Hey everyone, it's Paradigm of Writing here with a new contest one-shot of mine (yeah, I'm actually going back to one-shots! What the hell right?). This piece is a new allegory of mine called Blue Sky, featuring my favorite blonde Lucas and my favorite bluenette Marth! It is time to pull at your heart strings and maybe see if I can win a contest for once, no? This is for Banana Jesus's Death Battle contest (and I think I'm the first person to post my entry if I check correctly...). I've got some sheer competition in my backyard and I'm making sure I leave no room for error. We had to follow a little theme on abandonment and loss and these are things I think I'll handle fairly well. Enjoy, Blue Sky.
There once was a boy. Kind, smart in a logical sense, gentle... he always made your heart smile. Diamond eyes, light lemonade hair, cute dimples and a heart wider than the largest star in the sky. Lucas Ingrid, young and spry, a youthful ten year old who loved nature, the color blue, waterfalls, and this one particular azure kite. Received it for his birthday as a present from someone he didn't know. Arrived in a cream colored box on his front door step at the age of eight, delicate rosy ribbons adorning the top. Unlooping the thread, he opened the gift. Out came a kite. Grand in size, mighty in color. A vivacious, stunning cerulean that blended in so beautifully with the azure sky up above. He hugged the kite that day. Eventually it evolved to where it became his best friend. No one needed friends when you had a toy that'd soar in the wind whenever you said so. He loved his kite. He grew up with it.
Attached to the present was a small note card. Indigo ink scrawled on a blood ruby red background. Dear Lucas, my sweet young boy. You do not know me, nor will I think you'll ever get the chance to. I'm a friend of those who care upmost deeply for you. I travel a lot for business purposes, and sometimes see grizzly things not meant for men to see in their life... ever. To keep my tear ducts from shattering and screaming, I send the kids I know of the past a gift. I'm told you love the color blue. Heh, it's the same as me. Enjoy the kite, my friend. I call it... Earthbound.
Signed sincerely from M, captain of the Altean Royal Guard. Lucas had looked up from the letter, head dizzy. Many big words sprawled on one piece of paper for him. He had filed away the note, biting his lip timidly like a child often would. The name of where this gentleman originated from sparked a memory in his brain, but the two puzzle pieces didn't seem to match up. Altean Royal Guard... sounded superbly fancy. He read over the title of the kite once more. Earthbound. Lucas frowned. He wasn't great at metaphors and other things... but, if it was a kite... why would it be bound to the Earth? They floated, high above where clawing hands couldn't reach, where sunbeams could tickle their fabric skins. Man must've been some idiot.
From that point forward, Lucas brought the kite wherever he went. He became bored plenty of times, departing from his usual schedule to fly it once in awhile. Seemed like a lovely thing to do, and he couldn't bear go without it. How people had soul mates... he had a soul mate with this kite. He'd lie back on plains of soft emerald green grass glades and think. He'd stare up at the blue sky with such curiosity. "Why's the sky blue? Can my kite reach the sun at this distance?" he'd think before falling asleep on the bed of flora.
One time, at the beach, Lucas had lost Earthbound. A strong gust of wind had taken the toy straight out of his hands, and into the zephyr breeze it flew. The blonde boy screamed at it for it to come back, return to your master or be thrown in the closet for a measly five seconds. Terrified and out of options, he started to run down the sandy shoreline. Scalding burns rippled at the underside of his feet, but Lucas forgot the pain. He needed that kite back. He craved it in his hands. Never spent a second without it, even when he fell into a dream stasis. This- it felt like excruciating torture.
Earthbound seemed to never want to return to his grasp. Higher and higher it soared. The pallid string seemed to mock him. Come on. You can do better. Reach for me, you damn petty boy. You can solve logical algorithms in seconds to spare, yet you cannot save the one thing that can tear your heart in two? Pathetic child. Lucas could hear the chilling, astute voice in his brain. Cold. Calculating. He loved his toy. Did it love him back? The poor blonde tripped in the sand, corpse colored skin slamming into the scorched, torched soil beneath him. He'd never get it back now, not when he made a complete fool of himself. Lucas curled up into a ball and began to sob. Like a symphony of whales wailing out of the ocean with their decibels raised ten hertz higher... that racketing cry sounded worse than nails scraping down a chalkboard.
Between his rants of emotion and self hate, the boy never heard the soft footsteps approach him. Quiet, like a phantom floating above the waves. A cold hand touched his face, frigid yet warm in complacency. He looked up to see an older man, not much older than say the man who worked the grocery store by the church, but enough to be in his lower twenties. Lucas came out of his ball, taking the outstretched hand limply in his own. The boy dusted himself off, sand piling into dunes out of his ears, murky pools of mahogany mud sinking into his shoes from the tears.
Absolute awe flashed across the blonde's face when he took in the man standing before him. Navy hair combed neatly under a dark and musty onyx bowler hat. A stainless steel sword stuck in a hilt at the side, warm peacock blue eyes with a light pearl smile. Seemed to be a water god merging out of the crests, tan skinned, fairly muscular in the shoulders and legs... why did this descending angel from the heavens appear in front of him?
"I believe this is yours." the older male said, showing Lucas an object he hadn't seen him holding behind his back. His kite! Earthbound returned!
"Yes! Thank you so much sir!" Lucas cried, taking the kite from his grasp and hugging it tight. Smelled of sea water and seagull feces. Refreshing.
"Strong wind must've taken it, huh?"
"No kidding," the boy made a face. "How can I repay you, Mr..."
The man laughed, and even his voice caused tombstones to quiver. "Mr. Lowell, dear boy. Marth Lowell. Captain of the Altean Royal Guard at your service." Marth said, smiling largely, making a bow.
The blonde frowned, neurons firing, synapses shrugging off the old layers of grit. "Captain of the Altean Royal Guard? Name is Marth... is this M," he thought. Lucas cleared his throat. "Thanks for your help, mister."
"Don't mention it," the soldier patted the younger boy on the back. "And who are you?"
"Lucas! Lucas Ingrid."
Now it was the captain's turn to freeze, his own gears grinding to heavy metal. "Say... does your kite have a name?"
"Why, yes it does. Earthbound, meet Mr. Marth Lowell. Mr. Marth Lowell, meet Earthbound!" Lucas introduced the two to each other, though there seemed to be one important bolt loose than what seemed to be let on.
"I know you from somewhere, kiddo." Marth's eyes twinkled.
"You do?" Lucas frowned.
The captain opened his mouth and explained his story. From that day forward, a new, springy friendship birthed into a strong bond of family... and even perhaps more.
Lucas liked when Marth came to town, on business. Protecting the royalty of Altea proved to be stressful, so the bluenette opted to take vacations and visit his little favorite blonde boy whenever he got the chance. Learning how to be a man, Lucas Ingrid, now at the new height of age eleven learned how to swoon the ladies, how to fire a musket, learned the true meaning of En Garde, and became an expert at tossing love into bed sheets and to close the curtains with people he probably shouldn't ever be experiencing such vitality with, ever.
He loved when Marth arrived. Hated when he left. One particular leave stung more than a brandished whip slap from one of his naughty nights.
"You're leaving? When?" the blonde demanded, the two making their way to the beach, overlooking the azure ocean. The sun started to sink beneath the sky, bands of halcyon, amaranthine, cerulean, sunburst, and cardinal light flashing in numerous directions.
The captain bites back tears, unable to look at the younger male. "Tonight. Headed on a train back to Altea. They need me on the front lines, fighting those barbaric rebels who feel they own this country. King and queen are in danger. I am their best fighter after all."
"You can't leave! Not now! You lied to me," Lucas screamed at him. "You told me we'd be there for each other from the beginning to the very end. I'd have your back while you held mine tight." He somehow still brought that kite with him.
"Luke-" Marth tried to speak over the hysterics.
"You don't want to be friends with me anymore, do you? Drop me like the... the whores you have those one night stands with?"
Such a sharp word from someone so young... then again he had ill mannered Marth Lowell as his associate. "That's not the reason at all. A man must be dedicated to his work."
"Then that means you should be dedicated to me! You made me, formed me and shaped the very existence I brew in!" Lucas growled, launching himself to Marth, wrapping tiny hands around his waist, more sobbing coming from bloodshot eyes.
"You're not a machine." Marth said dismally.
"Liar. I am a masterpiece of your hands, from your work."
"That kite poisoned your brain."
The blond recoiled, slamming Marth into the ground with a blunt kick in the spine. "Screw you! Who was the one who sent me that kite in the first place? Oh, I remember. YOU! Stop trying to make up some fantasy world and stay here. Forget the front line, they never cared about you. But I- but I do. Always will. Earthbound is that beautiful tie between us, and you couldn't possibly rip it away from me now."
Marth stared at Lucas in stupefaction, and then two sat down together on the sand. Their hands met, and the older male leaned in closer, to connect lips to lips. He had indeed made a beautiful creation from his hands, seeing that gorgeous blue sky in rippling ecstasy. Cold breath lulled under the nape of Lucas's name, reminding the youthful kid of piercing dreams in a depressed green light, in a fractured sunlight.
One low boom rocked the sand they sat on. The captain broke apart, hand automatically floating to his sword by his side. He stood, a gasp of horror leeching from his lips. Behind them, in the bleeding horizon, lay fire. Burning sulfur and hazy ash billowing into the sky, plumes of destruction and war now entering the tranquil environment of the beach. Screams of death could be heard in town.
Lucas followed his gaze. "What? What is it?"
The captain had no bravery in his heart. "Rebel scum... warring conflict in this beautiful place," Marth seized the blonde's hand. "We need to leave. Run as far out into the ocean as possible so they never see us."
"But-" the boy started.
He never got to finish his sentence. A blaring horn interrupted his train of thought, figures running over the sand dunes. Men. Angry looking tyrants with weapons of formidable size in their hands. The leader unleashed a cry, taking a giant stride onto the beach ground. With a shattering of the silence unlike any other, something erupted from the pistol in his hand. Darkening shards of slate grey ripped from the onyx pistol.
A lucky bullet found it's way through Lucas's chest, then ripping into the kite. Strands of fabric blew apart, and Marth barely dodged the bullet as well. His best friend in the whole world sank to his knees, before the peppering rain of machine gun fire hit him more. Blood. So much blood. Crimson rivers gushed from the boy, and the captain let out a scream.
"LUCAS!" the captain roared. He slapped the kid's face. "Come on, look at me. Look at me. Dammit. Don't leave me now. Please, don't!"
He cradled the kid in his arms as the rebels converged, ripping Marth from his grasp. "The kid is dead you stupid. Come on."
"No! Don't separate me from him! Lucas!" Marth yelled, getting roughly pulled back from the rebels.
Earthbound, the kite, stared in solemn sadness, before a roaring lava torch landed near its silky material. Marth watched in horror as the consuming blaze destroyed the kite, destroyed his friend. Maybe even the only person he'd ever love. Yes... he could agree to that.
Back in the sand, as war tore everything apart, lay the young Lucas Ingrid, eyes blank, eyes staring at the invisible horizon of death. Above him, that so bright sky he loved turned misty black with fog and gunfire, warped and bitter screams plagued and drenched in a loathsome fire. All he wanted to do was fly his blue kite one last time through that azure sky.
Fate never even gave him that.
All he loved had been torn from his grasp.
Well... there we are you guys. Just... holy crap. I don't think I've been invested in something so bitingly short in such a long time. Lucas and Marth... oh, thank the archives and Arceus and Master Hand we get such great characters to write. I hope you all enjoyed this story, thank you so much for checking it out. Hey, leave a review and let me know what you thought! It'd mean so much to me, I poured everything I could and more into this piece, especially given it is a contest entry. Thanks Banana Jesus for hosting this part of the contest, Part 1 shall be interesting. Hopefully I get past it! Love you all! Bye!
~ Paradigm