The Price of One || Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction

Chapter Nine: Love Comes From The Heart

Emma sighed into the distance - just daydreaming as she lazily nibbled on a slice of brioche as she stared absent-mindedly from her place on the sidewalk in the park - where the eiffel tower was right in front of her.

Out of all the things in her future, the only thing that was the same was the eiffel tower, and staring at it always seemed to remind her of home. That she wasn't the 'Emma Bisset' that she was pretending so much to be, but Emma Agreste. Daughter of designer Marinette Agreste and model Adrien Agreste - aka Ladybug and Cat Noir.

It also reminded her of a time where things were simpler. When her biggest problem was how to get her crush, Marcel Rossi-Bocher, to notice little old her. Now that she knew how big of a sociopath his mother was(Lila), she was seriously beginning to question her interest in him.

At first, when Bunnyx asked her to come to the past to fix things between her parents, it was a relief. No more pitying looks from strangers. No more listening to her parents cry at night. She would be free.

But she missed her parents. She missed their family-nights filled with Mecha-strike 3 and laughter. She missed Hugo's football(soccer) games. She missed Inez - her best friend from the future. She missed Romain's stupid raps he made up in class and Margeaux's conspiracy stories about Ladybug and Cat Noir (Which Emma knew all of which were untrue.) She missed Hamtaro - her pet hamster since forever. She missed everything.

"Don't worry Emma. I'll pick you up from the past at just the right time. You'll see," Bunnyx had said with a wink.

Emma took another sad bite of her brioche. "Hey, Emma!" Emma turned around to see Marinette waving at her, slowly coming towards her. Emma hesitantly waved back, and Marinette smiled sadly, sensing something was wrong as she took a seat next to the pinknette. "Lonely?" Marinette asked as Emma sighed.

"Yeah, kind of. I just really miss my parents right now," She said - the words not really such a lie. Marinette put an arm around the girl - squeezing Emma's shoulder's tightly. "You want to talk about it?" Marinette simply asked, but Emma shook her head. "Ok then," Marinette said slowly - trying to find a way to change the subject. "What's your favorite color?"

Emma laughed at Marinette's lame attempt to change the subject, but went along with it. "Blue," She said as Marinette raised an eyebrow. "Really? I pegged you for more of a 'pink' person, because that's the color you dyed your hair," She said. Emma tugged at her space buns. "My hair? Oh, I...I've never dyed it. Pink is my natural color," She shrugged as Marinette gasped.

"Really? That's so cool!" Marinette squealed as Emma shrugged - self consciously playing with the neko cat patch on her sweater again. "Eh. I've grown up with it. Doctors can't explain it. I think it's because of my Mom - who has natural abnormally colored hair too, but she just says it's a miracle," Emma said, thinking of Marinette's blue hair.

Emma remembered when she was younger, and when Marinette had asked Tikki about it, Tikki had said that children of miraculous holders usually end up with some cool side-effects. For Emma, it was her hair, for Louis, it was his cat-like hearing, for Hugo, it was these odd blue spots that resembled a ladybugs in his otherwise-green eyes, and for Inez - the daughter of the holder of the turtle and fox miraculous, it was a birthmark on her shoulder.

"My turn," Emma insisted, looking at Marinette curiously. "Who is your crush?" She asked - seizing this moment as an opportunity to get her mother to like her father. Marinette tapped her chin. "I mean, I like this boy..." She trailed off awkwardly. "Go on..." Emma pressed.

Marinette sighed with a smile. "His name is Luka," It was like a punch hit her in the stomach. "He's so sweet, and calm, and he's an amazing songwriter. But.." Marinette trailed off. Emma rubbed the blood from her nose onto her sleeve dismissively.

During her time in the Paris of the past, she found out pretty quickly that whenever her parents talked about someone else in a 'romantic' type of way, it started the nosebleeds with a vengeance.

"But..?" Emma questioned. Marinette sighed again. "Before I liked Luka...there was this boy I liked named Adrien.." She trailed off. "Adrien from the ice cream cart?" She feigned forgetfulness. "Yes. I used to be..obsessed with him. I had these pictures all over my room, I watched all of his ads and practically drooled over everything he's ever said to me,"

"Why don't you like him anymore?" Emma asked innocently. Marinette shrugged. "I mean..I realized that he liked someone else. And sometimes, you just have to move on with your life or you'll get stuck behind. So I took down all of my pictures - my screensavers. Now I'm just trying to move on," She said with a smile.

"You said trying," Emma observed. Marinette laughed nervously. "Well..sometimes when I'm around him, I still get these butterflies in my stomach. But that should make sense - I mean, he was my crush for about two years now. But no matter how many times I tell myself that I like Luka now, the feeling doesn't go away," She admitted. She looked at Emma. "Is that wrong?"

"NO!" Emma practically shouted, startling Marinette. She cleared her throat. "Sorry, but no. I don't think it's wrong. Maybe it's your gut?" She suggested. Marinette raised an eyebrow. "But what would my gut be trying to tell me?" She questioned.

"I can't translate that for you, Marinette," Emma said with a smile. "It's you who has to decide. And I know you like to make decisions with your brain and not your heart, but love comes from the heart. There's no math equation to solve it,"

And with that, Emma stood up and left - leaving a confused Marinette behind.