A Miraculous Valentine's Love! AU short story by Summer Cheng

Epilogue: My Horrible Reality, He is Gone?

         One year later, Marinette gets up, she pulls on a red long-sleeved shirt, red pants, socks and shoes, a white sweater, a black hat, white scarf with red hearts on it, and a black jacket with red hearts on it, and heads out the door.   She is still sad as ever.  She can not seem to get over him.  How can she?  She was his only friend.  The only one who gave him the time of day.

        Marinette looks at the sky to see it is dark and gloomy.   She could care less. She has little to smile about now.  In fact, she rarely ever smiles.  She feels like the sky could crash down on her at any moment.  She thinks it would do me a huge favor if the world ends today. She wishes with all her heart to see him again.  Only, she knows this is impossible.  

       No amount of wishes, tears, etc. will bring him back from the dead. No amount of hugs will cheer her up.  Nothing will help her now.  The pain is too great!  The guilt is too big!  The days too long.  

        Marinette refuses to talk to anyone.  She refuses to socialize.  Why even Alya gave up on her months ago.  Her parents notice her depression.  Her friends have all forgotten her.  Her neighbors barely know her,  everyone else can barely recognize her anymore.    Her hair is no longer long enough to pull back.  Her eyes never seem to have a special shine to them.  Her eyes look void of any emotion.  Her steps are slow.  Her life is, but an empty shell.  

       Marinette goes to the graveyard.  She comes here more often than anywhere else.  Her studies are behind, her grades are barely above an F, her designs have lost their special spark, and her favorite places are all forgotten.  She walks over to the lone marker that marks the spot where he remains.  She knows he is not really here anymore. She just can not seem to part with him.  She falls to her knees.  She sobs.  She does not stop.  

        She places the small box near the foot of the grave.  She whispers, " See, I got you a little something.  I  know you really can not see me, or even hear me.   I just thought you might appreciate the thought.  It is a day of love.  Ironic how it is Valentine's  Day again.   It was the worse day of your life.  It was the worse of mine too.  You see you lost your mother years ago on this day.  I lost my boyfriend, he broke my heart that day.  I vow never to love again!  Only two days, after Valentine's Day, last year, I broke my own stupid, promise.  You see I fell in love with you!  Only I  now you are gone too, Adrien.   So, Happy Valentine's  Day!"   

    She opens the box to reveal a small round, heart-shaped rock.  It symbolizes her strong love for a boy who never felt love, yet despite all odds got it.  It also symbolizes her stubborn attitude and unwillingness to let him go for good.

       Marinette does not move. She just sits there in pain, agony, and guilt.  She thinks if only I had spoken to him.  If I had told him over text, would he have still run out in front of the motorcycle?    If I had gotten there sooner, would he be alive?  If I had only... there sure were a lot of those she could think about at the top of her head.  She felt as if she were to blame. She was the reason he was dead.  She made this happen.  She was a traitor in the worse sense possible.  She had been given a chance to confess her love for him and had blown it.  She was the only girl blessed to have such a great love as the one Adrien had given her.  She got a kiss from him, but let him go without much as a word of encouragement, or a kiss of her own!  

     Adrien is long gone.  He was dead.  He died a tragic death by some standards, yet he had a grin on his face.  This was because as he closed his eyes he thought about the kiss he had given the woman he loved.  He felt like his life was complete since he had completed his mission to show her she was the one for him.  His soul had left his body and gone into eternity.   He was in a better place, or so the pastor said as much at his funeral.

     Sabine and Tom are at their house. They worry deeply about Marinette. They can not seem to get her to snap out of it.  They tried everything.  They sent her to group therapy, a counselor, you name it, but nothing could seem to pull their daughter out of the pit of depression and despair she found herself in lately.  They tried to love her, they tried to understand, they tried to help in whatever way they could.  Only nothing could seem to bring back, the happy, bubbly, girl she once was!   They felt like their daughter was someone they barely knew anymore.  This really begins to scare them.   What would they do if something were to happen to her?

        Alya tried to help Marinette too.  She tried to be there for her, to listen, to give hugs, and whatever else she could need.  She tried not to judge her, she tried not to yell at her, and tried not to make her feel worse than she already did.  At some point though, she could no longer stand to be around her.  It bothered her too much to see her best friend in such a state of self-pity, depression, and more.  It made her feel like she had done something wrong.  It made her feel awkward.  It made her feel like she was no longer important.  

    So, without meaning to one day she walked away and never came back. She moved away from Paris, France to get away from the feeling of remorse, regret, and more for noting be able to help Marinette. She soon married Nino who had moved away as well.  She had a family with him and was better off for it.

      Luka arrives at the graveyard.  He does not say a word.  He is used to this sort of thing.  He has seen this sort of behavior before.  This was the attitude his mother had when his folks first got a divorce.  It was the emotional breakdown, his sister  Juleka suffered when she found out her husband, Ethan had cancer and the doctors only gave him a fifty percent chance of survival, and it was the thing that happened to his best friend, Marinette when she fell in love not once, but twice.  

      Luka bends down beside Marinette. He wraps an arm around her. He does what he can to support her.  He knows this will never bring back Adrien.  Nothing could ever do this.  He just does what he can.  He sits there and lets her be her.  He can only hope that someday like his sister, and mother, Marinette will be okay.  Until then, he intends to be her support, her rock, until she no longer needs him.  Then, he will move on to another person to be their help. He feels like this is what he was meant to do.

     "Oh, Luka!  I-I am glad you came!  Alya and Nino left me.  They no longer understand, my folks try, but you are the only one who truly understands me now.   I can not do this alone!  Please, help me!  Luka, you can not leave me!  I do not know what I would do if I lost you too!  I already lost Adrien!   I loved him, but this is my horrible reality, he is gone and he is never coming back!"  Marinette says as the tears fall down her cheeks.  She reaches out and grabs Luka's jacket.

    "Marinette, I will be here as long as you need me. I will!  I promise!"  Luka says.

     "Do you think, he knows?"  Marinette ask.

    " Knows?  Do you think, he knows, what?"   Luka remarks.

    "Do you think he knows how much I loved him, and still do?"  Marinette replies.

     "Yes, Marinette!  Somehow, I think he does!"  Luka says.  He smiles. He offers her his hand, and waits to see what she does.

    Marinette reaches out and takes Luka's hand in her own!  She walks with him out of the cemetery and to the park.  The two sit there with Luka holding her in his arms.  At last, the poor sad, sleep-deprived girl falls asleep, and he just lets her rest.  He tucks a piece of stray hair behind her ear.  He sighs, and whispers, "Adrien, you do not know, how lucky you are!  I am jealous of you!  I know it is stupid to envy the dead, but I do!  I envy you!  Marinette loves you, but I love her!  I am sorry, but I love her!  I can not help it."   He looks at her as she sleeps, and thinks, perhaps, someday she will fall for me.  If not, then who knows, perhaps, I will be the one to lose it all.  Then, again, who really knows much of anything, about the future?

    the end...

    *Author's  Note: I know this story, is full of sadness for A Valentine's short story, but as I said before, not all stories have their happy endings. The Sequel to this story is Luka Loves Marinette AU so if you loved this story then I recommend you read the sequel next.  Oh, and hope your Valentine's  Day is beautiful and blessed!   Sincerely, Summer Cheng, fan fiction writer.  *Summer out!   

Edits made to the Epilogue on February 5, 2021