Fate can be a fickle thing, cruel and capricious. Luka hadn't realized just how cruel it could be until he started noticing the strings. Slender red threads tying 'soulmates' together, finger to finger. Hand to hand.
Seeing that the girl he'd been crushing on was linked to another stung. But the horror he felt the first time he saw it had nothing to do with that, and everything to do with its location. Because why... why was it wrapped around her neck?!
The Dread String of Fate
puts a rather dark spin on the Soulmate AU Fic, wherein Marinette is quite literally bound to Adrien in a way that threatens her well-being. Luka finds himself trying to find some way to Screw Destiny and free her before it's too late.
This series contains examples of:
- Ambiguous Situation: Luka isn't able to get a clear read on how Alya feels about her bestie's struggles to confess; he can't tell if she's genuinely encouraging her or just judgmental and frustrated by her lack of progress.
- Born Lucky: Adrien seems to be favored by fate, while Marinette has the opposite problem.
- Born Unlucky: Even before he's able to see her strings, Luka is able to see Marinette being haunted by fate, manifesting as teal wisps that gather around and cause her to trip, seemingly over nothing at all.
- Burn Baby Burn: In hopes of getting rid of the mysteriously reappearing pictures for good, Marinette and Luka gather them up and set them on fire.
- Cerebus Retcon: Marinette's inability to confess to Adrien is revealed to be due to the string around her neck tightening whenever he gets too close.
- Deconstruction Fic: Presents the notion of Marinette and Adrien being tied together because the Ladybug and the Cat are 'a matched set' as something horrific rather than romantic. Adrien's side of the string is specifically shown to be wrapped around the Ring, while the other end being around her neck drives home the idea that she's not allowed to have any choice in the matter.
- Didn't See That Coming: Luka is completely caught off guard when Sass explains to him that Marinette is tying herself to him.
- Easily-Overheard Conversation: While Alya leads Marinette away from Luka in order to discuss matters 'privately', Luka inwardly notes that neither girl is very good at talking quietly.
- Foil: Adrien is unaware of the full extent of his negative impact on Marinette, or that it's supernaturally induced by Fate. He also doesn't know that she and Ladybug are one and the same. This ignorance doesn't stop him from trying to force her (in both identities) to comply with his every demand, with Chat Noir claiming that 'We're meant to be.' By contrast, Luka becomes increasingly aware of the horrifying situation she's in and wants nothing more than to free her, with no ulterior motives beyond seeing her safe, to the point that he's sincerely alarmed upon learning that she's forging a new connection with him, as he just wants her to be free.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Ultimately, Luka is more concerned with ensuring that Marinette doesn't get strangled by her string than with finding some way to get together with her.
- I'm Having Soul Pains: Luka starts feeling this when Marinette begins subconsciously favoring him, as he gets hit with a backlash effect while she's arguing with Adrien.
- Love Hurts:
- The bond between Adrien and Marinette is partly used to punish the latter, causing her to suffer in his presence.
- In Part 8, Luka gets hit with a backlash effect when Marinette and Adrien get into a fight.
- Morton's Fork: Whenever Marinette tries to get closer to Adrien or build a stronger relationship with him, the string prevents her from making any progress and ensures that she's humiliated. Whenever she considers giving up since all of her efforts have failed, the string impedes those attempts as well.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
- Played for Drama when Marinette calls Adrien out for his hypocrisy and lack of action regarding Lila, as Luka can sense that something is happening, and that it hurts, but he doesn't know what until he's filled in afterwards.
- In that same chapter, she confronts and calls out Chat Noir as well, reiterating that she does not love him and isn't interested.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Discussed when Marinette makes Luka a blue shawl, and he comments that she could have made one to match her own, as he wouldn't mind wearing 'her colors'. They wind up trading.
- Screw Destiny: Luka's goal: to find some way of helping Marinette before the string does irreparable harm.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Thanks to his ability to see the strings gradually growing stronger, Luka eventually learns Marinette and Adrien's secret identities as Ladybug and Chat Noir.
- Secretly Selfish: Luka frets about this upon learning that Marinette is choosing him, exclaiming that he wanted to free her from fate entirely, not tie her to himself. Sass strives to reassure him that this is entirely Marinette's decision.
- Series Continuity Error: Played for Drama. The amount of pictures of Adrien hung around Marinette's room varies from episode to episode, with their presence always being used to humiliate her in some way. Marinette confides to Luka that she keeps taking them down, only for them to mysteriously reappear without explanation.
- Strangled by the Red String: A very literal example, given how Marinette's string is wound round her neck, threatening to choke her whenever Adrien gets too close.
- Turn the Other Cheek: Deconstructed. Adrien's insistence upon letting Lila do as she pleases while claiming that 'It's okay because you and I both know the truth; nobody else needs to' doesn't sit well with Marinette. This eventually leads to her calling him out and realizing that maybe they were never really friends.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Adrien has no idea about the string's existence, much less the threat it poses to Marinette.
- Wham Episode: Part 8 features Luka learning that Marinette is choosing him, developing soul pains, and subsequently seeing that the red string has frayed after trying to strangle Marinette for daring to argue with Adrien. And then, Marinette reveals that she knows Luka figured out that she's Ladybug.
- Wham Shot: In Part 8, Luka sees that the string around Marinette's neck has loosened and frayed, as if it was weakened by a knife... but has left an angry red mark around her neck where Fate tried to choke her into submission during her fight with Adrien.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Sass reassures Luka when he starts second-guessing his motives, fearing that he's Secretly Selfish. Later, Marinette does much the same.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Downplayed. Those who bear the Snake Miraculous can choose their own fate, and can aid others... but can only do so much by themselves. Ultimately, whether or not somebody can shake off the binds of destiny depends upon the individual in question.
