His head ached- pounded as if someone with a temper problem was building a house on his head.
He didn't want to move- didn't want to get up- he just wanted to lay on the warm ground, the smell of flowers surrounding him- but something made him get up. Something - a thought that floated just out of reach but refused to go away- brought him to his feet and made him look around, wincing as the bright sunlight hit his eyes.
"Hello?" the call left his mouth before he was even aware of considering it. There was something- no.
There was someone. Someone was missing.
One step, then another- he stumbled a bit, but didn't fall.
"Hello?" he called again.
Silence.
No. There was someone- someone important- he had to find them!
"Hello?" he called louder, almost desperately.
Still no answer-ignoring his pounding head, he began to run down the path of flowers- sunflowers, huge, towering above him. They were supposed to be here- weren't they supposed to be here?
He emerged out of the flowers.
There was a city in front of him.
Slowly, he crossed the bridge that led to it, looking around.
Flags, bright blue, all of them, with golden sunflowers, flapped gaily in the breeze.
The people too, were dressed in bright colors. They moved quickly, smiling and laughing, full of energy.
When he walked onto the street, people stopped and stared at him.
He hesitated, but then they started smiling and approaching him. He tensed a bit, but tried to smile back- worried but trying to be friendly.
He needn't have worried- the people didn't rush him or anything- some of them just waved cheerfully before going on their way- but most approached him, still smiling.
"Hello! Welcome to Magicant!"
"Uh- hi." he mumbled. He knew he shouldn't mumble- it just came out like that.
"You're going to the castle, right?"
"The castle?" he asked, puzzled- but they had already started herding him further into the town.
"We'll show you the way!"
"The queen is waiting for you!"
"The queen?" he wondered to himself softly. Why would a queen care about him? He was just a kid, just a skinny ten year old in a striped shirt. He wasn't very strong, and he wasn't very fast, and he couldn't think of any reason someone as important as a queen would want to see someone like him.
"Hello!" came a cheerful call from one of the small stands that lined the streets. "Would you like some of my homemade nut bread?"
"Huh?" he asked intelligently.
Smiling, the woman held out a piece of neatly wrapped nut bread- and one of the crowd surrounding him picked it up and handed it to him, he stuttered a thank you- and they began herding him forward again- and the castle was in sight now.
It looked a little bit familiar- like he'd seem a similar castle before- Oshe castle, whispered a voice in the back of his head- but the banners with the sunflowers flapped all over were different. He felt the wind tugging at him, like even it wanted him to go to the castle- the large doors were flung wide open.
The crowd escorted him to the doors and then stopped.
"The queen's inside, waiting for you."
"Go on silly!" another one added, giving him a friendly push.
"What- what about you guys?"
"Oh, we're not supposed to enter the castle until it's time." a girl in the crowd answered cheerfully. "You, on the other hand- you're expected."
"Me? Why?"
"Don't you know?" chorused the whole group, sounding puzzled.
"The queen will explain everything."
He cast a hesitant look at the castle- at the sight of the sunflowers waving, something clicked in his head.
Slowly, he turned to face the smiling crowd. "What's- what's the queen's name?"
"Can't you guess?" replied the smiling girl.
He stared at her- then spun around, staring up at the sunflowers once more-
"Mom." It escaped from his lips- he was running down the hallway as fast as he could, nearly knocking some people over- not stopping, only shouting a brief apology over his shoulder as he ran- there, a set of huge impressive doors that must lead to a throne room- he shoved them aside, causing them to crash into the walls with a bang-
Every head turned to look at him.
There weren't a lot of them, but enough to make his cheeks turn red- what must they think of him, barging in like this- but then he saw the figure in the center. The figure on the throne.
The figure standing up to greet him.
"Mom." he breathed, stepping closer.
She was smiling at him- despite everything, she was smiling at him- like she wasn't surprised to see him, like she wasn't disappointed in him- and she opened up her arms. "Hello, Lucas."
"Mom!" Lucas shouted at the top of his lungs, breaking into a run again- diving into his mother's arms- where, for a short time, he knew peace.