Moondust: Prologue

"I wish I were a little girl again because skinned knees are easier to fix than a broken heart."

-Julia Roberts

TW: Small talk of suicide

'The girl I'm in love with doesn't like them either.'

Mint green eyes stared back at her almost as if mocking her- when before those same eyes would look at her with adoration and love...at least to her imagination. And that was the problem, the major issue of all this; she was too caught up with her own fantasy to even realize what was truly happening. Why was she so stupid? Why did she ever convinced herself that there was a chance for her happy ending?

Childhood mentality didn't mix well with the harsh reality.

"Adrien is in love with another girl and me...I'm just a friend..."

Marinette somberly sighed as she averted her eyes from the image of her crush, feeling too shameful to give his picture a longer stare because she felt as though he was laughing at her. Things were going so well...that car ride home...they were being honest and open for once...but everything came crashing down whenever she heard those cursed words come out from his mouth.

'The girl I'm in love with doesn't like them either.'

Silly.

Out of all the other times she could've told him her honest feelings, that was the one time she felt like they were having an actual deep conversation and held the confidence she wanted to let him know every ounce of thoughts and emotions that ran through her raging soul.

But...that special moment was ruined.

The hand that had come up to grab onto the picture of her beloved model had slowly started to tear at the tape that kept it up and open for the world to see. There was no reason to keep her hopes and dreams alive to torment and taunt her for her failures. She had to get rid of everything that reminded her of Adrien.

All of it.

Just then, the crimson fairy like creature floated towards her owner, holding a bright smile as her large, deep blue eyes gleamed. If only she could reveal what she had discovered a while back about her caretaker's love interest, then the girl wouldn't be feeling so down. It did hurt the kwami to see Marinette in such a state, but she knew that if she kept her hopes up with positive feedback and perhaps some subtle hints, things will start looking bright for the cute, clumsy heroine.

"I'm sure life has many surprises in store for you, Marinette~" Tikki exclaimed, knowing full well that the blue haired girl will come back to her senses and return to her silly, love struck self.

. . .

RIPPPP.

"M-Marinette? What are you doing?"

Oh no. This wasn't supposed to happen.

Marinette ignored the creature's statement and continued to take down the large picture of Paris' young model from her dashboard, still careful as to not tear his beautiful face. She didn't want to destroy him like how he had destroyed her heart for she still loved him dearly, but she wanted him out of her life.

At least for now.

Her broken heart needs a time out.

Ocean eyes scanned the picture one last time, making sure she soaked in every detail Adrien possessed and locked it up in her memory before she set it down on her bed and moved on towards the rest of her collection. Her tired, sad body moved like a zombie, completely weak and drained of all life.

"Don't do this, Marinette." Tikki followed behind, trying her best to reason with the human girl. Her biggest fear was Marinette falling into deep despair enough for Hawkmoth to possess her. "I'm sure things will get better in the future."

"No, Tikki," the girl replied as she took down three more photos. "I think it's time to give up on him. I need to stop being blinded by love and see what's right in front of me. If somehow he wants me more than a friend in the future, I might give him another chance. But for now...I can't."

She hesitantly went from wall to wall, removing each picture of Adrien while getting closer to crying each time. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she had a feeling this would happen- her biggest fear of being rejected. But as long as she kept her feelings to herself, she would've been fine thus why she refused to confess whenever she had the chance to. Alya and the rest encouraged her to just let it all out and promised they'd be there if her blond crush crushed her; they always comforted her when she felt distressed, and she was eternally grateful to them. And at some point, she believed everything would be okay even if she did get rejected because her friends would be there.

Maybe they can repair her but not right now.

Not any time soon.

As the last photo was taken down, heartbroken tears finally found their way down her flushed cheeks and down to the pile of pictures laying on her bed. She had taken down every single image of Adrien in the past before but not with the intention of never seeing him again. At the sight of her large, atrocious collection before her created tendrils of sorrow to wrap around her delicate frame and squeeze the life source out of her. All the hard work and effort she had put on this one single boy...all of it was for nothing.

She was never one for suicidal tendencies but at that point, she felt incredibly depressed enough to allow the thought to cross her mind.

The red kwami couldn't do or say anything that could possibly change all of this around for the better. For once, she felt as though positive outcome wasn't going to fix this broken soul...and it scared her immensely. "Marinette..."

The blue haired girl bit her quivering lip as water blurred her vision although it was perhaps for the best, so she did not have to clearly see the face of the boy that consumed her life only to bring her down to hell. Thin arms reached around the pile and carried it towards a large chest inside her closet, one that she hadn't found a use for until now. She opened it, some photos fluttering down to the floor, and threw them inside. One hand raised up to wipe away tears while the other one picked up the fallen Adrien remains and shoved them inside the box with all the others.

. . .

'The girl I'm in love with doesn't like them either.'

. . .

Goodbye, Adrien.

Marinette closed the lid and pushed the chest towards the farthest section of her closet, a lone dark area where no light would be able to touch it unless she gave it permission. Her heart wanted to stare at the chest for a while but her head wanted her out of there, so she opted to listen to her head this time and removed herself from the closet, shutting it behind her. Her eyes were starting to swell up again so, before she had a major break down session, she threw herself into her bed and covered her entire body with her blanket.

"Tikki..." Her soft, fragile voice muffled through. "Don't worry about me...I'm not going to allow myself to get akumatized..."

And there was nothing more devastating to the kwami than hearing the sweet girl with a heart of gold trying her best to wail in silence.

OOC: Hello fellow lovelies~ ^^ Right off the bat, I'ma let ya'll know the ages of the characters just to clear some confusion from incoming chapters. Everyone is canon aged, meaning the teens are all below the age of 18. Yes, there will be some instances where adult subjects will be brought up but I will give a fair warning at the beginning of the chapter. Reminder that this is a highly mature story with mature topics, so if you are sensitive to that sort of stuff, then this story isn't for you. Other than that, if you're fine with it, then please enjoy ^^