A/N: I swear this isn't zerocest spam
maybe
*shot*
Yeah I just thought of this headcanon and came up with this story. Yeah. Pretty much. Just a few notes:
-Evan was 12 during his adventures with the heroes against the Black Mage, but is 13 now.
-Luminous is the Transcendent of Light because the Black Mage is gone
-Yeah thats it for now. I'll add more notes and stuff later.
Disclaimer: I don't own Maplestory.
Oh yeah, this story isn't in Luminous's POV, obviously. I guess the prologue is (Is this even a prologue?), but it changes later in the story.
'There is no such thing as a world in peace. There is always chaos waiting to strike at any second.'
One year later, Luminous woke up to those words. It surprised him at first, to remember something like that after a year of forgetting.
But no one would forget.
It's been a year since the fall of the Black Wings, the commanders, and the Black Mage himself. It's been a year since Luminous and the other heroes has been called and praised as the true saviors of Maple World. It's been a year since Luminous was truly announced as the Transcendent of Light. Ever since that day, the Empress Cygnus named that day the true new year of Maple World: The festival of peace.
Which is why Luminous was up so early.
"Come on, come on!" He first heard the childish voice of his "adopted daughter (according to everyone who visited)", Lania. Though the girl has passed her young ages and grown into a teenager, she still had the personality of a 5 year old. The blonde girl ignored the mumbles of Luminous and grabbed the covers, pulling it off the bed. "Off! Come on! You're a hero!" She said. The white-haired man grumbled, but sat up before the girl would jump on him or come up with wilder ways to wake him up. The girl was already dressed; her outfit consisted of the usual red fabric, slightly similar to Little Red Riding Hood's attire. She smiled widely, and Luminous found that hard to resist. After all, this was the first festival she has ever gone to, of course she'd be excited. Not only was it her first, but it was also HIS first as well; in this century, he had been so focused on to defeating Maple World's cursed enemy, that he had forgot what it felt like to enjoy himself in daily events.
"My my, Lumi don't you look like a mess." He heard a familiar voice in the back. Behind the door came out the blonde master thief with his confident smirk. It took a moment to process what was going on, and when Luminou did, he frowned, turning to Lania.
"You let him in." He said. Lania nodded excitedly.
"I let everyone in!" She said. His face turned slightly pale when the words escaped her lips. Oh no. As soon as that crossed his mind, Luminous jumped off his bed, ignoring Phantom's snickers when he rushed to the dresser to whip out some fresh clothes - he needed to be presentable, at least, save his dignity for later - and ran to the bathroom. Lania let out a cheer in her mini victory of waking him up as Phantom tried to refrained himself from laughing.
"Do you need help there, Sunshine?" Phantom called. Luminous groaned in irritation.
"From a petty thief like you?!" Luminous spat back. He froze when he heard the sound of the door creaking open, and several voices muffled behind the walls. They're here.
As soon as Luminous managed to throw on his clothes, he opened the door to have everyone taking a seat in the room, socializing with each other. In his lounge, there was a dark skinned woman with a large polearm, an elven queen, a boy with a large dragon, and that blasted thief; all looking at him expectantly. Though he was annoyed, a warm, calm feeling grew inside of him when he saw them all together. It has been a while since he has seen most of them. For the year, Luminous has been living with Lania, and hasn't been out traveling the world like he use to. So during that time, he had felt very distant towards the other heroes. Looking at heroes, he noticed not much changed. Evan still had the same young baby fat face, but seemed to grow a bit in height. Mercedes still looked the same, but instead of wearing her usual armor, she was wearing a silky white dress that reached to her knees, with her hair tied up in a bun. Aran's eyes no longer looked so lost, for her memories has returned and she looked more confident than when she stepped into Maple World after centuries in slumber. And then there was Phantom, who still had the same smug smile as he always kept when they were traveling. All-in-all they all looked the same to him.
Like family.
"L-Luminous!" Evan called out. He was the first to notice the man. As surprising as it seems, while every took the time to visit Luminous and Lania, Evan was the one to visit the least. Evan had been living under the title of "Freud's successor". As Evan walked closer, Luminous noticed faint dark circles under his eyes - evidence of him studying for a long time. Luminous almost laughed at how ironic it was. "It's been a while!" He said. Luminous nodded.
"Yes, it has." He said. Evan stopped in front of Luminous, unsure if he was suppose to hug the man, or just smile. Fearing on what would happen if he hugged him, Evan just smiled at the man. Phantom scoffed from where he was standing.
"Is that what you're going to wear?" He asked. Luminous glared at him.
"I could say the same to you." He spat back. "At least have the decency to wear something new for a change." Mercedes rolled her eyes.
"One year later and still fighting." She murmured. Aran shrugged.
"It wouldn't be the same if they didn't fight." That's when the tall woman walked over to the light mage, placing her hand on his shoulder. "It's great to see you again, Luminous." She said with a sincere smile. Luminous couldn't help but smile back. The long silence was suddenly disturbed with Lania clapping her hands together.
"Luminous, we're going to be late! Let's go!" She squealed, pulling his arm. Luminous chuckled lightly as the blonde girl latched on to him, as she lead him out the door. The rest of the heroes soon followed after.
The festival was overly done. The group was welcomed with cheers and music as soon as they stepped on the island- which was expected, they were the heroes after all. Lania seemed to be the only one who had an initial reaction towards the crowd. Looking below from the airship, she tugged Luminous's sleeve.
"Look! They are all here for you!" She said. Luminous gave her a small smile and nodded. Phantom, on the other hand, seemed to push Luminous aside and stood on the ledge of the ship, spreading his arms.
"Hello my people!" Phantom called out. A roar of screams and cheers responded back to him. The blonde master thief chuckled at the crowd under and turned to face the heroes behind him. "What can I say? Everyone loves me." Luminous rolled his eyes at him and glanced at the others.
"We dont have much time to explore around. We must meet with the empress." He said. Evan frowned in disappointment.
"We at least need a chance to relax and look around." He complained. "Besides… this is the first festival I've ever been to…" He murmured the last part to himself, but Lania caught it.
"Yeah, Lumi. Lets just look around." Luminous faced the others for confirmation. While he wasn't the social type of person, he would go to the festival if they all favored the idea.
"I'm all for it." Mercedes said. "I didn't dress up just a meeting." Aran nodded at that.
"Same for me. I'm actually interested on how this would go. It would also be nice to see some old friends." She said. Lania's eyes lit up.
"Uncle Phantom?" She asked, giving the thief an innocent smile. Luminous scoffed, for she was using the 'uncle' persuasion. Ever since Luminous introduced the thief to Lania (to this day, he still regrets it), she has been calling Phantom "uncle", Mercedes and Aran "Auntie" and Evan, well, Evan. She would sometimes sneak a "cousin" or "older brother". Whenever she would call Phantom that, he would give her anything she wanted from him, despite Luminous's protests. Phantom grinned, hopped down from the ledge and ruffled Lania's hair- something he use to do to Evan when they were traveling together.
"Of course I would like to see." He said. He then faced Luminous. "Care to join us, Lumi?"
"Don't call me that"
"I'm assuming thats a yes."
Luminous grumbled a bit before nodding. Lania and Evan cheered in success and took no second to run off the ship as soon as it's doors opened.
After an hour of exploring, Luminous prayed on the thought of the group having enough of the festival. But of course, they were just getting started. In the festival, they ran into some old friends, some in which stayed with them for a bit before running off for some mini games (it was the Resistance, and he'd rather not get in the middle of Luka's ideas of fun). Luminous watched as the group gather to watch a mini play. He stared at the group, noticing how happy they all look. When was the last time he's seen them smile like this. Just as he was being consumed by his thoughts, he felt someone lightly tap him shoulders from behind. Luminous turned around, to see two familiar blondes.
"Alpha… Beta?" Luminous said allowed. The two said transcendents smiled at the same time.
"Hello Luminous." Beta said, shaking the light transcendent's hand.
"It's been a while." Alpha added. Luminous nodded.
"I assume you two have been doing well? Luminous asked. He took the time to look at the both of them. The twins were out of their normal warriors outfit they've received from Mirror World. Beta, who usually had her hair tied up, let her hair down as she wore a simple crimson colored dress. Alpha wore similar clothing to what he usually had on. But without the fancy gimmicks and designs. It was casual, yet decent.
"I'm surprised you haven't dragged everyone directly to the meeting." Alpha said, with a smug smirk on his face, so much like the face Phantom would usually give him. Luminous shrugged.
"I see no reason as to why I should attempt to do so. They should at least enjoy themselves, and so should I." He said. "Has the meeting started yet?"
"I'm sure it hasn't. Cygnus wouldn't start it without the heroes, of course." Beta said. Luminous couldn't help but notice the girl tensed a bit. Alpha noticed this too, and the two stood near each other in silence. Probably another mental conversation between the two. After a good minute, Alpha lightly elbowed his twin sister.
"Well, we got to go. See you at the meeting." Alpha said. Before Luminous could say farewell, the two quickly ran away blending themselves in with the crowd. Luminous stared at the crowd in utter confusion. Was there something going on. What ever it was, Luminous didn't seem to like it.
"Luminous! Look, we've won a prize!" Evan called, holding a plush doll while making sure Mir wouldn't bite at it. Luminous turned to face the heroes, as they approached him.
"Who were you talking to?" Mercedes asked.
"Alpha and Beta. They just took off." He said, pointing at the direction in which they left. "They were acting a bit strange." He added. Aran made a face.
"Do you suppose they would talk about it during the meeting?" She asked.
"They might." Luminous said. "If thats the case, we must get to the meeting now." Phantom frowned.
"Already?" He asked. Luminous glared at the thief.
"Yes, already. Just to be in the safe side." He said.
"I agree with Luminous. The two twins shouldn't be bothered by mere sibling fights, and if they were acting as strange as Luminous claims, then it must be something." Mercedes said. Lania sighed.
"So we can't stay?" She asked. Luminous grabbed Lania by her shoulders.
"We'll return as soon as the meeting is over." He said. Lania smiled at his answer and nodded. With that, the group headed down to the main gates of Ereve.
Just as Luminous predicted, the transcendents of time were already there. They both shared an uncomfortable look. As soon as the two noticed the heroes, their facial expressions immediately changed into a welcoming happy expression. Luminous was right, there was clearly something wrong. The others said their hellos to the twins as Luminous looked ahead, noticing the Empress Cygnus. To his surprise, rather than having a cheery happy mood, she looked… stressed. She was so busy talking to Neinhart that she hasn't even realized that the heroes came in. Luminous had to call for her attention.
"Lady Cygnus." He called. The young girl looked up from her conversation to see everyone staring at her. After a few seconds of processing on what was going on, she finally responded.
"Ah! Heroes, welcome!" She said, beaming with happiness. Neinhart bowed his head as a sign of respect towards the group. "I'm sure you are all enjoying the festival?" She asked. Lania and Evan did a little cheer in response, as they were completely oblivious on what was going on. Phantom gave her a charming smile.
"I could speak for all of us, for we all had a wonderful time empress. You've really outdone yourself." He said. Cygnus smiled warmly.
"I suppose I really did." She said. Just then, she warm smile so turned into a lost and sad one. "I assume you are all here for the meeting." She glanced at the twins, who were sitting a few seats away from her.
"You should all take a seat." Neinhart said, gesturing to the many empty seats around the table. Luminous immediately knew what this was about.
"Has the Black Mage suddenly found a way to survive?" He asked, hoping that he wasn't right. Cygnus quickly shook her head.
"No, its nothing about that." She said. Relieved, Luminous took his seat next to all the heroes. Cygnus sighed and gave another look at Alpha and Beta. Alpha sighed and stood from his seat.
"About two years ago, we were freed from Mirror World, a world in which everything was created by the Black wings Commander Will." Alpha started. Of course they all knew this story. "Before we left, the only way we could be free was to defeat Will, in which we did." He paused for a second. "A day before this… we came back to visit Mirror World. Everything seemed off."
"We noticed a few things still operating, as if Will was still there." Beta took over Alpha. "We never believed this at first, but looking into it...we believe that Will, the king of Spiders, is still alive."
*BECOMES EXTREMELY LAZY AND ENDS IT THERE*
I'M NOT SORRY
Actually I am…
woops
welp, is this a prologue or just flat out chapter 1….?
Um
I guess this is chapter 1
yeah
Okay, review!
