Chapter Text
Lucas had been following his brother around much like a baby duck would follow its mother and it was starting to get on Claus’ last nerve. He was certainly thankful his brother was okay, of course, but was this really necessary? It’s been six days!
“I’m going to go grab a snack.” Claus declared.
“Me too!” Lucas added.
“I could just grab you one.” Claus suggested. “What do you want?”
“I don’t know yet.” Lucas responded. “I need to see the selection.”
“...Alright.”
Claus sighed as his brother followed him closely once again. Sure, when they were younger Lucas had been like this, never letting himself fall even a few feet behind Claus back then, but he got over this level of clinginess when they were like, five or six!
But he couldn’t fault him for it, either. He DID almost drown.
It had taken a few days for the twins to fully recover from their hypothermia, but thankfully Lloyd said that Lucas hadn’t been without air long enough to cause any serious damage. He DID express concerns about the potential radioactivity of the water due to the nukes being used recently, but Ninten promised to use PK Healing on the two of them when he got his PSI back, assuring them that it would fix any potential problems.
In the meantime, Ninten, Lloyd, and Giygas had to work together to figure out the systems of the ship. Luckily the radio still worked and Ninten was able to call for instructions, which apparently Lloyd had understood perfectly. The ship was automated, so as long as they checked on it from time-to-time they’d be just fine. It hasn’t tried to veer off course yet!
The twins went into the cafeteria, each sitting down with a snack. For Lucas, it was trail mix, and for Claus, it was a ‘military approved’ chocolate bar. As they were eating, Claus pointed up at the wall. “Do you see that?” he asked.
“See what?” Lucas responded, focusing on the spot.
“That! Right there!”
“What?”
“RAH!” Claus exclaimed, grabbing Lucas’ arm and playfully startling his twin.
“AH!” Lucas let out, before laughing. “Hey! What was that for?”
“Got you to smile.” Claus said, taking another bite of his chocolate bar.
“You eat too many sweets.” Lucas commented.
“What?” Claus asked, ready to be angry.
“Yeah. So if you want this one-” Lucas grabbed it “-you have to work for it!”
Lucas got up and started running off with the candy, and Claus gave chase, the two twins laughing just like they did as children. For just a few moments, they could forget everything that had happened in the past three years. In those moments, there was no such thing as a ‘chimera’ or ‘PSI’ or even ‘tragedy’. They were just two kids running around playing like they always did, because there was never a care or problem in their world. Tazmily, Fourside, or a ship in the ocean, none of it mattered, because they were together.
Until those few moments passed.
Lucas stopped suddenly, causing Claus to nearly knock him to the ground. “Lucas?”
“Claus, I need to tell you something. About the night I nearly drowned-”
“Lucas, it’s fine. We’re both already better now. It’s not a big deal.”
“I didn’t fall in.” Lucas admitted. “I jumped.”
“Wh-what?” Claus asked, the smile fading off his face quickly.
“I jumped.” Lucas repeated. “But I’m better now. It caused me to think things through a little clearer. So I don’t plan on doing it again.”
Guiltily, Claus blurted “I’m sorry for being so harsh! I know you want to go back home, and of course I miss mom and dad, I just-”
“It’s okay!” Lucas told him quickly. “Because you’re right.” he pulled Claus into a hug. “I am home. And no matter what happens going forward, we’ll always be home so long as we’re together.”
“We REALLY need to start being more honest with each other again.” Claus said, hugging his brother tightly.
~~~
Ninten held a spoon out in front of him, focusing. Of course, it didn’t budge even a millimeter, but he tried anyway. Just to do SOMETHING. SOME reminder that he was better than humanity. He didn’t need a lot, just… just a reminder who he was. But as he was doing this, he got a reminder of something else instead.
“Galactic Defense Force? Come in, Galactic Defense Force?” the radio Ninten kept with him asked.
“Yes, this is agent Ninten of the Galactic Defense Force.” Ninten responded. “I hear you loud and clear.”
“Oh good, you’re the one I needed to contact.” the person on the radio said. “I came to tell you congratulations! Your wife just called in . You’re officially a father, Ninten! Your baby was born!”
Ninten gasped. “W-without me?” he asked.
“Such is the way of those who put the well-being of the world above their own.” the radio person said. “You may miss moments like these, but in the end, you’re protecting your son’s - and everybody else’s - future. Isn’t that worth it?”
“Thank you for letting me know.” Ninten stated, but he didn’t want to be comforted by a stranger. He switched off the radio for now, wanting to brood in his own emotions without fake optimism.
Unfortunately, that’s when Lloyd came in.
“Hey Ninten!” Lloyd exclaimed, sitting down next to him. “How’s it going?”
Ninten didn’t say a word, his eyes settling on the discarded spoon that had been the most important thing to him only a few moments ago. Lloyd followed his gaze and picked the spoon up. “Trying again at your PSI?”
Ninten remained silent.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think you can just force your way to having it back.” Lloyd mentioned. “Which is for the best, right? It means Ness can’t use it, either.”
“Ness…” Ninten muttered.
“Hey, are you alright?” Lloyd asked.
“Do I seem alright?” Ninten snapped. “I’m on the same level as humans, and I can’t even be that! Because humans are there when their children are born! I promised - I PROMISED I’d be a good dad! I wouldn’t be absent all the time like my father was, or like Ness’ father, but an actual good dad who actually cared! But I-” what was this Ninten was holding back? Tears? No, he couldn’t let himself cry! He couldn’t! “...forget it.” he said quietly.
“Hold on, I think I have an idea.” Lloyd said. “Give me a moment, okay?”
“Sure.” Ninten said emotionlessly.
Lloyd left and returned about ten minutes later, Ninten taking that time to simply sulk. When Lloyd returned, he said “Okay, come with me!”
Ninten really wasn’t feeling up to Lloyd’s antics, but he went with him regardless because he simply wasn’t in the mood to put up a fight. Lloyd led Ninten to where the cafeteria was, but all of the tables had been cleared, and Claus and Lucas were waiting for him in there. On the ground, four pieces of paper had been taped down to form a large diamond shape that spanned across the room.
“What is all of this?” Ninten asked.
Lloyd smirked. “Glad you asked!” he exclaimed. “You have your baseball bat, right?”
“Yeah…?”
“Good, because I found something that’ll serve as a ball.” Lloyd said. “You should get into position.”
“Position?” Ninten asked. “Position for…?”
“Position to be beaten in baseball!” Claus interjected.
Ninten’s eyes widened. “Baseball?”
“You like playing, don’t you?” Lloyd asked. “I mean, I know you do. You just have never really been a ‘team person’.”
That’s a nice way to put it, Ninten thought bitterly, remembering exactly WHY he wasn’t a team person.
“You’ve been so focused on what you CAN’T do lately, you haven’t been focused on what you CAN do!” Lloyd added.
Ninten stared at the set-up that his fellow heroes - no - his FRIENDS put together just for him. And he found himself smiling so widely it was as if the sun had come out.
“I CAN do this.” he found himself saying out loud. “Because…” Because being human doesn't have to be so bad.
“Just so you know,” Claus playfully teased, “we had a game just like this back on the islands, and I was always the first kid to be picked for any team. So I don’t plan on losing.”
“And just so YOU know,” Ninten returned, “I’m a master with a baseball bat. So I don’t plan on losing either.”
“Two teams!” Lloyd declared. “Ninten and I vs. Claus and Lucas! The rocking of the boat is our current hazard and-”
“Current hazard?” Ninten asked.
“I’ve played a baseball video game like once.” Lloyd responded. “Cut me some slack.”
“Okay,” Ninten agreed with a smile. “The rocking boat is our current hazard.”
“And Giygas is our umpire.” Lloyd added.
“What?” Giygas looked up from where he was sitting, practicing scrawling letters on a piece of paper like a kindergartener. “Why I am the one you choose?”
“You’re the only one not playing.” Lloyd said. “Please?”
“I do not know the rules, or what a ‘um-pie-err’ is.” Giygas told him. “But I will watch your fee-ble game if I must.”
“Alright Ninten,” Claus said, “do you want to be first to plate or first pitcher?”
“I’ll pitch.” Ninten said. “Give you two a chance to get SOME points before I take the lead.”
And so the messy game of baseball began, the boys taking position on the shaky ship with small ‘field’. And the competition was fierce! Of course Ninten was the most experienced, having practiced so much as a child with dreams of becoming a professional baseball player, but Claus hadn’t been kidding when he said they had a game much like baseball on Nowhere Islands, so Lucas and Claus were no slouches, either. One would assume that would make Lloyd the worst player, but with his recently enhanced hand-eye coordination as well as knowledge of physics and trajectories, he was actually able to keep up quite well. And the small field size prevented Ninten’s asthma from ever being a problem.
At one point, however, while the numbers were quite tied, Claus hit the ball Ninten threw just right so that it hit through the glass window on the door that lead out into the hallway of the ship.
“The military ship!” Ninten exclaimed. “You just vandalized government property!”
“Guess that’s a home run.” Claus said smugly, before running around all four bases.
“Umpire, can he do that?” Ninten asked.
“How should I know?” Giygas asked. Then he thought about it. “Ac-tual-ly, I think destruction should give an extra point.” He added an extra tally mark to Claus and Lucas’ side of the scoreboard.
“Pork yeah!” Claus exclaimed.
“What?!” Ninten exclaimed. “I can show you destruction!” he said, holding up his baseball like a weapon.
“Umpire, shouldn’t there be a penalty for threatening people?” Claus asked playfully.
“No,” Giygas stated, “actually, Ninten’s team gets a point for that too.”
“Ha!” Ninten exclaimed. “Take that!”
“Uh,” Lucas said sheepishly, “I don’t think we should be encouraging either thing.”
The game continued as a close race, but in the end, Ninten’s team won by a single point. Ninten smirked smugly as the victor, but really, he was just happy everybody had a good time.
Ninten often had a hard time playing team games like this because of the memories of his childhood that still tore away at him like enemies he just couldn’t shake. He had shown up to his little-league team meetings ready to work hard to ‘make it to the big leagues’ someday, oblivious at the time just how impossible that would be for him.
He couldn’t help but notice, even with his childish optimism, the way the other kids kept glancing at him while the whispered amongst each other, so he dared to read their minds, even if it was difficult back then. And when he learned they thought he was holding them back because of his asthma… well, it had crushed that optimism in him forever.
He told his parents he didn’t like baseball anymore, and that he didn’t want to play, despite both facts being so obviously not true. His mom had tried to get him to go back, but without knowing the problem herself she could never truly understand what it was Ninten was going through.
That, after all, was Ninten’s turning point. If humans were going to be so cruel to him, he never wanted to trust them again. Turning up his nose at the mere idea of them, hating them for their deepest thoughts they’d never voice and blaming his own mother for not knowing why he felt the way he did. He pulled away from everyone, thinking them all lower than him, never wanting to show any semblance of weakness for fear of being judged by them. He’d know if they did, after all. Thus was the burden of a mind reader.
But now, on the same level as the others - a human, a psychic turned into a human, and another psychic currently sealed away - suddenly it wasn’t so hard to connect.
This inability to plan and predict the actions of any of those around you, was that what it meant to interact as a human? To be human yourself?
Somehow, Ninten found his smile had faded into something else. A single, warm tear rolled down his face, feeling so foreign on his face.
“Ninten?” Lloyd asked. “Are you…?”
Ninten looked up at Lloyd, his dull eyes meeting the artificial lights of the albino’s fakes. Then Ninten managed a soft smile, looking at his friend without the slightest hint of disdain for quite possibly the first time. Instead, for once, Ninten could recognize the good qualities that made up the human-minded boy, and how, despite everything, despite being surrounded by people who were ‘stronger’ than him in many ways, Lloyd’s heroic mindset never faltered, and he was always so extremely loyal to what he believed in. The friend Ninten never had to wonder for even a second if he could trust or not.
Seemingly noticing Ninten’s sincere look, Lloyd seemed taken-aback. Did he, through some form of non-psychic emotion reading, know what Ninten was thinking? Could he tell the sudden burst of admiration Ninten had for him was present in Ninten’s eyes? Or was it all just coincidence.
Well, even if it was…
“Lloyd… thank you.” Ninten said, smiling. “For showing me what it truly means to be human.”
Lloyd froze, a wide-eyed expression on his face. Then, his expression lit up, a large smile filling his face in the way a support person should always cause naturally. He rushed over, pulling Ninten into a hug. “You’re the coolest Ninten, you know that?” Lloyd said softly. “Psychic or otherwise.”
“You too.” Ninten responded sincerely.
“Awww!” Lucas exclaimed, watching this happily.
“You’re such a sap!” Claus told him, punching him lightly in the shoulder. But he was smiling too.
“Eww.” Giygas stated, sticking out his weird alien tongue in disgust.
All of a sudden, the uneasiness between the members of the group had all but melted away. No more secrets, no more hierarchies, no more anything but friends in even the worst of times. And isn’t that what a group of ‘heroes’ is meant to be, deep down? Friends who could trust the others with their lives all fighting together for the same goal? By that very definition, the four human boys at the very least had graduated from ‘heroes’ by default to… heroes. Plain and simple.
As for Giygas, well, that two-way deep-rooted trust wasn’t really present, but even Lloyd had stopped watching his back around the love-hating alien. For the most part, anyway.
But every good moment has to pass, and suddenly the kids all heard a loud crashing sound that shook and then stopped the boat.
Lloyd gasped. “Did we go off course?” he asked rhetorically, before running towards the control area. Claus and Lucas were quick to follow, then Ninten in the back having had to take the time to snatch up Giygas.
The heroes arrived, and what had happened was clear. The ship had run into a small, nearly insignificant island, yet it was JUST significant enough to cause a BIG problem with the speed they were going at.
“What?” Lloyd exclaimed. “No no no no no no no, this can’t be happening!”
With wide eyes, Ninten asked “What are we going to do? Is the ship going to sink?”
“I don’t know!” Lloyd quickly responded. “Uh, uh…”
“The hull has been severely damaged.” Claus said monotonely, an expression on his face that made it clear he wasn’t really present in the moment. “A large opening has been created within the ship that is allowing water into the lower decks. Estimated time remaining before the ship is completely submerged: approximately one hour.”
“What?” Ninten asked, horrified.
“Oh my dragon…” Lucas murmured, his hand over his mouth.
After only a moment, Lloyd exclaimed “Lifeboats! They showed us where they are, remember?”
“Right!” Ninten agreed. “Claus, are we safe to go gather our belongings?”
“Laws of physics state that the side of the boat that has been breached, in this case, the front, will sink first, causing the other side to raise temporarily. Your belongings are located towards the back of the boat. Therefore, you are safer on the back of the boat than the front. Please try to relocate yourselves as soon as possible for maximum chances of survival.” Claus blinked a few times, and shook his head. “In layman’s terms,” Claus said in his usual tone, “let’s go!”
“Sounds good to me!” Ninten agreed, now taking off for their quarters, the others following.
“I don’t want to go back in the ocean.” Lucas told Claus, clinging to him even as they ran.
“You won’t.” Claus told him. “We have an hour and military-grade lifeboats. We’ll be just fine.”
“Those lifeboat things looked really small. Will they even stand up to this weather?”
“They will.” Claus promised. “Let’s just focus on getting to them, okay?”
Lucas managed a nod, and all of the boys began packing their things rapidly, not wanting to leave anything that could potentially be important behind but also not wanting to risk wasting a precious second unnecessarily. Why had they taken EVERYTHING out of their bags?
Claus packed his father’s hat away, knowing better to risk it in the wind. After all, despite being so far from Eagleland, the terrible weather hadn’t vanished. While the wind had lightened slightly and the temperature had risen, it was still pouring rain quite heavily.
“Lucas, you’re the best runner, go fill this bag with as many MREs as you can.” Ninten instructed, handing Lucas a bag.
Lucas gave one more nervous look in Claus’ direction before complying, taking off as fast as he could.
It had only been about ten minutes since the impact, and yet the ship was already quite tilted. Lucas was running downhill to get to the cafeteria, and it occurred to him that if the ship titled too much it would make returning to his brother quite difficult. Still, he had to be brave, and entered the cafeteria.
As Lucas ran he nearly slipped on a piece of paper still taped to the ground from the baseball game. He paid it no mind now as he entered the kitchen area and started tossing the brown plastic packages in his bag as fast as possible. As soon as Lucas had been feeling better from his hypothermia he had been cooking meals for everyone, so these had gone mostly unused. Which was lucky now.
The bag Ninten had given Lucas didn’t actually seal since it was just a tote bag Ninten had wanted to keep as a souvenir, so Lucas grabbed a tarp kept in the more storage-y part of the kitchen and threw it overtop of the food. Then he began running back to the bedroom, though he was certain now the uphill climb was steeper than the downhill one from before. Still manageable, at least.
“Got them.” he said as he returned, happy to be back near his twin.
“I finished packing your things.” Claus told him seriously, passing Lucas his bag. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah.” Lucas said with a nod, not feeling ready at all.
“Me too.” Ninten added.
“Me three.” Lloyd pitched in.
“I had nothing to pack.” Giygas helpfully added.
“Right then.” Ninten said, taking charge. “Then let’s go to the lifeboats.”
To get to the lifeboats, the Warriors of the Universe had to go out on the deck and experience what it was they were going to be in for during the rest of the ride to Summers. The awful, unrelenting rain.
Immediately, Claus began screaming, holding his arms above his head to try to protect himself.
“Hey, it’s okay.” Lucas soothed. “You’re waterproof now.”
Claus opened his scrunched-shut eyes. “...Right.” he responded a little awkwardly, putting his arms back down. “I’d better get over my fear of water pretty quickly.”
“Now’s not really a good time for chatter.” Ninten interrupted. “Lloyd, do you know how to get the lifeboat down?”
“Yeah.” Lloyd nodded. “They showed me on the first day. It’s-AH!”
The shifting of the boat had caused Lloyd to lose his footing, sliding down towards the other side of the deck. Seeing this, the others immediately grabbed onto the slippery rail.
“Are you okay?” Lucas shouted.
“Yeah!” Lloyd responded, carefully using the rail to climb back up.
Claus paused for a moment, staring off into space. “It seems my previous estimate was too generous. There is approximately fifteen minutes remaining before the lifeboats will no longer be accessible to us.”
“Great.” Lloyd said sarcastically as he made his way back up. “Good thing we’ll be out of here in plenty of time!”
Lloyd pushed his bags into Ninten’s hands, who was only otherwise wearing the backpack that contained Giygas. He then used the rail to help him get to where the lifeboats were and started working the mechanism that released them.
Lucas looked nervously out at the ocean. Thankfully, if they had hit an island, the water had to be at least somewhat shallow right here, but they’d be getting to a much deeper part of it soon. On a small little lifeboat. In a storm.
Lucas gripped his brother’s arm tighter.
“Alright everyone, get in!” Lloyd instructed the rest. “And hurry! The boat is going to have a hard time getting into the water as it is.”
The kids scrambled over to the little lifeboat that looked so, so flimsy compared the the big military ship they had now. Still, they had no choice but to get in it, despite it’s constant shaking in the wind.
Once the others were in with their bags, Lloyd got in last and began to use the lowering system to drop the ship into the water. The lowering was terrifying, of course, but what was much worse was when Lloyd had to disconnect the lifeboat from the main one. Now, they couldn’t get back on if they wanted to.
The rain continued to pour as Lloyd started up the motor on the thankfully motorized lifeboat, though they just had to just head off in the direction the bigger boat was headed in and hope they were still on the right track.
“Claus, can you scan for Summers?” Lloyd asked.
“What do I look like, a GPS?” Claus responded. “Of course I can’t. My range is WAY too limited for that.”
“Do humans not use the stars to na-vi-gate?” Giygas asked.
“Usually, I think.” Ninten responded. “I’m pretty sure Pippi said something about that before. She spent the first nine years of her life living on a boat, and we couldn’t even last a week.” Ninten said almost jokingly, but it was clear he was just trying to make light of the situation. “But look up. There’s no way the stars are going to shine through all of that.”
Giygas’ eyes went up to the sky heavy with clouds. “I suppose not.”
“I hope the sun shines again soon.” Lucas lamented, looking back towards the large boat they were just on. Now, the nose was underwater and the tip was so high up it almost looked vertical. They were just on that ship a couple minutes ago, and now…
“That way.” Lucas said, pointing. “I think… that’s the direction we need to go.”
“Huh?” Lloyd asked. “That’s not the direction we WERE going…”
“But we must’ve gone off course.” Lucas said with some certainty. “After all, there was an island in our way, and there wasn’t supposed to be. The storm must’ve gotten the ship off course, but I KNOW that’s the way we need to go. I can feel it… in my heart.”
Claus looked at Lucas with some concern. “Are you sure you aren’t just finding the Nowhere Islands?”
Lucas paused for a moment. Finally, with certainty, he said “I’m not. I know we need to go to Summers to save everyone. That’s… that’s what I WANT to do. So, we need to go that way.”
Lloyd looked at Lucas with doubt. “PSI is one thing, but knowing where you need to go solely because your ‘heart’ says it’s right…”
“But I know it’s true!” Lucas protested.
“Without PSI?” Ninten countered.
“If he says it’s the right way, it’s the right way.” Claus argued. “The heart of a Tazmilian is a powerful thing. So if a villager who means well wants to find something, surely their heart would draw them towards it.”
“But he doesn’t have PSI.” Ninten reiterated. “So how could his ‘heart’ tell him anything?”
“Like I said, he’s from Tazmily!” Claus snapped. “And anyway, do you have anything better? The fact of the matter is, the island wasn’t ‘on-course’ to Summers, so it’s either take Lucas’ advice or shut your eyes and pick a random direction at this point.”
“I guess you’re right…” Lloyd admitted. “Despite everything I’ve seen, this still feels like a stretch, but…” he sighed. “What choice do we have?” he then turned to Lucas. “Alright, which direction?”
“That way.” Lucas said with certainty once again, and Lloyd changed the direction of the boat.
“There’s no way of knowing if he’s right or not for a while.” Ninten commented. “So I guess all we can do now is wait… in the freezing cold pouring rain.”
“Wait, I brought a tarp!” Lucas exclaimed, pulling the tarp off of the MRE bag. “We can all go under this!”
“Lucas, that was brilliant!” Lloyd complimented.
“Thank pork.” Claus added.
“Someone will have to peek out from time to time to make sure we’re not going to run into anything.” Lloyd warned. “But other than that, the tarp’ll be great!”
Lucas unfurled the tarp and spread it out. The boat was quite crowded and everyone was freezing and wet, but at least they were safe from the rain and wind.
“Now that we have a moment, I’d like to make an announcement.” Ninten declared, a bit more comfortable talking about this now.
“What is it?” the others asked.
Ninten smiled widely. “As of today, I’m officially a father.”
Lucas gasped. “Congratulations, Ninten!”
“Wow, really?” Claus asked. “Awesome!”
“I figured that’s what you were getting at earlier.” Lloyd said. “I’m happy for you, Ninten, and I’m sure Ana’s thrilled. I’m looking forward to meeting your new child. Ness, I assume?”
“Yeah.” Ninten nodded. “I’m pretty sure the Ness from this time was born in Summer, but because of the weird time travel situation, this Ness is a Fall baby, I guess. What day is it, anyway?”
Claus thought for a moment. “November 29th.” he told Ninten.
“November 29th?” Lloyd asked. “That’s it?”
“Yeah.” Claus nodded. “It hasn’t even been a month since…” Claus trailed off, not finishing his sentence, but both Lloyd and Lucas knew what he was going to say.
Halloween.
Ninten smiled, however. “Just a few days after your birthday, huh, Lloyd?”
“Oh yeah.” Lloyd responded. “Guess… guess we didn’t notice with everything going on…”
“Wait, we missed your birthday?” Lucas asked.
“I was born on November 24th - Thanksgiving Day that year.” Lloyd explained. “Which is pretty funny, since I was born in the TOWN of Thanksgiving.”
“Well, happy late birthday.” Lucas said, seeming sad. “I wish I had known.”
“It’s okay.” Lloyd responded. “We’re kind of a little busy saving the world at the moment.”
“Well,” Ninten joked, “Ness is going to have the same annoyance as you, Lloyd. A birthday so close to Christmas.”
Lloyd laughed. “Yeah. Guess he is.”
“I can’t wait to meet him…” Ninten said, somewhat lost in thought. “I hope Ana’s doing okay without me.”
Little did Ninten know, on the ship he had just recently fled that was now completely submerged underwater, a deactivated government radio was shorting out. With the sunken ship and loss of contact with the children, the government would soon decide that there was no way the four children had survived.
Ana would soon be informed that her husband and father to her child didn’t make it.