend whatever they touched to its former state. It worked! Charmbug excitedly thought. But Marinette was still crying. Sniffles and sobs could still be heard even after the butterflies had fixed everything. Charmbug headed over to the cross-legged girl and knelt down in front of her. It was obvious to see that she was deeply upset and that she was also shaking from the intensity of her emotions. "Hey. What's wrong?" He tried to speak with as little intimidation as possible, trying to relax her before one of the superheroes try to bring her back to her home.

"I-It's all m-my fault... W-why am I so d-dumb that I can't c-c-control my emotions?" She kept looking down and removed her hands from her face which she previously used to cry into. Instead, she looked down intensely into her palms, and looked like she was starting to sulk. Charmbug took a couple of breaths, trying to relax himself as well. He didn't want to make the situation worse, so he needed to be careful with what he said.

"Emotions are hard to control. It's nice to get them out once in a while. Keeping them bottled up isn't good for you."

"I-I know b-but... look w-where that got me."

"Ladybug and Cat Noir will always be there in case something goes wrong, remember? Besides, now that this has happened you can learn how to avoid it in the future. ...If it's alright for me to ask, are you perhaps upset with someone?"

"...I'm not u-upset with them. I g-guess I'm just disappointed in myself," Her sobs began to dwindle and she looked up at Charmbug, however still averted her eyes. Her nose and cheeks were rose red and her eyes were puffy. "I couldn't control myself. I f-fell in love with people who loved o-other people. What I did was unacceptable..." Her face scrunched up as if she was going to cry again, but surprisingly, she didn't. "I'm going to fix this. I'm strong. I've been through things much worse. If I know a-anything, I know that the best thing to do right now would be to a-apologize."

Charmbug was taken aback a little. His eyes widened when he heard those words. He wasn't expecting her to say that. Frozen form shock, Charmbug felt that he couldn't do anything else except just hug her. He wrapped his arms around the poor ravenette's body and spoke softly.

"You are very strong."

They stayed in that position for a few moments, while Cat Noir watched them patiently. They soon let go of each other, while Charmbug let go first, then the girl. She seemed to be in better shape than before. Her mind was eased. "What's your name?" Charmbug asked.

"Marinette."

"Alright Marinette, where do you live? Let's bring you back to your house."

"I live near the Place des Vosges."

"Let's go then."

~~~

After Marinette was dropped off at her house after this stressful day, it was completely night. Not a trace of sun was left in the sky, and it was time for the stars to shine. Countless ones were sprinkled throughout the night sky. The moon was hidden behind clouds but you could see it's clear glow behind them. Charmbug and Cat Noir retreated into a nearby alleyway so that he could return the miraculous to him.

"Tikki, spots off," His superhero outfit faded slowly but surely and his jacket and pants were present once again. His dyed hair returned to its natural blue-teal colour instead of red, and his hair was down once again. He removed the earrings from his ears and placed them in Cat Noir's palm. Tikki was also here again. She talked first.

"Thank you very much, Luka. I'll remember what you did," she looked much brighter from the first time they met.

"Nice job. You calmed down Marinette like a professional and you helped defeat her when she was akumatized with little issue. Not bad for a newbie," he gave a cheeky grin while keeping his calm demeanor present. Luka chuckled a bit.

"I guess you made a good choice on my superhero name then."

"Mhm. Well, I gotta go. Thanks for helping out," he waved a small goodbye with his gloved hands and used his baton to push himself upwards onto the building and to wherever he needed to be. 

"Bye, Luka!" Tikki also yells, loud enough only for the three beings present to hear, as she follows Cat Noir into the night. Luka watched as they disappeared, and after there was no trace of them, he began to think. I think things will be patched up soon between Marinette and I. I believe she will stay true to her words and try to apologize. For now, I better head home, he reviewed the aftermath of what had happened and began to make his way out of the alley. Then he remembered something. Crap. Juleka must be thinking that I got lost or something. I even told her that I wouldn't, Luka immediately took out his phone and turned it on to reveal his lock screen.

4 Missed Calls from Juleka

31 Messages from Juleka

Oh no.

His feet started to run towards his home unconsciously. I'm in deep trouble.