Chapter Text
Today is a big day for Smash High. This is a day that’s been hyped up for nearly the entire year. And the reason being is the fact that this is a big outside exploration project. A required thing for everyone to do in their senior year. They get to choose their partner and they get a randomly chosen location that they need to explore and make notes about. No one ever knows what could possibly be chosen as a location. Not even the teachers.
Two boys are especially looking forward to this project. Lucas and Ness. They’ve always been the explorative type. Exploring every possible crevice in Ultimatum. So now they’ll get a chance to go past this large city.
“Where do you think we’ll go?” Ness asks. Of course they’ve already decided they’ll be partnering up.
“I dunno.” Lucas sits back in his seat and shuts his eyes. He thinks about all the different types of locations he can imagine. “I just hope we don’t go to a desert. I’d melt.” Ness giggles before he rests his chin on his hands while his elbows are already standing on the desk. Lucas blushes as he sees Ness's face being propped up like that.
“Yeah, you’d melt like ice cream.” Lucas giggles before resting his head back to look up at the paneled ceiling of the classroom. Ness opens his mouth to say something more, but then the door to the classroom opens up. This shuts the entire class up as they see their teacher walking in. Their teacher isn't that uptight, but the class respects him, so they don’t tend to talk over him.
“Pleasant day, ain’t it, Class?” Byleth says as he puts a backpack down next to his desk. “I bet you’re all ecstatic huh?” He sees the happy faces in most of the class. Obviously, some of them won’t be all too excited for this, but most of the class is, at least. “Well then, it’d be torture to make you all wait even longer huh?”
He begins scrounging around his backpack. He pulls out a wheel spinner. It looks like a smaller version of the wheel they use in Wheel of Fortune. However, the words to say where the kids would explore is currently covered to keep the anonymity of it. Byleth then leans back against the large board, scanning his classroom. “Well, who’s first?”
A wave of arms shoots into the air. Not every student is raising their hand, but most are. Byleth begins calling on them. It’s a bit slow at first. As the pair needs to go up, spin, wait for the spinner to stop, and then uncover to see what it is they're exploring. That mixed in with the fact that the class is large can cause some time issues.
But thankfully, Lucas and Ness are called up relatively quickly. So they head up to the front of the classroom. They see a few of the names that have already been uncovered. If they are to spin and it lands on an already chosen location, they’ll end up with the one closest by. “Who should do the honors?” Ness asks. They look at each other for a moment before Lucas steps to the side. “Oh, how kind you are.” Ness grabs one of the many dividing lines and spins. They watch intently, despite not being able to know what it lands on until it’s uncovered.
Soon enough, it stops. Ness takes the small covering off. “Tazmily Village,” he reads out. And Lucas’s heart drops. His excited smile disappears. His eyes stare down at the words on the wheel. As if he’s in disbelief that this is an option. “Sounds nice, right?” Ness asks Lucas. But it takes him asking it a second time in order for Lucas to even process what he said.
“Y-yeah, very nice…” Lucas begins thinking about what cruel god is making him go back to that place. Even as he and Ness walk back over to their seats, the thought is still there. Ness notices this lack of attentiveness.
“Hey, you ok?”
“Huh, y-yeah…” Lucas lies before clearing his throat. He then puts on a fake smile. “I’m just worried there might not be enough interesting stuff in a village to write about.”
“I’m sure we’ll find something.” Ness reaches over and pats Lucas on the back, but it doesn’t help his nerves. Once Ness turns away, Lucas does as well. But instead of looking up to the front of the class he looks over to a different student a bit deeper into the classroom. Someone who looks exactly like him but with green eyes and ginger hair. He too has a somber look. This is his twin brother, Claus. And they both know that Tazmily Village is the worst possible option.
It takes a little while more for everyone else in the class to be able to get their assigned locations. But Lucas still can’t help but think about Tazmily. What’s he going to do? How is he going to approach this? Will he try to cancel it? Or will he just hope for the best? All questions that bounce around wildly. And all of which he’s got no idea about.
He’s so stuck in his own head that Ness has to shake him out of it. “Hey, what’s on your mind?” Lucas shakes his head slowly. He realizes that the end of the class came around so he stands up.
“I’m just nervous.”
“About going to Tazmily?” Ness questions. Lucas looks at him with some very genuine blue eyes. And Ness returns with his own set of genuine eyes. “How come? Is it dangerous?”
“Nah, just hoping there’s enough stuff.”
“Well, as I said earlier, there’s no need to worry. We’ll find something,” Ness says as he playfully pats Lucas’s back.
“Lucas,” A familiar voice calls out from behind the boys. They look back to see Claus alongside someone who looks like Ness. But despite that striking appearance, there is no relation. “We need to talk for a bit.”
“We do,” Lucas agrees without hesitation. The other two boys just look between the twins before looking at each other.
“Well, we’ll be on ahead then. Meet up with me when you’re done?” Ness questions as he looks at Lucas.
“Of course,” Lucas winks back. And with that, Ness and the other boy, Ninten, walk off. Leaving the twins to themselves. They stay still and silent for a moment until they’re confident the others are far away. Once they are confident, Claus walks closer.
“What are the damn chances?” He questions.
“I’ve got no idea.” Lucas wraps the backpack around his back with a heavy sigh.
“What’re you going to do?” The two boys begin walking toward the exit of the classroom.
“No idea.” The lack of anything from Lucas annoys his twin. So the more serious twin jumps in front of Lucas to hold him in place.
“You need one if you’re going to go back there.”
“You don’t think I know that?”
“You sure as hell seem like you don’t.” Lucas just sighs before breaking away from his brother. They continue down the halls. Due to the large size of the halls it allows them to be pretty spacious. “I’ve already bounced around millions of ideas and opportunities.”
“Which seems the most enticing?”
“None.” Lucas slowly looks back at his brother. “All are equally as bad as the others.”
“Even asking for a different location?”
“Ness has already begun getting excited to go to Tazmily. I’m sure the moment he got out he began looking it up.” The two stay silent as they just walk through the halls. “I’ve just got to hope that we don’t come across them.”
“That’s not much to rely on.”
“I know.” Claus looks at his brother, opening his mouth to say something. But he stops upon seeing Lucas rubbing his hands together aggressively. This is a thing he does when he’s stressed. Claus reaches over and puts a hand on Lucas’s, making him stop instantly.
“Maybe talk to Ness. He deserves to know.” Lucas doesn’t even look at his brother. He just continues walking forward. But the words make their way into his head. That could work. Telling him what the issue is. They could work around it. But then his mind goes to the fact that telling him this would ensure that this trip gets tainted. And that’s the last thing he wants for Ness.
Eventually, they make it into the cafeteria where they see Ness and Ninten sitting at a lunch table. They hurry their way over and sit next to their respective partner. “So, what was this brotherly talk about?” Ness asks. Claus looks to Lucas. Not budging and just waiting to see what he does. But all he does is smile while looking at Ness.
“Just family stuff is all. No worries.” The answer isn’t ideal. Claus just rolls his eyes. But from now on, the day is normal. Lucas’s worries are still ever present. But he’s able to push them to the back of his mind. He’s already made his decision. No point in stressing about it when the trip is still a few days away. They’ve got to get a few things ready before the trip anyway.
________
Those few days pass and now the four boys are standing right outside the very large Ultimate Train Station. Ness and Lucas only have and need a single backpack each. “Alright, remember, you’re just going there to do a project. I better not hear about either of you losing your virginity, ya’hear? I’ve already called dibs on being the first one here,” Ninten jokes. Ninten has constantly made jokes about the two boys being in a much deeper relationship. Ness just rolls his eyes and pushes Ninten back.
“Enough with that, ok? It's gotten old.”
“I still find it funny,” Ninten shrugs as he walks back to the car that’s temporarily pulled over near the sidewalk. Claus puts his hands on Ness’s shoulders. This sends ominous shivers through his body. But the ominous feeling disappears as he sees a genuinely worried look on his face.
“Please, take care of him.” The words of worry are concerning. What kind of trouble can even be had in some random village in the middle of nowhere? But despite the concern, Ness smiles confidently.
“Of course, he’ll always be safe under my care.” Claus makes no other remark. Simply looking at his brother before backing up.
“Good luck,” he says while still looking right at Lucas. Clearly, talking primarily to him. But Ness doesn’t mind. They are twins after all. A much deeper connection than he can possibly have with Lucas. Even if he does want a slightly more…intimate relationship. Claus eventually turns around and heads for the car.
“Well, shall we get going then?” Ness asks, resulting in Lucas giving an unconfident smile. And so in they go.
The interior of the station is confusing. It almost feels like a maze with all of the different hallways and even more hallways that branch off from them. It’s like a very large tree whose branches far outweigh the tree itself. They have two tickets that show them exactly what to do. Each hallway is labeled by a certain symbol. The one the boys have to go through is labeled with the silhouette of a globe.
They continue down more halls with some maps of a few locations that the train goes to. Places named Onett, Fourside, New Pork City, Ellay, among many others. The boys look around at these names. Ness’s eyes fall on a map that catches his interest. It’s a map of Tazmily Village. “Lucas, look!” Ness grabs Lucas’s arm and drags him over to the map.
“It’s a map.”
“Yeah!” Ness takes out his phone and takes a quick photo of it. “So we know where to go.” Lucas smiles softly as his eyes scan the map. It’s not the most in-depth and accurate map. Each individual house isn’t labeled or even shown. But there are a few notable things that are labeled as “must-sees”. Oshe Castle, Village Square, Murasaki Forest, and Draggo Plateau. “I guess there are quite a few things here huh?” Lucas’s eyes stare at a section of the map that isn’t labeled. Just seemingly grass. But Lucas knows what’s there. He knows all too well. And it’s something he’ll do everything to avoid. “Lucas?” Ness sees the stare. He shakes Lucas out of the trance. “You’ve been acting weird about this whole thing. Is there something you’re not saying?”
“No, of course not,” Lucas effortlessly lies before he steps away from the map. “Come on, the train is probably leaving soon.”
“Lucas, you can’t keep lying.”
“It’s not lying if you know nothing,” Lucas winks. But then he freezes as he implies that he is indeed hiding something.
“Lucas…” Ness says softly as he steps closer.
“Train at Gate 10C leaving soon for Tazmily Village. Please have your tickets ready,” a voice says over the intercom. The boys look at the nearest one in the ceiling before looking at each other. For a moment, they’re able to put everything aside as they need to rush through the hallways.
They need to push themselves through waves of people. Once they get down to the gates, they thankfully see a line still at 10C, so they’re not running late. They get in line and reach into their pockets to locate the documents they need. Ness has both of their tickets, issued to them by the school, along with his ID and passport. However, Lucas just has an ID.
There is a rule with this kind of travel. Tazmily Village is far out of the reach of Ultimatum. So in order for a foreigner to that land to enter is through a passport. But if one is from there and they’re simply going back, they have no need for a passport. Ness notices Lucas’s lack of a passport. “Don’t tell me you forgot it…” He says, his voice showing some disappointment. Lucas doesn’t make any motion.
“Sir, tickets please?” Ness jumps a little and sighs, hoping Lucas does indeed have it. But for whatever reason, he just doesn’t have it in hand. The man takes the tickets and scans over them. Once verifying their validity, he rips them into small pieces. “ID and Passport please?” Ness hands the man the documents. The ID is a city issued one. Due to the size of the city, and how isolated it is compared to everything, it’s sort of treated as its own country. The man looks from the ID and Passport to Ness. But soon he hands them back and motions him forward.
Lucas steps up. Once he does he hands the man his ID. Ness watches intently as the man scans the ID. But without even asking for a Passport, he hands it back and motions for Lucas to go forth. “You didn’t need a passport?” Lucas rolls his eyes. He keeps moving forward. He doesn’t want to look back and see a confused and maybe even betrayed look on Ness’s face. Seeing that would utterly crush him.
“No.” Ness runs up to catch up with Lucas.
“Why not?”
“Why else?” It only takes a moment for Ness to think and realize. He doesn’t need it because he must be from Tazmily Village. He opens his mouth to make a comment on it. But the look on Lucas’s face stops him. It’s a look of depression. A look of anxiety. All because he’s going back to a place he once lived seemingly. So instead of bringing it up, Ness just wraps an arm around Lucas as they walk through the hall toward the train. The simple and speechless motion causes a smile to form on Lucas’s face. Although, it also has the byproduct of making him feel a little guilty for keeping the reality of his situation a secret.
…
…
…
The train is quick. Despite it traveling between different worlds, it’s only about a ten minute ride. It’s about as long as a regular train from one side of Ultimatum to the other. The boys step out onto a much more rustic looking train station. Unlike the multilayered and very well built station back in Ultimatum, this one looks almost like a bus stop.
Despite being somewhere he’s never been before, he looks at Lucas. Those blue eyes of his are panicked. Scanning the station as if looking for something. Ness grabs Lucas’s hands in the hope that it could get him out of this state. And it works. Lucas looks over at Ness. “Why’re you holding my hand?”
“Well, I assume you never told me you were from here for a reason.” Both boys look forward. There are some steps that lead down to a dirt path. Further down this path is presumably the village square. “I’m here to make sure you don’t go through whatever it is alone.” A blush finds its way into Lucas’s cheeks. “But, do you remember this place? The good things at least?”
“A few things.” The boys look back at each other. Ness lets go of Lucas’s hand and bows.
“Lead the way then, my tour guide.” Lucas giggles a little as he playfully pushes Ness. But despite the playful push, he still steps forward.
“First up, the village square.” He leaves the small rustic station that is nothing more than a roof with supports and a wooden ground. No walls exist on this station. Ness keeps up to Lucas. There are so many questions flooding his curious brain. All questions about his time here. But he’s got to play it slow. For each question that pops up, the phrase “Don’t be overbearing” follows soon after.
“How long since you’ve been here?”
“A decade.” That means he had to leave here when he was seven at the earliest. Why would he leave at such a young age? The immediate thought for Ness is that he moved with his parents. But Lucas and him have been friends since they were both ten. And not once in all the time they’ve spent since has he ever mentioned parents. He even remembers asking Lucas to hang out at his place but always getting a clean “no” from him.
“Will anyone recognize you?”
“Hope not.” So many things. It makes Lucas very mysterious. However, this mysterious side intrigues Ness more and more. But once more, he knows he needs to play it carefully. Don’t be overbearing. He’s got to remember that.
Eventually, they make it to the village square. Despite the rustic look of the train station this village square is very modern looking. The distant houses have the same modernized look to them as well. All except for one. And this house is elevated high up on a cliff. Doesn’t seem very safe. And it’s this house that Lucas stares at for an extra while. Of course, theories begin forming inside of Ness’s mind. But none of which are appropriate to bring up. “So, does this place look familiar?” This question gets through to Lucas. After looking around at the village square he doesn’t recognize it. It’s got the same skeleton as it did before, but the looks are vastly different.
“Somewhat,” is what Lucas can say. The boys look around the village square. Lucas’s eyes glaze over all of the buildings. It’s such an odd feeling. That familiarity yet everything is so different. Lucas’s eyes fall onto a place that holds the same wishy washy familiarity. An Inn. A place he visited quite often.
Ness follows Lucas’s eyeline to the building and makes his way over toward it. “H-hey, what’re you doing?” Ness turns around but continues to walk. This time, he’s walking backward toward the Inn.
“Going to the place you’re so invested in.” Lucas takes a step forward but stops himself. Seeing the hesitation, Ness grows serious. He stops walking. He waits in silence. Watching Lucas intently. He’s able to tell that Lucas is debating something within his head. Obvious by his slightly erratic eyes shooting about the place “Hey, we can go somewhere else if you’d like.” Lucas’s erratic eyes fall to Ness. Those blue eyes instantly calm down and Lucas walks forward.
“No, if I remember properly, they wouldn’t be there at this time.” Lucas walks past Ness to go toward the Inn. Ness, of course, turns around quickly and catches up to him.
“Who?”
“My parents.” That kind of just slipped out. Unintentional. However, Ness doesn’t harp too much on it.
“Well, why do they come here anyway?” The two turn around the building to finally see the front of it. It’s got the word Inn plastered in front over the doors. “It’s an Inn.”
“They sell coffee.”
“What!!” Ness jumps before rushing through the doors. Seeing this causes Lucas to laugh softly. Ness needs his coffee. There’s this slight worry they’ve both had that he may be a tad addicted to it. But it’s not doing any harm so there’s no point in fighting it off at the moment. The door creaks open and Ness pokes his head out. “Would you like one?” Lucas crosses his arms playfully.
“Sure.” Ness smiles before scooting back through the door. Leaving Lucas out by himself. And once this realization sinks in, it feels like Lucas’s heart drops. He begins to even look around the area to see places he could potentially hide if the situation calls for it. However, it causes him to lose his attention to people around him. So much so that someone sneaks up on him.
“Howdy, Lucas!” The sudden loud and familiar voice sends Lucas into shock. Sending him stumbling back. Even after falling to the ground, he’s shaking a little. “Oh shit, sorry, man,” a feminine voice says. Lucas opens his eyes to see someone he recognizes. Kumatora. Kumatora smiles upon seeing Lucas’s pearly blues.
“Kumatora?” She lets out a breath of relief as she reaches a hand out for the boy.
“Here I was thinking you forgot who I was.” Lucas just gulps as he stands up without her help.
“I wish I did.” Kumatora just stands there, blinking in disbelief.
“Wha-”
“Got the coffees Lucas,” Ness says as he exits the Inn. He freezes upon seeing Lucas with Kumatora. “Is…is this someone you know?” Lucas stares directly into Kumatora’s eyes. Even though he hasn’t been here in a decade, Kumatora can tell there’s this venom in those eyes. A hatred. Lucas walks past her.
“No. Just some stranger being annoying.” Lucas walks over and grabs a cup of coffee. “Did you put in the cinnamon?”
“Of course I did, I’d never forget.” Kumatora is forced to watch as Lucas smiles whilst talking to Ness. The boys begin walking off. But before they get fully out of view, Lucas gives an anger-fueled glare back toward her. And soon, she’s just standing there. All alone. Confused. Why did Lucas treat her that way? They were always pretty close.
“Oh shit…Lucas is back!” Kumatora yells as if the realization finally strikes. She runs off toward the cabin that’s high atop a cliff.
While she does that, Ness and Lucas leave the main portion of the village. “So, where do you wanna go first?” Lucas asks as he sips on his mug.
“Hmm…” Ness pulls out his phone and looks at the photo he took of the map of the village. The closest thing to where they are is the forest. “Let’s just go for a nice walk through the forest, shall we?” Lucas raises his cup as if to say he agrees. So they go off.
Despite the forest looking very…much like a forest, it’s still nice. Just to be in a place so quiet. They’re both so used to living in the city where there are no places of silence that this is nice. Even with the occasional bird chirp, it beats a car honk. “Oh man, this is nice.” Ness takes a deep breath. Breathing in that nice forest air. “To think a city boy like you came from a place like this.”
“Do I not seem like a quiet town type of person?” Ness looks at him. His eyes go up and down, getting every bit of Lucas’s body in his eyes.
“Hmm, not really. You have city boy written all over you.”
“Oh? And what does a city boy look like?” Lucas asks as he crosses his arms. He’s got a small smirk. And for once on this trip, those bright blue eyes of his don’t look stressed. They look calm. And they look like they’re actually enjoying the moment.
“Well, just take a look in the mirror and you’ll know,” Ness winks as he continues going forth. Lucas can’t help but giggle as he follows after him.
“Way to avoid the question.” Ness just shows off a smile before looking forward. Once they get through some more trees and bushes, they come to a large open area. An area dedicated to a pool of water. However, it’s definitely not regular water. But a hot spring. Ness gasps before taking a quick glance at the map on his phone. There, he’s able to see where exactly they are thanks to the hot springs being labeled.
“Ahh, I was never allowed here,” Lucas says as he crosses his arms.
“How come?” Lucas doesn’t answer with his words. He’s got no need to. Instead, he points over at a sign. The sign says…
-In order to use this Hot Springs, please strip all of your clothing. Thank you-
“Ahh, I see. That’s a weird rule.” Lucas simply shrugs before walking closer to the hot springs.
“We can at least put our feet in.”
“I like the way you think.” Ness walks over. The two of them take off their socks and shoes before taking a seat right at the edge of the hot springs. Their feet plummet into the hot water. It feels instantly like the water is on the verge of burning, but never quite crossing the line. Resulting in a massively comforting feeling. That mixed with the soothing coffee makes for an overall good time.
“Even with just my feet in, it feels great,” Ness sighs happily. Lucas smiles as he leans back after placing his cup of coffee onto the ground. His arms behind him to keep him propped up. Lucas turns to look at Ness. He’s got this very pleasant look on his face. It’s a bit of a relief. Lucas has been so secretive and odd this entire trip and he’s aware of that. But seeing Ness not seem at all affected by Lucas’s oddness gives him some safety.
“So, Ness?” Ness looks over at him. That pleasant look does not disappear in the slightest. “How have the dates been going?” Ness has been going on constant dates. It makes everyone in the friend group a little jealous as it seems Ness can get these dates with a simple snap of his fingers, whereas all of the others struggle to go on even a single date. Ness shrugs before taking a sip of his coffee and lying his back onto the ground. This causes him to look up at the bright blue sky. Clouds sprinkling that pretty blue. And after placing the cup of coffee down, he’s able to enjoy it fully.
“They’ve been going, I guess.” Not a very good sign. Lucas lies down as well.
“Not going well?”
“Nah.” Ness looks over at Lucas and smirks. “But that’s fine. I’ll find what I’m looking for.”
“Do you know what you’re looking for?” As Lucas asks this question, Ness just stares into those bright blue eyes. Almost as bright as the sky itself. Ness knows exactly what he’s looking for. And even who specifically he wants.
“Yeah. Of course I do.”
“Then why no approach?”
“Oh, I have.” Lucas grows confused.
“Did they not reciprocate?” Ness shakes his head.
“They didn’t. But I’m unsure if it’s because they don’t feel the same way or if they’re just too naive.” Lucas sits up suddenly. But his face looks unready to speak what’s on his mind. Clearly, he’s thinking. Thinking about something. When he is ready, he looks over and down at Ness.
“They must be stupid,” is all he can muster. There was indeed a thought in Lucas’s head. A wonder or a theory. But it ran away from him before he could really process it. Ness giggles as he sits up as well.
“You betcha.” Lucas opens his mouth to say something, but is cut off by some crumpling of leaves and sticks. Lucas looks over and sees someone he really didn’t want to see. He sees a tall lady with long and flowing dirty blonde hair. She’s wearing a nice pink dress as she carries a basket of what seems to be wood. Lucas’s and this lady’s eyes meet for only a moment before the lady drops her basket.
“Lucas…” She questions. Lucas’s nose twitches before standing up.
“Lucas, who is she?”
“A stranger,” Lucas says in an uncharacteristically stoic voice.
“Stranger? Honey, it’s me. Your mom,” The woman says as she gets closer and closer.
“I don’t have a mom. All I have is Claus and my friends.”
“Lucas, please just–”
“You don’t deserve to speak to me.” And with that, Lucas turns around and runs off. Leaving Ness to rush his feet out of the water to stand up as well. He watches the direction Lucas goes. However, he doesn’t follow instantly. Instead, he turns around to look at his mom. She’s got a defeated look on her face. Saddened by Lucas’s retreat. There’s more to this story. A story Ness wants to find out. So he goes after Lucas.
…
…
…
Ness quickly finds himself getting lost in the large forest. For only a few moments during this chase has Ness seen Lucas. And now he’s in the middle of the woods. All by himself. Even as he calls out for Lucas, he gets no response. This doesn’t deter him, though. He knows he has to find Lucas. So he continues forth. Needing to maneuver around trees and bushes, and anything else that calls this forest its home.
“Ugh, how far could he have gotten…” Ness says quietly as he continues to push through the trees. Although, very suddenly too, the grassy ground shifts to that of a firm and rough rocky ground. Looking ahead, Ness is able to see more rocky ground. But not just the ground. But plateaus that rise up to various different levels. Ness looks at all of them in shock. To have something go from the peaceful forest to this uneven canyon. But he can’t be too focused on that. He’s got to find Lucas. “Lucas!”
Once he yells his name, a small-ish rock falls from one of the closer plateaus. This prompts Ness to look closer at it. Scanning his eyes intensely up the rocky formation. And his eyes quickly fall on Lucas’s legs. Dangling off the edge. He’s sitting up there. This gives Ness some relief. Only for that relief to be replaced by confusion as he looks around for a way to get up there.
He begins walking around the area. By this point, the trees have disappeared. It’s nothing but the orange rocks. Soon enough, Ness sees a slope. A slope that ropes around the plateau. It’s not steep enough to make it impossible to climb. So this surely has to be how to get up there. Slowly, he begins walking up there.
Up there, Lucas is just sitting at the edge. He’s just looking out at the rest of this large canyon area. His eyes glaze over all of it. A part of him admires the beauty of the whole thing.
“I don’t wanna go!” A voice echoes inside Lucas’s head. A voice that makes him flinch and shut his eyes. “I don’t wanna go!” Another flinch as the voice reminds him of why he never wanted to come back here. It reminds him why he went to Ultimatum in the first place.
Ness finally makes it up to the top of the plateau. He sees Lucas at the edge. He looks much smaller than normal. There’s even a bit of a shake going on. Something is definitely wrong. Ness tries to walk as slowly as possible to get to him. But at some point, Lucas hears him and looks back. “Ness?”
“Hey…” Lucas eyes lower down to the rocky ground of the plateau before he looks back out at the scenery. Now that he’s been spotted, Ness walks quicker to the edge. Once there, he takes his seat right next to the scared boy. They just sit there for a little bit. Both were scared. Scared of different things, but still scared in the end.
Ness looks at Lucas’s pale face. His eyes look unfocused. That bright blue that’s usually there isn’t anymore. “Lucas?” The blonde doesn’t make it aware he hears Ness. “Lucas?”
“Ness. If you’re going to try and tell me to tell you what’s wrong. I can’t.” Ness flinches at Lucas’s direct words. Lucas looks at him. He looks serious. Yet desperate at the same time. “If I haven’t told you before, why would I say it now?” Clearly, asking him directly isn’t the right approach. So Ness just looks out at the scenery to think. How can he possibly get through to Lucas? This secret is a serious one. And while he knows some secrets are better left forgotten, this one has to get out. But a secret can only be repaid by another secret.
“I have a crush on you, Lucas,” Ness wastes no time with his words. This, of course, shocks the blonde.
“Wh-what?”
“You heard me.”
“I-I did…but I–”
“I’ve had it for a long time.” Ness’s eyes fall to his lap. He’s had this conversation with Lucas before. In his head, of course. He bounced between what he thought were all possible scenarios. But this was never one of those scenarios. He’s stepping into the unknown. He’s improvising. But he has to.
“Why? Why me?” Ness stifles a chuckle as he looks at Lucas.
“Why you? That’s like asking why a Bee makes honey.” The analogy makes Lucas blush. But then Ness’s face goes serious as he looks back out at the scenery. “I tried to deny it. How could I have a crush on my best friend?” He chuckles nervously. His face though, it grows saddened. “Everyday I thought about you before sleeping. Everyday I tried to stop. But the more I tried to stop, the more reasons you’d give me to like you.” The vibe between them shifts a little. Shifts to be too sad. And Ness doesn’t like that. So he smirks and peeks over at Lucas.
“If you think about it, it’s kinda your fault for being so perfect.” This finally gets Lucas to chuckle, clearing the weirdly sad feeling between them. A silence washes over as they both look out at the scenery. “I’m sorry about everything.” Ness says to break the momentary silence. Neither look at each other. “About coming here. About my crush.”
“You don’t have to be sorry about that.”
“I don’t?” Ness looks over at him. Lucas has this calm face. Very different from not too long before.
“No.” Ness looks down at Lucas’s hand before reaching for it. Even as he firmly holds his hand, Lucas doesn’t take his hand away. Instead, he and Ness interlock fingers. This fills Ness’s body with happiness. It shoots all through his body. But once it reaches his brain he shakes his head. He’s got a more pressing matter to worry about.
“I don’t mean to be too intrusive, Lucas, but what’s going on? With your family?” The words are soft. As if it’s needing to cradle a very fragile object. Lucas doesn’t immediately respond. But eventually, he does. And he does so by sighing first.
“Ness…” Lucas peeks over briefly to see Ness’s calm and caring eyes. “Ok.”
__________
It all started when Claus and I were only seven. It was in the middle of the night and I had a nightmare. I wanted to go to Claus for protection from it like I always have. But he was currently at a friend’s house in the village square. So I had to get out and find our parents to help me. Finding them wasn’t the issue. The issue was that they were with someone.
I was only halfway down the stairs when I heard a strange voice. It wasn’t my Mom’s or Dad’s. It was completely foreign. “For the last time, I can’t allow this dankey cabin bring down the market value of this place. Think of tourism.”
“We don’t care about whatever this ‘market value’ is,” My Mom said.
“You may not care. But the mayor surely does. And what the mayor wants, the mayor gets. Understand?”
“What, so you want us to just buckle and have everything we’ve built be destroyed to fit into your precious market value?” My Dad questioned. He always sounded a bit pissed. But this was on a whole different level.
“As I’ve said. This isn’t a choice. Tazmily has already been chosen. So be good and just do what we say, capiche?”
“You can’t just walk in here, walk right on over us, and expect us to just accept it. You can take those damned train plans and tear them to shreds, got it!” My Dad’s angry voice bounced off the wooden walls. I was far too scared at what was happening to go any further down the stairs. So all I had were the voices. And for a moment, the voices stayed silent. For a moment, I thought they had left.
But right when I was about to go further down, I heard my Mom’s voice again. “Ok…when do you need them to go?”
“As soon as possible.” I had begun to hear some creaking wood which was always a sign that someone was walking. And the noise was getting louder and louder so I rushed back upstairs to lie back in bed. That night, I went to sleep wondering who that man was. And what he could possibly be talking about.
I never got an answer.
Not a complete answer, anyway.
Because the next morning I was woken up far earlier than I’ve ever been woken up before. I woke up to see my parents fully dressed. Which they never were. They rushed me to get dressed and before I was even fully aware of my surroundings, I was being pushed through Tazmily. We had stopped in front of a house. It took me a moment to realize where I even was. It was my brother’s friend’s house. My parents had gone in and came out soon after with Claus in hand.
Both of us tried asking what was happening. We tried asking why we were being rushed around. I was worried because the last time we’d been rushed like that was when we suffered a forest fire. But we were brought over to a very rudimentary train station. Claus and I had seen it being constructed for a while but never bothered to ask about it. There was a pretty small train waiting at the station. And we were being pushed right to it.
The doors opened. And Claus seemed to have gotten an idea as to what was happening. Because he began begging our parents to stop. But they didn’t. They just continued to pull us towards it. Before getting into the train, we were hugged by them. And the last words they said to us was “We’re sorry.”
And then we were on the train. I was crying as I watched my parents get further and further away before they were completely out of sight. Claus was watching this too. But, instead of crying, he simply stopped his smile. He used to always have this wide smile on his face. But now it was gone. He was angry.
The train took us to Ultimatum where we were soon picked up by a very nice lady. She took us over to a foster home where he and I still live.
__________
Lucas sighs as he looks down at his hands that are now fidgeting with each other. “As you can see, I don’t really want to see them again.” Ness is rubbing Lucas’s back. Has been for a little bit. It was rough to see Lucas like that. He’s always seen Lucas as this bright and fun-loving person. But to then get this side from him, it’s a rough sight to behold.
“Now it makes sense why you never wanted me at your house.”
“I hope you’re not upset,” Lucas says in a defeated voice as he peeks at Ness.
“Pfft, as if.” Ness then moves to his feet. Standing tall over Lucas. “But Lucas, you need to tackle this head-on.”
“What’re you talking about?” A part of Ness doesn’t want to say the words. They might be too tough for Lucas to hear at the moment. He reaches down and grabs Lucas’s hands. With them firmly gripped, he helps Lucas to his feet. “There’s more to this story. I just know it.”
“But that’s all I know.”
“I know. But that’s not all that’s known in general.” It takes Lucas only a moment to understand what Ness is implying. And once he does recognize it, he lets go and backs up.
“No.”
“Lucas–”
“No. I will not face them. They don’t deserve that after what they did.”
“They don’t.”
“Then why would you even suggest that?”
“Because you deserve to know the truth.” Ness steps closer and once again, grabs onto Lucas’s hands. “You can’t tell me you’ve never once thought why they did it.” Lucas’s eyes fall a bit. “Don’t do it for them. Do it for yourself.”
“I…” Lucas’s grip on Ness’s hands tightens up. “I-I don’t know if I’m able to do it.”
“You won’t be alone. I’ll be there with you.” The two of them stare into the other’s eyes for a moment. Lucas wants to find any reason as to why Ness’s words are untrue. But he can’t. Everything he’s saying is true.
“O…ok.”
“I believe in you.”
“You always have.” They smile together before they turn to walk off. They walk with a purpose. It’s an uneasy purpose. But a purpose nonetheless.
It takes a little bit to go back through the forest. They stop for a moment to regain their shoes, of course. But sooner rather than later, they make it to the house atop a cliff. Lucas’s house. The closer they got to it, the more slumped Lucas would get. And now they’re right in front of the door. Ness is scared Lucas will turn around and run away. So he looks over at him softly.
“Lucas.” Lucas looks into those friendly purple eyes before letting out a simple sigh. Once he does so, he straightens up and steps up.
“I have to do this.” Ness smiles as he watches Lucas knock on the door to where he used to live. They only have to wait a few moments before the door opens up. It’s not either of his parents there. But Kumatora. Her face drops the moment she sees him.
“Lucas…”
“Are my parents home?” Lucas questions. Kumatora’s eyes move over to Ness for only a moment before returning to Lucas.
“Uhm, yeah, they are.” Lucas doesn’t reiterate and just pushes past her. Ness gives an apologetic bow before entering after him. Kumatora is confused, of course. She’s got no idea why Lucas would be here right now. But she closes the door all the same. Once she turns around, she calls out for Hinawa and Flint. Yelling that Lucas is here to see them.
Very quickly after Kumatora’s words reach upstairs, a loud shattering sound can be heard. It’s loud enough to make Ness jump. But Lucas is standing perfectly still. By the fact that he’s not slouched or shaking in anyway, Ness can tell Lucas is holding in his emotions. Purposely making himself seem far more stoic and emotionless than he normally is.
The first person to get down the stairs is Hinawa. And she runs toward Lucas with wide open arms. Completely intending to hug him. However, Ness stands in front of the two. Crossing his arms as he looks up into Hinawa’s eyes. “Sorry, ma’am. Lucas isn’t ready for contact with you quite yet.” A man soon pops up from behind her. Lucas’s Dad, Flint. He almost looks like a cowboy. Both of the adults give Ness a slightly fowl look. Ness turns around to be face to face with Lucas. “Alright. You’ve got this.” Lucas responds with a nod.
Ness steps to Lucas’s side, allowing him to do what he has to. The boy doesn’t say anything at first. He just stares at his parents. For the first time in a decade, he’s able to get a good long look at them. And he feels disgusted. “Lucas–”
“We were seven,” Lucas’s voice is cold. It sends a hyperthermic feeling through everyone hearing it right now. Lucas’s parents exchange looks for a moment. “We were seven when we were pushed into a train and forced to live in a large and strange city without our parents.”
“Lucas–” His dad tries to step up and say.
“NO!” Lucas says, firmly interrupting his dad. This also ends that brief stink of monotonous speech. “You can’t just ‘Lucas’ me. This is not a situation that can be fixed by you saying ‘Lucas’ with a sad face, Dad.” Lucas’s parents recoil a little from Lucas’s tone. “Claus and I were forced to watch as our classmates got to enjoy the Parent Teacher Conferences…Mother’s Day…Father’s Day. Do you know how it feels to be ushered into a damn room because everyone else in the class is having their parents over?” There’s a fire in Lucas’s eyes. A ruthless furocity. So many bottled emotions getting muddled up by a singular emotion.
“You don’t understand,” Hinawa tries stepping in.
“You don’t understand, Mom. Everything was perfect until you both ruined it. If it wasn’t for Cluas, and…” Lucas peeks over at Ness briefly. “Some very special people, I’d be much worse for wear.”
“Please, Lucas, can we just explain?” Hinawa continues to try and butt in. Lucas’s cold eyes move back toward his Mom. He looks right through her. Making her feel vulnerable. Making her feel guilty.
“You won’t be forgiven.”
“I know. But we don’t deserve forgiveness.”
“Not yet,” Flint adds.
“We just want you to understand.” Lucas crosses his arms. He’s unsure if he needs to hear the reasoning or not. A part of him believes that it won’t change anything. That it’d just be a stupid waste of time. But then there’s that other side. The more curious side. The more sad side. The side of him that’s still that little boy that his parents shoved into a train. The confused and lost.
“Fine. But make it quick. I don’t want to be here any longer than I have to be,” Lucas says as he crosses his arms. Keeping up that cold composure. His parents nod.
“We were approached about the fact that Tazmily was going to change. Become ‘modernized’ as they said. We thought it was stupid. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” Flint begins.
“They were persistent. Turns out, they already had approval to ‘improve’ the village’s buildings. And one night, they came over to talk about improving ours.”
_______
It was in the middle of the night. We had dropped Claus off at Fuel’s and you were dead asleep. We were about to sleep as well. But then the man came. He began going on about what to do to make this place in line with everything else. “Tazmily is entering a much bigger world now. The Ultimate World, one could even say.”
He continues spouting nonsense about the train station being improved and just improving the village’s tourism possibilities. We fought back against the idea. But then he brought you boys into it. Saying that Ultimatum would provide a better life. He began dropping cash in. Cash to keep the house as it is but…we’d have to give you up.”
“You must be smoking some shit, because we’re not agreeing to this nonsense,” Flint said as he pushed the cash off the table.
“For the last time, I can’t allow this dankey cabin to bring down the market value of this place. Think of tourism,” he said as he shamelessly picked the cash back up. He kept on going, with no sign of stopping. And we tried our absolute hardest to get him out of the house. But then, right when your Dad was about to strangle him, he whispered something. “If you don’t move those damned children to Ultimatum, we’ll destroy this damned cabin and everything you possibly worked toward.”
“We don’t care about your threats,” Flint quietly whispered back.
“You don’t want anything bad to happen to your boys now, do you?” This sent your father into a tizzy. He was about to strangle the man once more, but he stopped himself. He didn’t want to go to jail again. He and I talked and we knew that this man was being serious. He was going to destroy everything he and I worked to make this home. He was threatening you two. We felt cornered. We had no choice.
______
Lucas’s mind, instead of being on the fact that someone threatened his life, is focused on those last words. “You had no choice?” His parents stayed silent. “You always have a choice. No matter how low you go, having no choice is just a way to hide the fact that you made the worst one. So admit it. You made the worst possible mistake!” HInawa steps forward and falls to her knees to be slightly shorter than Lucas.
“Lucas, hunny, we made a bad decision.”
“The worst one,” Lucas corrected.
“The worst one. We should’ve found another way. We should’ve fought for you.” Lucas gulps. Something inside of him feels like it is breaking. Whatever is breaking is making it hard for him to keep up this tough-guy act.
“And?” His mom is confused for a bit before Flint joins her on his knees in front of the short blonde.
“We didn’t tell you. We didn’t explain anything to you. We’re sorry. We were awful parents. We don’t deserve your forgiveness.” Lucas’s nose begins twitching. But not out of anger. A building sadness.
“We may have been awful parents. But we’ve never stopped loving you. We’ve never stopped thinking about either of you. No matter the distance, no matter how you feel, you two will forever be our precious boys. And we’ll always still be your parents.” Lucas’s breathing grows faster. His eyes begin to get a bit moist as he sees the defeat on his parent’s faces. His parents love him. They did what they did because they wanted to protect him. It doesn’t take away the effects of what happened, but the intention was there. The grudge he’s held for so long is breaking.
“If you love someone, why would you abandon them? Force them to be away from you.”
“Because, we love you two so much, the thought of anything bad happening to you killed us. At least what we did, we knew you’d be safe from him.”
“You should’ve gone with us.”
“We should have,” Flint agrees.
“We shouldn’t have been alone,” Lucas’s voice is breaking. Cracks of his true nature leaking through.
“Yes. We made a bad decision. We’re sorry.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive you.”
“You don’t have to. But now, we’ll always love you. Both of you.” Hearing those words from his Mom breaks him. The tough-guy persona shatters the moment a single tear falls from Lucas’s eyes. And once the tear pops upon contact with the ground, Lucas shoots forward to hug both of his parents. Wailing loudly. Like the child they left him at. A child that was waiting for this moment. To finally have his parents back. Even if a stain remains.
Ness and Kumatora are forced to watch this transpire for a few moments. Ness even grows a few tears in his eyes that he has to wipe away. Lucas breaks the hug up and steps back after a while. He clears his throat and wipes his tears away. “Thank you for telling me.” His parents stand up.
“Thanks for indulging us,” Flint says. Lucas grows the smallest of smirks before walking over toward Ness.
“Come on, cry baby, we’ve gotta go,” he jokes as he reaches over and rubs a tear away. They turn and walk off. Lucas gives an apologetic smile toward Kumatora, who just gives a supportive thumbs-up. Once they make it to the door though, Lucas hesitates. During this hesitation, he slowly looks back. “M-mom?”
“Yes, hunny?”
“D-do you still remember your omelet recipe?” Hinawa lets out a few extra tears upon hearing the soft-spoken voice ask about the food.
“Of course hunny. I make it every morning.”
“Can you make it for Ness and me?” Hinawa has to compose herself. She covers her mouth with her hands to keep herself from wailing. Once fully composed, she lowers them and smiles.
“Whatever you wish. Sweetie, let’s make them an omelet they’ll never forget.” Hinawa holds Flint’s hand as they head into the kitchen.
“My my, what a show you put on,” Kumatora claps as she walks on over to the boys. She leans onto Lucas’s head. “So, you and this boy here. You two screwing or no?”
“Kumatora…” Lucas says as he steps away from her for a moment. But before any fear of Lucas still being angry at her seeps into her brain, Lucas smiles. “I missed you.”
“Me too, pal.” She chuckles as she ruffles up Lucas’s clean and smooth hair.
“Lucas, hunny, can you lend a hand?” Hinawa calls from the kitchen. Lucas doesn’t respond instantly. Instead, he looks over at Ness. Seeing that bright smile of his tells him all he needs to know.
“Yeah Mom, I’m coming.” A sentence the poor boy has wanted to say again for the past decade. The inner child inside of him can heal. It’ll never be fixed fully. But, there’s no shame in being a patchwork.