For the first time since the Monsters had found him, Lucas dreamed.
During the first few moments, he was in the dark, completely alone. It wasn't hot, but it wasn't cold either, and he couldn't feel the ground underneath him. It was like he was floating in the middle of space. But the strangest thing was that despite these odd circumstances, Lucas wasn't scared or anxious. It just didn't occur to him to feel that way. Moreover, there was something familiar about this darkness…
Without warning, Lucas started moving, flying through the darkness. He couldn't see this change of course since Lucas couldn't even see his hand in front of his face, but he could feel the wind rushing past him as he soared through the blinding blackness. Despite the sudden change, he still couldn't find it in him to be afraid. The only thing in his mind was "Where am I going…?"
Suddenly, a golden speck appeared in the distance, like a star being born in the night sky. The speck got brighter as Lucas flew closer to it and wiped away the darkness. Eventually, the light erased the darkness and swallowed Lucas in its glow, forcing him to shut his eyes so he wouldn't be blinded. Even so, the light was so bright that even when he closed his eyes, Lucas saw gold.
"Lucas…" a voice echoed in Lucas's ears. It sounded like… a woman. "Make us proud."
Just as quickly as the light appeared, it vanished. Suddenly, the air became warmer, though not hot, and Lucas's feet hit solid ground again. Wondering what had happened to the light, Lucas opened his eyes.
Lucas was standing on a green hill on a high cliff side overlooking the ocean. In the distance, the sun was rising, its red light sparkling in the waves below. It was beautiful. Like nothing, he had ever seen before. In the back of Lucas's mind, he knew that he probably shouldn't have been so entranced, but he couldn't help it. It felt like it was the first time he had ever seen a sunrise like this…
"Wow!" a voice next to him rang out. "It's so pretty!"
Lucas turned his head to look at the source of the voice. It was… a boy…? It was almost certainly a human male, and judging from the fact that he was the same size as Lucas, he had to be a child. But for some reason, he couldn't make out his face. He could see other things about him. For one, his hair was as red as the setting sun they were watching, and like Lucas, he was wearing a striped shirt and shorts. Unlike Lucas's shirt though, which was red and yellow, his stripes were blue and yellow, and his shorts were a reddish-brown. He could also tell that the boy was smiling, but other than that, Lucas couldn't make out the boy's features. His face like a blank mask that revealed the mouth, but nothing else.
"Boys!" another voice called. "It's time for breakfast!"
The red-headed boy shot up to his feet, bouncing excitedly. "Oh, boy! Omelets!" With that, the boy ran off.
Lucas got up as well, nearly tripping himself over to do so. By the time he was on his feet, the red-headed boy had already run into the patio of a wooden house. In the standing by the door was a… woman? The figure had long brown hair and was wearing a red dress that went to her ankles, but much like with the boy, Lucas couldn't see her entire face. Just a smile that made his heart melt. Why did he feel that way…?
"Are you coming, Lucas?" the boy shouted from the patio. "I'll eat your omelets if you aren't!"
Immediately, an inexplicable craving for omelets hit Lucas, and he dashed towards the two faceless figures. However, as he got closer to the two figures, a golden light flashed before his eyes, blinding Lucas once again. After a moment, his vision cleared, and the scenery around him changed once again.
The ocean and the cliff had disappeared. Instead, Lucas was standing in the middle of a field, where sunflowers bloomed in the afternoon sun. Their petals danced as the wind blew, creating a rippling of gold throughout the field.
Despite having been running after the two faceless figures seconds ago, Lucas found himself running his hands through the stems of the flowers, trying to see which one would the best for…
"I found one!" Lucas cried, picking one that he decided he liked.
"Oh!" the faceless woman's voice cooed. Lucas heard the rustling of flowers, and he turned to face the woman walking to him. The woman gripped the flower from Lucas's hand and brought it level to her eyes, inspecting it intently. Then, the woman took a deep breath her nose, smelling the sunflower, and then smiled at Lucas. "It's beautiful, Lucas. Thank you."
"Sunflowers are your favorite… right?" Lucas asked.
"Yes." The woman replied, leaning down to kiss Lucas on the forehead. "They are." Lucas's felt his cheeks get a little hot at the woman's actions, but he didn't mind that much. After all, this woman was happy, and that was what mattered…
"Come." The woman said, turning her back and looking at Lucas from over her shoulder. "Let's go home." At this, the woman started walking away. "In a distant town… As the dark grows deep…." she sang.
Lucas started to follow the woman, but the moment he did, the golden light flashed before Lucas's eyes once again.
This time, the surroundings didn't change at all. Lucas was still in the sunflower field, but now he was running through it. In front of him was the red-headed boy from the cliff, and he was running too, with an ear-to-ear grin on his face.
"Come on, Lucas!" the red-headed boy laughed as he turned his head to face Lucas, who was struggling to chase him down. "If you don't keep up, I'll leave you behind!"
Lucas couldn't respond. He was too busy struggling to run at this boy's rigorous pace to form a coherent reply. All he managed was a grunt of frustration. Why did this boy have to be so much better than him? Why did that boy have to be so strong?
Why couldn't Lucas be more like him…?
The red-haired boy laughed again, before turning around suddenly and stopping in his tracks. Lucas only had enough time to gasp before the boy tackled him to the ground, knocking them both into the sunflowers. The red-haired boy kept laughing as he and Lucas rolled around in the golden flowers, each one of the boys trying to get on top of the other. Lucas knew he couldn't beat the boy since he was much stronger than him. Still, he certainly didn't to mean anything mean by playing with Lucas like this, and the other boy was having too much fun that Lucas couldn't help but laugh along with the boy. Lucas didn't like losing, but against this boy, maybe it wasn't so bad…
"Unfamiliar words resound… whispered and weak…" a woman's voice sang.
There was another flash of light. Now Lucas was in a canoe with that same boy. They were carrying fishing poles, and the red-headed boy had just caught a fish. Lucas was disappointed that he hadn't caught the first one, but he didn't mind too much. As long he was able to catch one…
Unfortunately, Lucas's thoughts were interrupted as something tugged on his line so forcefully that he nearly fell off the canoe. The other boy wrapped his arms around Lucas, and together they pulled, trying to overpower the thing that was trying to pull Lucas under…
"Let me heal the pain… Drive away despair …"
The scene changed again. Thunder boomed, and lightning flashed from the outside, and despite being inside, Lucas was scared. He was hiding under his blankets, shivering and crying because there wasn't anyone where with him. Or so he thought until the faceless woman grabbed his sheets and revealed his face to her. She looked down at him, concerned. She asked what was wrong, but Lucas only responded by jumping into the woman's chest, sniffling. The woman jumped back in surprise but quickly wrapped her arms around him, rocking him back and forth…
"Lead this child who's lost his way… Help him prepare…"
On and on, the scenes played out like this. There would be a flash of golden light, and Lucas would be somewhere else, doing something else. He was reading, climbing trees, running... The only constants in these scenes were the two faceless people from before. No matter what he was doing, either one or both of them would be by Lucas's side. They would walk with him, play with him, laugh with him… All of these joyful scenes shifted and played before Lucas, like a kaleidoscope of happiness and love…. It was strange… but Lucas couldn't help but feel warm deep inside. These two stayed with him, despite how much he cried or how much he needed their help. No matter how many times he saw them, Lucas kept wanting to see them again…
"While apart… Understand… I will live my life for you wherever I am."
Lucas and the two faceless people were sitting around a wooden table. There was another man there, and he made a joke that Lucas couldn't hear. The other boy laughed, and Lucas blushed, embarrassed. The woman chuckled a bit before getting up from her seat and walking out the door. The man and the faceless boy kept talking, until suddenly, the woman barged back in the door, panicked. Lucas and the other people on the table were confused, and they were about to ask her questions when a strange humming echoed from outside, followed by… the blaring of horns?
"It's my greatest wish… To provide for you… Tender moments, sweetest dreams… Love, warm and true…"
This time, instead of a golden light flashing and blinding Lucas, the darkness he experienced at the beginning swallowed him up again. A chill ran up Lucas's back, and he shuddered. What were sounds back there? Why was the darkness back again? What was happening?
Without warning, Lucas's vision cleared. Lucas barely had enough time to see the faceless woman rushing to him. Lucas heard her cry, "Go! Get away from here!" before she pushed him away surprising strength and urgency. Lucas cried out in his panic over hitting the ground. But instead of hitting solid ground, he was submerged in a river. Lucas tried to scream, but the current pushed him away and forced water into his mouth. By the time he was able to get to the surface, he had already been carried far away from the faceless woman. He reached out his hand in the woman's direction, trying in vain to grab her as a huge shadowy thing loomed over her as she turned to face it…
At this point, another kaleidoscope of scenes flashed before Lucas's eyes. But these events were nothing like the ones from before. The faceless boy and the faceless woman were nowhere to be found, and Lucas wasn't playing or doing anything fun. Instead of things that made him happy, he saw…. Awful things…. Horrifying things... Things that made him want to scream and cry and laugh because of how terrible they were. Every event flashed before Lucas's eyes and burned into his mind so quickly that he barely had time to comprehend it, but the damage was still done…
Lucas saw beings in strange white masks, spewing fire from black tubes, squealing like pigs and laughing all the while. He saw monsters. Not the friendly welcoming Monsters that had welcomed him with open arms and open hearts, but twisted, horrifying perversions of nature. Cows with the heads and long necks of snakes. Giant spiders with horse heads in the middle and eight horse legs. Dogs that had mushrooms sprouting from their heads and tails. And a dragon-like thing that was more teeth that flesh. And many other things that he was far too horrified to comprehend. And all of these abominations were screaming, growling, screeching at Lucas, lunging at him, biting at him, trying to tear out his throat, bite off his head, poison him, maim him, do whatever they could make him hurt.
Lucas saw people running, trying to get away from a fire. Lucas saw himself standing near someone, watching in terror as some man swung something in his hands wildly, hitting anyone who came near.
"It was pierced through your wife's heart…" Someone Lucas couldn't see said.
Lucas saw himself crying over a gravestone. For some reason, he couldn't remember whose it was…
"Go ahead! Cry, Lucas! That's all you've ever been good for!" someone said.
Lucas saw a man in a turban talking to some people. The man was giving them… silver boxes? What? Then, people were pushing him towards the man, insisting he get one too, and when he refused, they yelled at him.
"Come on, you crybaby! Take it! It'll make you happy again! Don't you want to be happy?"
The scenes changed again. Lucas was walking again, but it wasn't for play. He had a place in mind. He was going somewhere to do something, and he was determined to do it. Once again, Lucas wasn't alone. To his right, he saw Kumatora, who had a fierce glare on her face and her hands clenched into fists. To his left was a man that Lucas didn't recognize. He was dressed in a blue shirt, brown pants, and he was much taller than both Lucas and Kumatora…
"Let's find that Egg!" Kumatora said.
More images flashed before Lucas's eyes. He saw the other man, Kumatora, and himself climbing mountains, fighting those horrible monsters and the masked men from before, running from some people in shadow that were chasing and yelling at them…
"Everyone's waiting for you, Lucas." A voice whispered. "Waiting to throw rocks at you, and spit on you, and make your life Hell. Who's everyone? Everyone you love…"
"The boy named Lucas is crying at a grave." Another voice said accusingly, as the images continued to show Lucas and his strange companions being chased by the shadows.
"The boy named Lucas and his dog are loitering the forest." The voice said again, louder this time. "The boy named Lucas stole nuts from our garden!" the voice was shouting now. "THE BOY NAMED LUCAS IS BULLYING ANIMALS! THE BOY NAMED LUCAS LEARNED SOME BAD MAGIC!"
Lucas slammed his hands to his ears and shut his eyes, trying to block out the voices screaming at him, but they still surrounded him, clamoring in his mind. "A BOY NAMED LUCAS! A BOY NAMED LUCAS! A BOY NAMED LUCAS!"
"Please stop!" Lucas screamed desperately. To his surprise, the voices became quieter, but they didn't stop entirely. Lucas opened his eyes, gasping for breath as he watched the images continue to play. Now, Lucas, Kumatora, and the other man were on top of some building. There was a large object being suspended in the air. It seemed to be a metal and glass box of a sort, and something inside it was talking to them.
"How stupid can you be?!" it demanded. "No matter how much you change the rules, no matter how much you refuse to admit defeat, in the end, the creatures known as 'people' will always sign their own death warrant by acting out of stupidity and evil. And then..."
The scene changed again. This time, Lucas was fighting something in that strange mechanical box with a stick. The thing in the box laughed as Lucas hit it the glass with his stick, but only managed to make a tiny crack. Then, the thing in the box knocked said something to Lucas that made his blood boil. Lucas screamed, charging at the box, gathering all his magical power into his hands to launch at this… thing…
Before he could, the thing disappeared, and Lucas stopped in his tracks. Now, he was facing a human, around the same size as Lucas himself, dressed in black clothes and a silver helmet the covered his eyes. His right arm looked like it was a stub, but in his left hand, he carried a golden sword that surged with energy. Before Lucas could react, the man in the helmet flourished his blade and charged at Lucas.
All Lucas could do was block and dodge the man's strikes. He wanted to cry. He didn't want to fight this man! Why? Why did they have to fight? Why were they fighting? They couldn't!
Please…" a voice begged. "Stop this… You and Lucas are…"
Lucas's vision blurred, and by the net moment, the man in the helmet stopped trying to fight him. The man looked around as if looking for something. Then, he dropped his swords and took his helmet off…
At this very second, there was an explosion of light, and Lucas screamed. The next thing he knew, the man in the helmet was on the ground, completely limp, and Lucas was cradling him in his arms, tears in his eyes. The man looked at Lucas and, despite the pain, he smiled.
"I'm sorry it turned out like this…" he said, gripping Lucas's wrist. "I'm really happy you could be there with me just before the end…" The man in the helmet took one last breath before his hand fell to the ground.
Lucas screamed. He cried his heart out, sobbing over the man in his arms. Lucas stayed like this for a few minutes, before he gave one final sob and took a deep breath. Gently, Lucas laid the man in the helmet on the ground and turned away to face something very bright in the distance. As Lucas walked towards the light, it flashed, blinding him once again.
"We all believe in you." A voice said. "So now you need to believe in yourself. Now go."
Lucas reached down and grabbed something. As he did so, another voice echoed in his mind. "Your life, and the lives of all who believe in you… Will you put it all on the line…?"
Lucas hesitated for a moment, and then he was filled with determination. "Yes" he answered, and with that, he gave whatever he had grabbed a forceful tug.
Something was pulled from the ground, and loud boom filled Lucas's ears, knocking in the inside of his skull with such intensity he thought it would shatter his brian. But just as soon as it began, the booming stopped.
"I am thou." a deep, rumbling voice called to Lucas. "Thou art I. O' thou golden soul who braved unimaginable sorrow and summoned me deep from the Earth…. Thy wish is my command…"
The light faded. Now, Lucas was in standing in a dark cavern. The only source of light came from the beams of sunlight that shone through an opening in the ceiling high above. The light illuminated in a circle on the floor of the cavern, where golden flowers grew in abundance. At first, Lucas was tempted to all them sunflowers, but they were much shorter in height, and their petals were different. Were they… buttercups?
Lucas bent down to pick one, but his heart nearly stopped when he did so. His hand… that wasn't his hand! His hand wasn't supposed to have white fur on it! What…?
Unlike before, Lucas's body didn't react to his surprise. The furred hand brought it the flower up to his face, and he sniffed it, breathing in its scent. Wait… why was his face so long? Did he have a snout? He dropped the flower, and his new body looked down for a moment. He was wearing a green and yellow long sleeved shirt and black jeans. It wasn't that different from what he usually wore, but he felt the clothes pressing against fur… What was going on?! What was this?
A thump came from the middle of the circle of buttercups, and his body looked towards the source. A person had fallen into the cavern, and Lucas's new body ran towards it with a cry. He turned the person over. It was a girl. Her clothing was in tatters, and it just barely covered up her body. And her face… her hair… it looked just like….
The girl groaned, her eyes fluttering open. Lucas, in his new body, asked who she was if she was okay. The girl didn't answer, and she was too weak to move on her own. Lucas had her lean on his shoulder as he carried her further into the cave, where the darkness engulfed them.
"You'll take care of them, won't you Lucas?" a child's voice asked.
"But…" Lucas felt himself reply. "What if they don't like me?"
The child laughed. "Are you kidding? They're going to love you! Especially Dad. You're a lot like him…"
"If you say so…" Lucas replied, unsure.
"Just… take care of yourself too, will you?" the voice said, sounding sad.
"Why do you sound like you're saying goodbye?" Lucas asked. "You're coming with me. And when we get to the other side, we'll find them. And I promise we'll fix both our mistakes. We'll atone for our sins… Together…"
The child sobbed, crying for a bit before saying "Lucas…. Thank you…."
"Just promise me one thing."
"What is it?"
"No crying until the end… okay, Asriel?"
Lucas felt something warm and furry wrap its arms around him and nuzzle his shoulder. "As long as you stay determined…"
….
Lucas woke with a start, tears running down his face. He sobbed, overwhelmed with grief, sadness, and confusion. What was all that? What did it mean? Was he going insane? Or was it…?
Lucas took a few deep breaths, giving a few more choked sobs before his breathing stabilized. He looked over his bedside. Thankfully, Kumatora was still snoring in her bed. Somehow, he hadn't woken her up in his vivid dreams.
Lucas sighed in relief and laid back down. He pressed the back of his hand to his forehead as he stared up at the ceiling, gathering his thoughts.
Those things he saw in his dream… Just were they? Was he finally regaining some of his memory? All things considered, that seemed to be the most likely possibility. Nearly everything he saw had been so strange, but so familiar…
But then what was with the visons at the end of the dream? He didn't just dream about himself… he was in someone's body! And judging from the fur that he had had, he was in a Monster's body! Why? Lucas wasn't a Monster! So why would his memories include something like that? And that girl… she looked just like Frisk! Who was she?
Lucas sighed again. No matter how much he thought of it, the dream just didn't make sense. Still, it meant something. Lucas was sure of it. He didn't know what yet, but he was going to find out. Someday…
As long as you stay determined…