Miraculously from Ninjago | Stranded in Etheria

35 - Adrienette's not meant to be

-----------Mari's POV-----------

"Hey Mari," Adrien said. "Mind if I sit here?"

"Not at all," I said, looking up at him. "Go ahead."

"We're just gonna hang out over there," Alya said, pointing across the oasis. "Come on, Nino."

Adrien and I sat in silence for a few minutes.

"So, um... how are you?" he finally asked.

"Well, other than being sunburnt all over and having sore feet, I'm pretty good. What about you?"

"Not bad," he shrugged.

Another awkward silence.

"Can I ask you a question?" we both asked at the same time.

"You first," I said with a giggle.

"Oh, well... Chloe said that you liked me, and I was wondering if that's still true."

I bit my lip. "Um..."

Sh*t, how do I say this? I thought. I had a lot of time to think about this while we were out here, and I had come to a conclusion, but I didn't think Adrien would like it.

"I did have a crush on you," I admitted. "But... then I realized you were in love with someone else."

He tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"You love Ladybug," I sighed. "Not me."

"Uh... you're Ladybug."

I shook my head. "No, Ladybug is a fusion of me and my kwami. You don't like Marinette."

"Of course I do!"

"No, you don't. You only see me as a friend," I said. "And I'm fine with that. There's someone else that treats me better."

Adrien thought for a moment. "Luka?" he guessed.

I nodded.

"Well, I wish you two the best," he said with a smile.

"Hey!! Guys!!!" Jay called from across the oasis. "Zephyr and Nuffink are taking us home!"

Adrien stood up first, then offered me his hand and helped me to my feet. We hurried around the water to find out what they're talking about.

"Okay," Zephyr started once we were in earshot. "Our dragons aren't strong enough to take everyone at once, so we'll have to take a few trips. Divide yourself into pairs, then we'll take the first wave of people."

Nino and Alya linked arms, as well as Nya and Jay. Cole hesitantly held out his hand to Chloe, and she took it.

Adrien asked me if I wanted to go with him, but I said no. I didn't want to mess with his feelings, so I had to keep my distance. Sure, maybe I still liked him a little bit, but we weren't good for one another. The sooner we accepted that, the better.

---------------y/n's POV------------

Before we were ready to go, a strange rippling thing appeared in the sky. I stared at it for a second, and then gasped as two more dragons flew through the substance. As the dragons got closer to us, we could see that the beasts each had a rider--one was a dark-haired man, the other was a blonde woman.

"Where have you two been?!" the woman cried as she dismounted her dragon. "You should have been back an hour ago."

"Mom!" Zephyr whined. "We're not kids anymore."

"Who are all of you?" the man asked us, then he turned to the woman. "Astrid, have you seen these people before?"

"They're our new friends," Nuffink said. "We're going to take them back to Earth."

"Back to Earth?" Astird wondered.

"Yes," Zephyr said, a little annoyed. "We'll be back for dinner as soon as we get them home safely."

"Why don't we give you a hand, then?" the man said.

"Hiccup!" Astid scolded. "We don't know them!"

"And I didn't know Toothless, but then look how close we became! Isn't that right, bud?"

Hiccup's dragon—Toothless—made a grunting noise in agreement.

"Alright, what's the plan?" Hiccup asked.

"Well, two extra dragons will make things a lot easier," Zephyr said. "We'll each take two additional passengers, and after we drop the first group off, we'll return to bring the rest."

———-

A/n

I hope you don't hate me for this but I'm actually becoming a Lukanette shipper... so unless someone stops me, I'm going to make that happen. If you object to that ship, speak now or forever hold your peace!

On a different note, thank you to everyone who left a suggestion on the last chapter. Your comments are very much appreciated! Of course, if you ever think of anything else to add to the story, feel free to tell me at any time.

Love you guys,

—QC