Bug Bites

Chapter | Eighteen

Luka had been feeling off the past few days, but he wasn't sure why. He knew something wasn't right, but he couldn't place what it was. Paris had been the calmest it has ever been in the past four years, and it was an adjustment for everyone. There was a lot more life and emotion in the public now that Hawkmoth couldn't use it against anyone. Of course Luka felt bad for both Chloe and Adrien, their fathers had been arrested for multiple different charges but they had also been the cause of other people's suffering.

They had caused Marinette's suffering, and Chloe's and Adrien's. It wasn't fair to anyone of them, or anyone in the city. Luka did feel for all of them, because now he understood. If anything he understood Marinette better than he ever had, and all she sacrificed for them. All her losses and her pain, it had happened because of Gabriel. He couldn't help but wonder if she felt a sense of peace now that Hawkmoth had been caught. That maybe now she felt safe again.

Then there was the whole kwami situation and how he now permanently had Sass in his possession. Initially when he saw the box Sass's bracelet resided in, he was a bit confused since Ladybug usually was the one who handed him Sass personally in the events he was needed. Yet it had been Sass who informed him that it was one of the Guardian's last wishes that all true holders were in possession of their miraculous. Luka still wasn't sure what that meant.

When he had transformed into Viperion that one night at Sass's request, and saw the other holders he knew something had changed. Of course he had noticed one key element missing that night as well, or person, since Ladybug was no where to be seen. Then Chat Noir had openly admitted Ladybug hadn't been around due to the fact she had been emotionally compromised the past few months. The gears in his head had started working when he remembered the last time he was an akuma. Ladybug had actually shown up that time, and there was no coincidence that it was the same day everything had happened with Marinette mentioning Peter.

It had made sense, of course. Everything she wouldn't tell him and all the added stress it had to put on her. Now all the things that happened with her parents and the butterfly miraculous, he wondered how she was doing. The thought made him glance at his phone as he debated on actually picking up, and decided now would be the best time. Calling now would show he cared about her and how she was doing, and hopefully was enough to show her that he wasn't mad. And that was exactly what he did- he picked up his phone, dialed, waited and then got a voice mail.

"You've reached Marinette! Sorry I missed your call but leave a name and number and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!"

Luka frowned at that, but he also knew she probably didn't want to talk much right now. Especially with him and how he's kinda dodged her a few times in order to get his own head right. Kagami tells him not to blame himself, but it was something she couldn't understand. Not this time. Marinette had been special to him the moment he laid eyes on her in his room that first time. He wanted to protect her from the world.

Yet that was her job, and she did a good job of it. She saved everyone where they had failed her, he had failed her and he blamed himself. It was a concept Kagami would never understand merely because her mind didn't work like that. They came from different backgrounds, different family morals. Though it didn't change anything. Marinette was still not here, and she probably would never be home in Paris again.

There was nothing tying her to this city anymore, besides maybe Chat Noir- a.k.a Adrien Agreste and Chloe. After figuring Marinette out the others were easy too, and honestly it was all one big joke. Marinette had been chasing after Adrien who had been chasing after her, and now she left him too. Luka could see the difference in Adrien, how he seemed more mature and spoke less and less about Ladybug or Marinette.

It didn't change anything though, because now they were a group of teenagers with different miraculous. They all had a different kwamis who had no answers, just that this was how it was supposed to be. Which really didn't help anyone. Luka knew that there was someone who protected the kwami's, a guardian that at least Sass referred too but he never said who it was. It didn't change the fact that Luka felt something was going to happen, and his gut feeling has never let him down.