This Day Aria
She fucking knew it.
Marinette knew that wasn’t Nathaniel! That wasn’t the shy artist she grew up with. The real Nathaniel would never act so curtly towards her and others, touch Marc in the most inappropriate ways without his consent, and he sure as hell didn’t have glowing red eyes that sent chills down her spine every time they locked eyes.
No one spoils her cousin’s wedding and gets away with it, especially not some fake pretending to be her friend and trying to marry Marc for some reason. Marinette did a little investigating and followed the obvious fake into his dressing room where he caught him cornering Marc. He had the gall to criticize his tuxedo-dress- the one she made for him- and then, called him a name that made Marinette know instantly who this was.
Emerald…
It was that bastard, Lucien Rebois! Marc’s nightmare from his time at Vadim. He was Akumatized- how else could he look exactly like Nathaniel? She was close to storming in there and kicking his ass like when they were teenagers until she was blinded by a red flash of light. The bluenette managed to get a look and saw Lucien gripping Marc’s wrists while the latter’s green eyes faded to blood red. Marinette was about to run off and tell everyone what she saw until a red ring of fire surrounded her.
The last thing she saw was Nathaniel’s sneering at her while holding Marc in his arms until everything went black.
“DAMN IT!” Shouted Marinette as she punched another rock into bits. The years she spent as Ladybug have increased her strength and durability, so she’s able to withstand any pain. This is nothing to her. “How did I not see this earlier?!”
“Marinette,” Tikki frantically warned. “Calm down!”
”How can I?!” She questioned before punching another rock into pebbles. “Lucien’s going to marry Marc!” She takes a few deep breathes. “That monster is going to hurt my cousin and I can’t do a thing to stop it!”
The bluenette continues to take her rage out on each rock she comes across, leaving nothing by tiny bits of what they used to be on the ground. Her knuckles are scraped, but she doesn’t care. She just keeps imagining that each rock is Lucien’s stupid face. This goes on for a while until she punches a rock so that it breaks and reveals...
“No! Please!” Marinette comes down from her rage high so she can clearly see Nathaniel- the real one- roughed up and curled in on himself. Not wanting to be exposed, Tikki hid in Marinette’s pocket. “I don’t care what you do to me! Just don’t hurt...” He opens his eyes. “Mari? It's me! Please, you gotta believe me!” He gets up, but staggers a bit. “I've been imprisoned like you! The Nathaniel who brought you down here was an Akuma!”
Marinette takes a long look at him, checking for any signs of deceit. When she saw only fear and innocence in his turquoise eyes, she realized that this is in fact the real Nathaniel. “It-it’s you!” She goes in for a hug, which he returns. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”
“I’m glad you’re okay!” He said back, savoring this moment before coming to a realization. “We need to get out of here!”
Lucien stood in the dressing room, brushing out his red hair. Once this is all over, he can drop the act, the horrid disguise, and Marc will be all his.
“This day is going to be perfect,” he sang.
“The kind of day of which I've dreamed since I was small…
All those romance loving bores, say I look great in uniform!” Using his powers, he made the mannequins wearing wedding attire bow before him.
“What they don't know is that I have fooled them all!”
Deep underground, Nathaniel ran, not sure where he was going or really caring, just trying to find a way out.
“This day was going to be perfect!
The kind of day of which I've dreamed since I was small…
But instead of having cake
With all my friends to celebrate!
My wedding bells, they may not ring for me at all…”
Lucien slipped on his suit jacket. “Just wait ‘till he dons the ring!
He’ll be bound forever to a fake!” With a predatory smirk, he gazed a photo of Marc and him taped to his mirror.
“Vows, I won’t be lying when I say…
‘That through any kind of weather,
I'll want us to be together!’
And I vow to own his heart and soul!” A small red flame appeared at the tip of his pointer finger.
“Only I may love the groom! Take him and I’ll seal your doom!” He put the flame to Nathaniel’s face in the photo, grinning as the image disappeared.
“No one else can have him, he’s all mine!”
“We must escape before it's too late!
Find a way to save the day!
Hope, I'll be lying if I say!”
Nathaniel and Marinette run down a narrow passageway.
”‘I don't fear that I may lose him!
To one who wants to use him!
Not care for, love, and cherish him each day!’”
They soon come across a minecart that’s being blocked by some rocks. Nathaniel goes to push them out of the way, but has some difficulty doing so.
“For I oh so love the groom!
All my thoughts, he does consume!”
Seeing Nathaniel struggling, Marinette goes to help him. She picks him up and sets him in the mine cart before moving the rest of the rocks out of the way.
”Oh, Marc Anciel, I'll be there very soon!”
With the mincart free, it starts to go down the rail. Marinette would’ve been left behind if Nathaniel hadn’t pulled her into the cart in time. They continue going down the rail and stopped at a dead end, much to their horror. Knowing what she had to do, Marinette, with a look of determination transformed, much to Nathaniel’s disbelief.
She wrapped her arm around Nathaniel’s waist, whipped out her YoYo when they reached the end, and swing them to the edge. Seeing her friend still in shock, Ladybug said to him, “Don’t tell anyone.”
The former students of the Akuma class stood by the alter in their red suits and purple dresses. They looked around, wondering where Marinette, the maid of honor was. It isn’t like her to miss her cousin’s wedding day. The bridal March sounded, saddening them a bit, but they still smiled for their friends.
‘I can’t believe she’s going to miss this,’ they all thought, and watch as Marc walked down the aisle wearing now a form-fitting wedding dress and holding a bouquet of flowers, confusing a few people since they were so sure Marinette made him a half dress half tuxedo outfit for the occasion. But something else that was so different about Marc, that no one seemed to notice was that his eyes were completely red. He was hypnotized.
“Finally the moment’s coming soon!” Lucien thought to himself as he watched his groom-to-be walk down the aisle with a smirk.
“For me to take a very lucky groom!”
“Oh, the wedding we won't make!
He'll end up marrying a fake!
Marc Anciel will be...”
“...mine, all mine!”