Notes:
1. Yo-kai will be spelled "yokai" for convenience
2. This fic takes place after the events of Yo-kai Watch 3, there may be some canon divergence involved
3. THIS IS NOT A SHIPPING FIC
4. At the time of writing this fic, some yokai names have not been localized yet, so I will be using their japanese names instead.
"Hey, you must be.. the current 'Great King Enma'." Lucas said to the blonde red-skinned boy in crimson robes standing right before him.
"You're…" the blonde boy looked back at Lucas in bewilderment.
"This is the first time we've met but… It feels nostalgic somehow." Lucas smiled gently.
"Right… You're a descendant of Enma too, aren't you?"
"Yes…"
"Did you want to become the 'Great King Enma'?" the blonde asked, stepping closer to the younger boy.
"No, I'm happy with just living in a world where humans and yokai can be friends." Lucas got up from the stair step he was sitting on.
"Heh, same here…"
It has been a month since that fateful encounter back inside the Enma Note's yomakai; Lucas had already been released from his temporal prison by his newly-met relative and none other than the great King Enma himself. He tried resuming his daily life as best as he could, given that everyone's memories were still a bit foggy after what happened with the aforementioned notebook.
It was going to be another average day of school… or so Lucas thought.
"I… I want to go home…" the young boy mumbled to himself, head and arms resting on his desk, unable to pay attention to anything his teacher was saying. Lucas was feeling the kind of homesickness that would mostly affect husbands who worked overseas or little children on their first day of kindergarten. He didn't know how or why he was feeling this way, but it felt absolutely overwhelming and it only made the boy grow more distressed. He wished his loyal companion, Venoct, was there to comfort him, but he was pretty sure the serpentine yokai had better things to do.
Alas, Lucas didn't have much of a choice but to suck it up, feeling homesick was never a good excuse to skip class. He hoped that he would just get over it, but…
Class was over for the day and the children were heading home. Venoct was waiting at his usual spot waiting for Lucas to escort him back home, however something was different this time. When he saw Lucas approaching, Venoct noticed that half his face was flushed red; hands wiping both of his eyes hinted that he has been crying for quite some while.
"Lucas!?" Venoct quickly approached the boy "What happened!? Are you hurt?" he asked, worried about the wellbeing of his friend.
"P-please just…take me home, I wanna go home…" Lucas whispered between sobs, burying his face on the yokai's dragon scarf.
"Lucas…" the serpentine just stood there in confusion, but knowing that he wouldn't get any further context, he carefully picked up Lucas bridal style and flew his way home as fast as he could.
After they've arrived home, Venoct was sitting on the bed comforting an inconsolable Lucas, who was resting on the lap of his serpentine friend
"I don't get it… Even though I'm already home… the homesickness won't go away" the boy said, still feeling the sadness weighing on him.
Running his hand through Lucas's hair, Venoct felt his heart wrenching as he couldn't figure what could be possibly bothering Lucas so much.
'I don't get it either, this is not like Lucas at all… could it be that…?' at the corner of his eye he noticed Lucas's backpack resting on the floor next to the bed, and it seemed like something was moving inside it; since Venoct didn't want to move due to having the boy resting on his lap, he reached for the bag using one of his dragon heads.
Upon opening the bag, a small creature jumped from it, taking both boys by surprise.
It was a small yokai that looked like a necktie with tiny arms and legs, its body was decorated by pink and yellow stripes, it introduced itself as "Kaeri tie!"
"You! So you have been inspiriting Lucas this whole time!" Venoct pointed with a clearly upset expression on his face.
"Venoct... who is that yokai?" Lucas asked in a quiet voice, not sure how to react about a yokai sneaking inside his backpack.
"That's Kaeri Tie of the eerie tribe! Anyone who is inspirited by this yokai feels overwhelming homesickness." Venoct explained.
"Aha~ that's me alright~ I felt particularly attracted to this boy because I could feel he has been away from home for too long." the tiny yokai chirped.
"What are you talking about? We are at home right now!" the scarfed yokai exclaimed, growing increasingly annoyed.
"Ah, that's where you're wrong… my powers make people long for their home, yes, but 'home' as in the 'place and people where they truly belong', do you get me?" the small yokai made its way to the balcony. "Even after I'm gone, his homesickness won't go away you know?"
The snake yokai's expression shifted from annoyed to concerned, he knew the mischievous necktie was right. As much as Lucas was attached to this world; Venoct knew that this was not his world.
Lucas didn't say a thing; not exactly sure about what Kaeri Tie was talking about, he only stared back at his companion yokai, mirroring his worried face.
"Lucas… I think there's somewhere we should go to right now…" the scarfed boy sighed in defeat.
After a long walk, the two finally reached an isolated part of Mt. Wildwood, near the waterfall there was a hidden cave that led to a small cave with seemingly nothing but a couple of monk statues.
"So… are you saying that my homesickness will subside if I go to the yomakai? But don't we usually access it through the sacred tree?" Lucas asked, taking a few steps back.
Venoct crossed his arms in a thinking posture "Well, we're not going to just any yomakai, and to get there we will need the help of a special yokai, therefore…"
"Mirapo! Please come forth!" At the sound of Venoct's voice echoing through the whole cave, a mirror-like yokai materialized right in front of the monk statues, it was Mirapo, but this one in particular was not purple, but instead it was a deep red in color with a few golden ornaments around his body.
"Geroooo~n, master Venoct! It has been quite some time since we last met, has the time finally come?" the mirror yokai asked.
"Afraid not Mirapo. I know we agreed on not bringing Lucas back until his yokai powers awakened, but we will have to make an exception this time" Venoct turned back at Lucas.
"Are you ready, Lucas?"
"If… if this is going to help me feel better, then I trust you." Lucas firmly grasped Venoct's hand before both boys jumped through the portal on Mirapo's body.
"Geroooooo~n"
At the other side of the mirror, Venoct and Lucas found themselves in the yomakai, a city surrounded by the most colorful and surreal-looking buildings, green skies with yellow clouds and the open sea at the horizon, but the thing that fascinated the black haired boy the most was the huge palace standing right before him. It looked like pretty much those old Japanese castles he learned about in history class, but this one was much more fancifully colored.
"I… this is much bigger than Sakura New Town's yomakai, it's so beautiful!" Lucas observed his surroundings in fascination.
"Welcome back home, your Highness" the serpent yokai made a small bow.
"Wait… this is the place where I used to live?" the black haired boy had to make a double take at the palace, trying hard to digest the fact that this humongous castle was his birthplace.
"But now that I think about it, it does feel awfully nostalgic…" Lucas put a hand on his chest, feeling a sudden heart wrench.
"I'm sure you already know this, but the current Great King Enma lives here. I'm sure he will welcome you with open arms." Venoct added.
'Ah… the boy I met when I was trapped inside the Enma Note… so I guess it's time to see each other again…' Lucas thought, growing a little nervous.
Both boys walked their way to the palace's entrance, which were guarded by two fair sized yokai; one looked like a muscular man with a horse head and the other one like a well-built woman with a bull head.
"Stop right there! This area is off-limits!" both yokai said in unison, blocking the entrance with their respective spear-like weapons.
"Mezu! Gozu! That's no way to talk to the prince!" Venoct took a step forward in a defiant tone.
"Ngh! M-master Venoct, is that you!?" Mezu, the horse yokai, stepped back.
"Then could it be… the kid that is next to you is…" asked Gozu, shocked at the realization.
"We deeply apologize, your highness! You shall pass!" both yokai hastily returned to their original stances, and just like magic, the doors to the palace opened.
"This is as far as I can go, Lucas… from here on you're on your own." Venoct placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Y-you are not coming with me?" asked Lucas, feeling a little intimidated at the thought of venturing inside such a large building all alone.
"This castle… it holds a lot of sad memories I would rather not remember… but I will wait for you right here, okay?" the serpent yokai held Lucas's hands in a reassuring way.
"I…I understand, thanks for taking me here, Venoct." the child placed a soft kiss on Venoct's cheek before parting ways, the serpent yokai could only hope that this sudden visit would help his companion ease the weight on his little heart.
Once inside the palace, Lucas couldn't help but to feel a little overwhelmed at how the structure seemed to look much bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. The golden ornaments that hanged from the ceiling and huge pillars with beautiful dragon-like patterns. After walking a bit in a straight path, Lucas found himself in a circular hall. At the center there was a platform that was surrounded by a pond full of beautiful koi fishes, and the platform was connected to the edges of the hall by wooden bridges that were decorated by lit torches. It was definitely not the sort of home that Lucas was used to, yet it felt all too familiar.
"Yes, I do feel like this is the place I used to consider 'home' but…" as he kept making his way he observed the little fish on the pond, such sight cheered the little boy up a little, but he still felt like something was missing "I guess I better keep going…" he concluded.
"But now that I think about it, for being this big this place is a little too empty, one could think there'd be way more people walking down these halls…" Lucas talked to himself, but as he kept walking he crossed paths with a tall pale-skinned man with long grey hair wearing black robes. It seemed liked he was carrying a few scrolls on his arms. Both the boy and the man greeted each other with a "good afternoon" and kept going their respective ways.
It didn't take the man too long to actually notice the little intruder that casually infiltrated the castle.
"Hey! What in blazes do you think you're doing here!?" he yelled.
"Uh-oh…!" Lucas gulped; his first instinct was to run away as fast as he could.
'I knew I should have convinced Venoct to stick with me!'
Not too far away, in a small office with an open balcony that led to the view of beautiful cherry blossom trees, the great king Enma was sitting in a big desk at the center of the room with a lot of paperwork lying before him, and a lot of noise coming from outside the office. The boy was growing increasingly annoyed.
"Oi! It's already hard for me to work on all this paperwork, what's with all the commotion?" the blonde boy stood up and made its way to the door, only to find himself in front of two smaller yokai, one looked like a blue dog with lop ears wearing a kimono, and another like an orange cat with a flame at the tip of his tail, wearing similar clothing.
"Duke Doggy, Aristokat, what's going on?" Enma asked
"Y-Your Majesty! We…we didn't mean to bother you but…" the dog yokai, Duke Doggy, spoke hesitantly.
"Apparently an intruder has infiltrated the palace, nyan!" the cat, Aristokat, completed Duke Doggy's sentence.
"An intruder in the castle? Well well, they must be very good if they managed to get past Gozu and Mezu!" the blonde yokai crossed his arms with a smirk on his face "So… who intercepted them?"
"It was… Zazel, your Majesty…" Doggy lowered his head in worry.
"WHAT!? Zazel found the intruder? This is bad!" the boy scratched his head. "That noodle head has little self-control; the last thing I need is for him to destroy half the place all over again!" Enma gently pushed the two small yokai aside and ran his way to the source of incessant yelling. "I leave you two in charge while I take care of this!"
The dog and the cat just started in awe as their king ran from the scene.
"Did…. Did your Majesty just call master Zazel a 'noodle head'?" Doggy whispered. Aristokat couldn't help but let out a chuckle.
As Enma ran down the corridor, he came across a branching path; he stopped his tracks to hear which direction the noise was coming from, but before Enma could do so he noticed that at the other side of one of the halls a boy with black hair wearing a yellow sweater being chased by an angry silver haired man with black tentacles sprouting from his back were approaching to his direction.
"Kiiiing Enmaaaaaa!" Lucas cried, running as fast as he could before jumping into Enma's arms, almost catching the blonde off guard.
"You! Keep your hands off Lord Enma!" The tall man standing right before the two boys yelled angrily as more tentacles were sprouting out of his body.
"Woah WOAH there Zazel! Could you like, not do that?" Enma requested as he stood between his shaking younger relative and older yokai.
"M-My lord…!" Zazel had to stop dead in his tracks.
"Can you explain what's going on here? I've heard there's an intruder inside the palace." the blonde calmly asked, crossing his arms.
"Why my lord, the intruder is right behind you!" The silver haired man pointed at Lucas. "He may look like a young child but if they managed to bypass Mezu and Gozu then they must be positively dangerous-"
"Or maybe this 'dangerous child' is actually a relative who just got the rudest welcome ever!" Enma turned at the aforementioned boy. "Right, uncle?"
Lucas could only stutter a quiet "U-uncle?" before formulating a proper answer, everything turned from 1 to 11 way too fast for his poor self, being addressed as 'uncle' by someone seemingly older than him didn't help.
"D-Did you say 'uncle'? Does that mean that this child is the prince!?" Zazel stepped back; the realization that he had been chasing a royal heir all this time finally hit him like lighting.
"Well! As far as I know, my old man only had two male heirs, and I can feel this boy here has the Enma aura flowing through his body, so I'd say yes, he's the prince!" Enma shrugged.
"I… my deepest apologies, your highness! I'm not sure how I could fail to recognize you!" the tall man kneeled down and lowered his head before Lucas, the later shaking his hands and head nervously as in trying to say 'please don't bow '.
"Anyways you will have to forgive old geezer here, he doesn't really like unexpected visits OR humans. So how about we leave him here and I take you to walk around the place, eh uncle? " the blonde yokai grabbed his younger relative's shoulders and pushed him on the opposite direction.
"Also Zazel! You better clean up all the mess you left behind, no one likes traces of spiky tentacles around the walls and carpet rugs.
"N-Nu…!"
Once the awkward situation was done with, Enma guided his young relative through a long balcony that led to the beautiful view of lake green in color matching the skies. A few phoenix-like yokai could be seen flying around and nesting on the cherry blossom trees.
"Ah… everything here is so beautiful." Lucas whispered, fascinated by his surroundings.
"Oi! Earth to Lucas! You still with me?" Enma's voice made the younger boy snap back to reality.
"O-Oh! I'm… I just wanted to say I'm sorry for coming here unannounced." Lucas fidgeted with his fingers.
"Ha ha! No need to be sorry! You're like the first family visit I get ever since the old man passed away." the blonde placed his arms around the back of his head "So… what brings you to this boring castle anyway?"
"A-ah, um… I got inspirited by a Kaeri tie and Venoct thought the only way for me to feel better was to come here".
"And… are you feeling any better now?" Enma tilted his head.
"I'm not… sure, it feels so nostalgic and yet… My memories about this place are so foggy, how do you come to miss a place you don't even remember?" Lucas frowned sadly, clutching softly on his chest; the blonde looked at his young uncle with a worried expression.
"Well that's not good… maybe if I show you around the place, it will eventually all come to you?" the young king inquired.
"Yeah, that sounds good" Lucas nodded slowly, gently grabbing Enma's hand.
"Wh-" taken off-guard by the sudden contact, a slight blush appeared on Enma's face as he looked back and forth between Lucas and their joined hands. Lucas took quick notice of this and immediately let go. "O-oh sorry I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable—"
"Oh no, no! It's okay! At least this way you won't get lost, haha…" Enma laughed nervously before grabbing onto Lucas's hand once again, both boys smiled at each other before resuming their little tour.
The two young yokai walked all across the palace. First Enma would show Lucas the dining hall, the decoration matched the theme of the rest of the halls with golden, red and green ornaments all over. A couple of decorative plants here and there, at the center of the room there was a crimson wood table big enough to fit at least 20 persons. The olive colored chairs were a little too tall for comfort.
"Here's where the whole family used to eat! Since a lot of people used to live here we needed a lot of chairs, but… no one comes here anymore so it's all mostly decoration." Enma explained as he was patting the showed around.
"Right, you used to throw a lot of tantrums when they tried to feed you milk." Lucas smirked.
"Wait, what? How did you know that?"
"huh? I… I didn't! I just… you just don't strike me a-as person who likes milk!" the younger boy stuttered 'Weird… it just crossed my mind like a memory… but why would I have a recollection of Enma's life?'
Before getting lost in his thoughts again, Lucas tried to change the subject "S-so, if no one eats here anymore, then where do you eat?"
"In my office! I got that space all for myself, except when Zazel is there of course." the blonde shrugged.
'A king that eats all on his own…?' Lucas thought, feeling a bit of concern.
Next, there was the residential area, it was actually an open area rich in cherry blossom trees that led to several small buildings. The inside of each of these buildings were decorated and color coded to match with the 8 main yokai tribes.
"This is where the princesses –a.k.a: your sisters- used to live when they came to visit! This actually became my permanent home for a while after Gramps said I could be a potential successor." Enma indicated as he pointed at one of the small houses and then at the main palace area.
"Yeah! We had some fun hide-n-seek games here…" Lucas smiled.
"We?" Enma turned back to his relative, tilting his head.
'Oh no, it happened again!' Lucas shook his head and once again tried to dodge the subject
"So, where are they- W-where's your mom now?" He asked.
"Beats me, she still sends me letters once in awhile though." the blonde simply shrugged.
"Enma…"
"We're almost at the end of the tour! If none of the places I showed you rang any bells, I'm pretty sure this one will!" Enma made his way to open the doors to a familiar room. "Welcome to the throne room! Well, it's more like an office now, but the throne is still there so…"
"So is this… the place where dad used to—"
"H-Human!" Aristokat and Duke Doggy cried, they had been standing in front of the room's scroll shelves watching as Enma was seemingly a human child into the throne room.
"Wow, that human disguise of yours sure does fool everybody! Can you teach me how to transform like that?" Enma asked in an almost sarcastic way, letting out a small chuckle.
'I don't even know how I began to look like this myself…' Lucas kept the response to himself and just laughed back.
But as soon as the black haired child actually stepped into the room, he could feel his heart wrench even more. He had the feeling this place in particular was important to him, but for the life of him the boy couldn't remember why. Lucas clutched his hand on his chest, his expression turning into a frown.
"Aha! So this place made you feel something didn't it?" the blonde king sat on his usual spot, resting his elbows on the desk. "I mean this is the place where Gramps spent the most time, so I'm sure you used to hang out here a lot too… not that I… would remember…" at this last sentence Enma couldn't help but scratch his head in confusion.
'So… I guess I'm not the only one who feels like something is not adding up.' the black haired boy thought. After a minute of silence, he shyly asked "Enma… Can you take me to the previous king—I mean… my dad?"
"Huh? What do you… oh" Enma didn't understand at first, but upon realizing what the intentions of his relative were, he rested his chin on one of his hands, his brow furrowing.
"So… you're gonna make me take you there, aren't you?" the blonde let out a deep sigh.
"Our Majesty?" Aristokat and Duke Doggy asked in unison.
After a moment of silence, Enma got up.
"Let's go, Lucas"
After a bit of a stroll, Enma led Lucas to the palace's lake, the same one that Lucas saw through the long balcony. Under the cherry blossom trees, there was a path that led to a small shrine surrounded by a patch of flowers. Once the two boys got there they kneeled before the monument.
After an elongated span of silence, Lucas spoke up.
"So this is… where dad was buried?"
Enma closed his eyes and shook his head.
"…When Yokai die, they leave no traces of their physical bodies behind, instead they just simply disappear—as if they never existed in the first place."
"This is where gramps' existence faded from this world, but he was so beloved that his servants built this shrine in his memory." The blonde added. Lucas was not quite sure of it but he swore he could hear a hint of sadness on Enma's voice.
"Do you miss him?" Lucas inquired once more.
The blonde stroke the back of his neck, not knowing exactly how to answer to that one.
"Well… if he was still around, maybe it wouldn't be so quiet and boring around here."
Another moment of awkward silence, both boys were visibly having a hard time standing right before the monument dedicated their predecessor.
"Hey Lucas… have you really never thought about taking my place as the king?" Enma asked.
"W-what?! Why do you ask?" Lucas almost jumped at such sudden, almost out-of-place question.
"W-well…" the boy rested his chin on his hands on a pensive manner. "While know I have 'what it takes' to be a good king… Sometimes I feel like this role is not for me you know?"
As he was explaining this, Enma actually hid his face on the palm of his hands.
"It's a very lonely job, and it can be very overwhelming too… I really wish I could be the one living among humans."
"Enma…" Lucas failed to come up with any comforting words for his older relative.
"…haha! sorry, that probably was selfish of me to say!" The blonde tried to force a laugh, trying to lighten up the mood, albeit to no avail.
"Well… If I'm being honest… being a yokai living among and being raised as a human can get kind of lonely too…" Lucas slowly reached for Enma's hands and grasped it softly.
"A-ah… you're quite the affectionate one, aren't you?" Enma averted his eyes from Lucas, a light blush on his cheeks; he was certainly not used to have someone so daring as to come into contact with him, much less hold his hand. Yet it didn't seem to bother him that much. Lucas tilted his head in curiosity and asked "Well, aren't you?"
"Of course not! I mean… Zazel would probably tell me that kind of thing is not 'king-like' or something" The older relative replied, still avoiding making eye contact.
"If there's something that is making you feel sad, you shouldn't keep it to yourself… I know Zazel looks strict but I'm sure he cares deeply about you." Lucas smiled. Enma turned back at him, staring mildly confused; but in the end he simply let out a smirk.
"Hehe, sometimes I wonder how come we never met each other before…You're very easy to talk to!"
The two young yokai smiled at each other, there was silence again, but this time their silence was a little more comfortable, they turned back to look at the monument right before them once again, watching how the cherry blossom petals fell above it.
"My, my, but who do we have here?" said a voice that didn't belong to either of the boys, taking them by surprise, they turned the other way around and noticed there was another yokai there; the yokai resembled a bipedal turtle with yellow skin, long nose and a long white beard and eyebrows, he was wearing white robes and instead of a shell he had what it seemed to be a vacuum cleaner stuck on his back, he also was holding a watering can in one of his hands.
"Vacuumory! How long have you been there?" Enma asked, surprised that he was unable to feel the turtle's presence at all.
"Enma? Who is that yokai?" Lucas asked, more curious than surprised.
"Ah, that's our gardener Vacuumory, he's one of the few yokai who still work here in the palace; he was the one who planted all the cherry blossom trees and flowers" the blonde explained.
"My apologies, your Majesty, I was hearing voices coming from near the shrine and I had to check for myself, you certainly don't come here—
"Oh my gosh! Is that the Prince next to you?" the turtle-like yokai jumped a little after seemingly recognizing Lucas' face.
"Ah… so you know Lucas too!" Enma crossed his arms.
"Why yes! And I couldn't feel happier to see you two reunited once again!" Vacuumory nodded in a cheery tone.
The two boys stared at each other in confusion, and then turned back at the turtle yokai
"Reunited… once again?" they asked in unison.
"My, my… so I guess you don't remember after all…" Vacuumory lowered his head and sighed melancholically.
"You must be mistaken, me and Lucas here never met prior to our encounter on the Enma Note's yomakai! He was already in the human world by the time I moved here to begin my training as a king… right?" Enma explained to the best of his ability, or that's what he thought, were not because of the empty void that kept presenting itself in his memories.
"Ah… well that is not quite right, there's so much more about you two than you seem to recall." the turtle yokai placed his watering can on the ground and took out the hose of his vacuum machine.
"Hey, what are you…"
"But worry not! As the spirit guardian of memories, I will help you remember…" with the click of a switch, Vacuumory activated his vacuum, but instead of sucking, it started blowing out a cloud of fog that rapidly covered the area.
"Wait! What's going-" But before Enma could finish, both boys started coughing incessantly, as the dust blowing from the vacuum was making it hard to breathe, inhaling from the strange mist caused both relatives to grow drowsy and quickly drop unconscious.
"Mom, I'm bored … can we go out already?"
A small whispering voice could barely be heard in the room. A big bulky red-skinned man with white beard with crimson robes was sitting on his giant throne, in front on him a group of fancy-dressed women of varying ages were sitting. It was easy to tell by their serious expressions that they were having an important meeting to discuss serious matters… Not like any of them would make much sense for the small child that was hiding behind one of the elder women, who was presumably his mother.
The boy looked like a much younger Enma, but his hair was charcoal colored instead of his usual blonde, he looked visibly bored out of his mind since he couldn't do much other than sit and listen to his grandfather talk about stuff he didn't quite understand.
"Not now sweetie, your grandfather and aunties are discussing something that is rather important for the entire yokai nation, surely you can wait a little longer, right?" the mother whispered back to the child, without breaking eye contact with the man in front of her.
"Uuuugh… why am I even here?" the little one groaned, sitting with his arms crossed and a pouty expression on his face.
However, at the corner of his eye he noticed a silhouette that passed by the room's entrance. Unable to fight the curiosity that is just normal for his age, he decided to follow the mysterious figure, being careful enough to sneak away from his mother.
The child quickly moved down the corridors of the palace searching for the figure that called his attention, while also being careful enough not to get caught by any passing guards. After running for quite a while he found himself outside in front of a familiar lake.
"Huh? But… where is…" the younger Enma looked frantically for the thing he was chasing after, until he noticed that not too far away there was another child sitting in a bench that gave him a perfect view of the phoenixes flying nearby. He seemed to be playing with a small kendama.
The child in question looked like a toddler Lucas, the only difference being that his eyes were a golden yellow and his ears were pointier, he also had a small pink pacifier on his mouth and was wearing clothes similar to Enma's, albeit a couple sizes much smaller.
The smaller Enma stood still for a while intrigued that there was actually another boy around his age in this palace, well, after all this was his first visit after coming from his mother's yomakai so he wouldn't know. He walked closer to the other boy, and shouted a hearty "Hello there!" almost startling the poor creature enough to almost throw his toy away.
"Chippu…?" the smaller Lucas-lookalike turned at his unfamiliar companion.
"Sorry about that! I saw you sneak away from the throne room and I followed you here!" said the younger Enma, sitting next to the other toddler.
"Chippu…?!" the pacifier boy squeaked nervously.
"Naw I'm not gonna nark on you, I wanted to escape from the meeting too, it was sooooo boring!" the spiky haired boy said, making his younger companion sigh in relief.
"I swear, if I ever become king, I will make meetings illegal! Adults never have anything interesting to say, right?" both children giggled.
"I'm glad I could find another boy my age in this place you know, the only boys here other than grandpa, is this other super tall man called… Nura…. Nura… Nuranoodle? But he's not fun at all!" the spiky haired boy complained, he crossed his arms and sunk his body further into the bench.
"Chippu…" was all that the toddler could answer.
"You got a yokai like that looking after you too? And it's the boy with the snakes on his neck? Yikes! They're super annoying, right?" the older boy shrugged, apparently being able to understand his little partner's one-liners just fine.
"By the way, My name is Jizou!" the spiky haired boy introduced himself "Moma says that if my
'powers awaken' I will be called just like my grandpa Enma, pretty weird huh?"
"Chippu, chippu…Ya…Yamao" the younger boy muttered shyly.
"So your name is… Yamao? That's a nice name!" Jizou chirped, the little boy grew a light blush on his cheeks
"Chippu!" said Yamao once more.
"Wait what? So you're King Enma's son? I thought he only had girls!" Jizou extended his arms in shock "But… if I am Enma's grandson and you're his son… then that means…" the spiky haired boy paused a moment and crossed his arms.
"We have to fight each other to become king, right?!" Jizou turned at his little relative once again.
"Chippu…?" Yamao tilted his head in confusion.
"Come on then, let's end this right here right now!" The over-enthusiastic Jizou put on his most serious glare and clenched both of his fists in an offensive stance… But all he got in response was Yamao offering to let him borrow his kendama.
"Oh… o-okay" the former child said, holding the aforementioned toy.
"You know what? I like you! So I guess we both can become kings" Jizou smiled, reaching for one of his younger relative's hands to hold it "Let's be friends, okay?"
As for Yamao, the little boy couldn't help but smile back, being a prince was a rather lonely role, so the fact he inadvertently made a new friend made him very happy, so much that he took away his pacifier and smooched Jizou on the cheek.
"Hahaha, you're a cute one aren't you?" the two boys let out a hearty laugh. They both enjoyed each other's company for another while, watching the fire birds fly by, it was an overall very calming setting, at least until…
"Aha! So that's where you have been!" a less-than-happy Venoct cried from not too far.
"Ch—Chippu!" Yamao jumped over the sudden disturb.
"Do you have any idea on the trouble me and Zazel would get in if we lost sight of you two?!" but before Venoct could say anything else, the two boys rapidly flew the scene.
"No! Come back here!" the snake yokai cried as he gave them chase.
Ever since that fateful encounter, the two young yokai bonded closer, as Jizou had to move to the palace to begin his training as an Enma, he and Yamao grew to love each other like brothers, always doing everything together, even if they had their own separate beds they would mostly share the same one. It was even said that when Yamao learned to talk, he was so shy that he would only talk to Jizou and his father.
And so more memories continued to flash…
"aaaaaAAAAAAAAH…" a small trembling voice echoed in the halls in middle of the night, making its way to the room of the young heirs, the noise was loud enough to wake Yamao up; while it was hard to tell who was the one responsible for the commotion in such a dim light, he was able to tell in the entrance of the room was a shaking Jizou standing on his knees and arms, gasping for air.
"Big bro? what happened?" Yamao got up from bed to tend to his surrogate sibling.
Jizou slowly stood up on his feet with the help of his little brother.
"Ah… Hah… I just went to get a glass of water but… the halls are so dark" he replied, his voice shaking as he tried to hold back the tears.
"Why didn't you wake me up so I could go with you?" the sleepy boy inquired, wiping his eyes and letting out a half-hearted yawn. To which Jizou lowered his head grabbing onto the bottom of his pajama shirt "No! I-I have to do this on my own… no one… no one loves a king that is afraid of the dark…"
Next thing Jizou felt a couple of warm hands gently holding his own, he looked up to see Yamao gently smiling at him "Big bro… I know you're gonna be a great king someday, people will love you regardless of your fear!"
"How do you know that? Is it because of your clairvoyance?" Jizou tilted his head.
"No… Well…. Yes? But I just know this because…. You're not king yet and I already love you!" the younger boy nuzzled the older one on his cheek.
"Ahaha! H-hey that tickles!" Jizou giggled, nuzzling back. He knew he could count on Yamao to support him no matter what.
Time kept passing, through Zazel's tutoring, it was starting to become more and more evident that out of the two, Jizou was the best candidate to become king, his yokai powers were slowly starting to manifest in the form of weak fire magic and slight astral projection; whereas other than Yamao's clairvoyance, his powers still mostly remained dormant, most people in the palace were worried that this would make Yamao grow bitter and jealous of his nephew, but…
"Are you sure you don't mind? I mean… you are the son of King Enma…" asked a worried Jizou, staring into the sea's horizon.
"So long as I can be of help and remain by your side… I don't care about being king" he answered with a smile, as he scribbled both of their names on the sand with a small twig.
The spiky haired boy was so touched by these words that he couldn't help but pull his little relative into a big hug; the two children would nuzzle each other's cheeks like nothing else mattered in the world, not even noticing how their names were erased from the sand by the ocean's waves.
Rumor has it that there was no better teamwork than of these two young yokai, whenever one fell, the other would always help to get up; Yamao's emotional support was essential for Jizou to overcome all of Zazel's harsh battle training sessions. That's not to say whenever Yamao fell into the pits of self-doubt, Jizou would serve as his strength as well.
But whenever they weren't concerning themselves with their futures, they would enjoy the simplicity of childhood by turning the Palace into their own playground, whether it playing hours and hours of hide-n-seek in the houses of the Enma daughters, tossing around a ball on the gardens, running down the long corridors playing a game of tag, occasionally pulling pranks on the personal of the palace, including the likes of poor Vacuumory and Venoct.
The years keep going by, and although the heirs' relationship was as strong as ever, unaware to them was that the same couldn't be said about King Enma's health condition, as his old age was starting to deteriorate his strength. And with the rumors spreading around about his life nearing to an end, so did the rumors about rebels and traitors within the castle planning to take over the throne, this could only bring more stress to the slowly fading yokai king, therefore drastic measures had to be taken…
One fateful day, the king called to an emergency meeting on the throne room. Venoct and Zazel were standing next to the oversized King; these meetings usually involve gathering all members of the royal family or the yokai council, but this time around only Jizou and Yamao were summoned.
"Dad? What's wrong? A-are we in trouble?" unable to face his father directly, Yamao fidgeted with his fingers, embracing the possibility that they were about to get the scolding of their life.
"Listen, I know bringing all those stray nyans to the palace was a bad idea but did my aunties really have to leave because of it?" Jizou crossed his arms and pulled a most forced pouty face.
King Enma cleared his throat before he began speaking.
"My children, what's in the past is in the past; today we have a few announcements to make, I am aware that you two are not too keen on listening to an old man talking for hours, but I assure you that this is of upmost importance to the both of you…"
The two young yokai looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what to expect, they sat down on their knees and lent their ears to the elder King.
"As you may have noticed, I have grown too old and sick; this almighty king is no longer who he used to be… I'm afraid that in my current condition I'm most certainly unable to protect this kingdom from peril, especially one that could begin from this very pala-" but before he could continue, a coughing fit took over the elder's lungs. Zazel and Venoct's immediate reaction was to approach King Enma to aid him, but he quickly got over it and assured that everything was okay, but no one in the room looked any convinced about that.
"S-so… are you saying that there could be people inside the palace that could attack us..?" Yamao's voice and body shook in fear.
"So what?! Zazel said that I already have enough power to wipe a yokai army with my fire spells alone, so we should be okay, right?!" Jizou stood up taking a battle-ready stance.
To which the elder Enma shook his head.
"Jizou… while it is true that your powers are blooming at a steady pace, unleashing all that power without having fully mastered it could put everyone in danger, including Yamao and yourself".
The spiky haired yokai could feel his fighting spirit abandoning his body as soon as he realized the possibility of hurting is beloved little brother were he not to be careful, he sat back once again, face full of disappointment.
"I already have discussed this with the princesses a couple of times, and we ultimately decided that for their own safety they had to hide away far from this yomakai. Therefore…"
King Enma paused to let out a most melancholic sigh before continuing.
"Therefore, for security measures, it would be the best for you too to evacuate as well…"
"G-grampa? I don't like where this is going…" Jizou furrowed his brow
"Wait… where.. where are we going to go?" Yamao asked, clutching his chest with both of his hands.
"Jizou, you will be escorted by Zazel to the northernmost yomakai, the Genbu Archipelago. There you shall complete your studies as an Enma until it's safe for you to come back to claim the throne."
The elder yokai then directed his sight at Yamao.
"Yamao, my dear son… I have no doubt that an amazing power slumbers within you, but until that power doesn't awaken, you're best taking cover in the human realm; you shall be escorted there by Venoct."
"But then… that means we won't see each other again…" a distressed Yamao said, stepping back at the awful realization.
"I am afraid so—" The king once again began coughing again, much to the concern of his two henchmen. They could only watch helplessly how Enma's health was slowly decaying with every passing minute.
"W-What are you talking about?! Y-you can't just decide take Yamao away from me! I can just get a better hold of my powers so I can protect him!"
"Jizou—"
"Is it… is it because I'm weak? I…I can… I will study harder to awake my powers I swear! Just don't separate me from Jizou!"
"Yamao! Jizou! That's enough!" The king raised his voice loud enough to make the two creatures flinch into silence.
"Listen… You two are the future of this kingdom, as no one but you can inherit the power of Enma… so if anything were to happen to the both of you, the fate of the yokai world could easily fall into wicked hands….
So… for everyone's safety it is best for you to separate."
After these last words from their parental figure, despair began to become visible in the faces of the two young heirs. At the bottom of their hearts they knew this was eventually going to happen, the hints were all there: the princesses suddenly disappearing, the lack of council meetings as of late, personnel from the castle suddenly quitting their jobs, they had the feeling something was wrong; there was nothing Jizou and Yamao dreaded more than the possibility of being separated from each other eventually, and it seemed like such day came sooner than later.
"But… this is gonna be for a short while.. right? A few months? A year?" the younger one asked, trying to hold onto a false hope, however, he got no response from his father.
"I… I see… I… I must take my leave!" Not being able to digest the terrible news, Yamao placed both hands on his face and ran off from the place as fast as he could. Jizou, who saw his little relative fleeing from the scene, he turned back at his elder with tears rolling down from his eyes
"Grandpa! You're awful!" after yelling this, the spiky haired boy went to follow Yamao to wherever he ran to.
"Wait, where do you think you're going—" Venoct was readying himself to give chase to the two children, however a big hand was placed before him which stopped him for taking any further action.
"Leave them alone Venoct… The least we can give them is some space right now." King Enma said with a serious tone. The serpentine yokai could only just gaze at the direction Yamao ran off to with a worried expression that said he was more concerned about the little child than he admitted to.
After running for quite a while, Jizou finally found Yamao sitting by the lake, at the very same spot they met for the first time; but this time instead of playing with a kendama, Yamao was bawling his eyes out.
"Yamao!" Jizou cried as he rapidly approached the crying child, who upon hearing his name, quickly jumped out of the bench to run straight into his older relative's arms. The two of them hugged as if they were going to disappear from this world.
"Big bro… I'm scared; I don't wanna go to the human world, not without you…" the younger one whimpered as he buried his face deeper into Jizou's chest.
"And I don't wanna go to some deserted islands without you. We're a team!" Jizou replied, tightening his hug, tears starting to roll down from his face as well.
"I'm so sorry big bro. This is all because I have no powers, if… if I wasn't so weak then maybe…"
"What about me?!" Jizou interrupted.
"If I had better control over my powers then… then I would be able to protect you… they wouldn't feel the need to separate us… right?" at this last part Jizou's voice had started to break, trying his best not to burst out crying.
Without breaking apart, the two children stood in silence, until Yamao began speaking again.
"What… what is gonna happen to us? Are we never gonna see each other again?" the little one shifted to make eye contact with his surrogate brother.
Jizou closed his eyes and stood in silence a few seconds before finally answering "No… This can't be the end; I will make sure it is not!"
"Jizou…"
"I promise you that once I become king, I will find you again. I-I don't know how or when, but I promise you I won't rest until… Until we're together again…and…and we will become the best rules this world has ever seen!"
The two boys resumed crying and embracing each other as much as they could, seeing as these could be their last moments together.
Back at the throne room, Enma and his servants were discussing the next steps to take on the plan to evacuate the children.
"My liege, if I may ask something…" Zazel stood before the king and kneeled down.
"What is it, Zazel?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong but… were not you planning to eventually separate the yokai and the human world in order to stop yokai from further corrupting? Wouldn't the prince become isolated from the human realm as soon as the law takes effect?" the white haired man asked, lifting his head to make eye contact with his superior.
"Oh Zazel, I'm afraid I won't be able to live long enough to set that plan into motion…" the king closed his eyes as he held his beard.
"W-what?!" a wide-eyed Zazel asked in shock.
"I guess… it will be up to Jizou to decide whether to close the doors that connect both worlds together or keep them opened." The large yokai answered as he coughed a couple of times.
"M-My liege, are you seriously gonna leave such important task on the hands of a mere chi-"
"Your Majesty, if I may interrupt? I have some concerns regarding the prince's relocation as well." Venoct interrupted, mimicking the same kneeling position Zazel was taking, much to the white haired yokai's annoyance.
"We really never trained prince Yamao to survive in the human world. Could you please elaborate on how we will go on hiding him there?" the serpentine yokai inquired.
"Ah… this is the tricky part of the plan." Enma leaned forward resting elbows on his knees, clasping hands together near his chin.
"To ensure that Yamao is not easily identified by enemy forces, he is to be given to a human family, assume a new identity as a human and take a human name as well…"
"But… isn't that gonna be too much for him? Being a yokai that knows nothing about humans, he's gonna have trouble adapting to the human world!" Venoct inquired further, growing progressively concerned about where this conversation was going to.
"Yes… that is why I have called an specific yokai to aid me for this." as soon as the regal one spoke these ones, a cloud of purple smoke materialized right next to him. Once it dissipated, it revealed it was none other than the yokai Vacuumory.
"You called, Your Majesty?" The turtle-like yokai took a bow to appropriately greet his superior
"Vacuumory, my friend… it is with the utmost pain that I must request of you, when the time is right… I need you to take away all of Yamao's memories, I will handle the part where I alter his mind so he believes he has always been a human"
"Your Majesty…" said both Venoct and Zazel in unison.
"…Would you like me to take the memories of lord Jizou as well?" Vacuumory asked, in a rather gloomy tone.
"… Just make sure he forgets everything about Yamao, I'm afraid his strong attachment may get in the way of his training." The large yokai sighed deeply, not being entirely convinced about his own plans in the slightest bit; but as they said… desperate times call for desperate measures.
From that point out, the memories that flashed became blurrier and blurrier with every passing second; the two children tried their best to distance away from each other to ease the pain from eventually separating forever, with little to no avail.
The last memory they had of being together of them being at the Hexpress station, crying their eyes out, futilely trying to run away from their respective guardians, suddenly, they were both ambushed with a blurry yellow figure that seemed to be carrying a vacuum shaped object.
"Uugh… what… where I…" the voice of Enma murmured as he slowly opened his eyes; next to him was a sleepy Lucas, who was also struggling to wake up.
"Ugh… who turned on that light…?" the black haired boy mumbled covering his face with one hand.
Both boys noticed they were still in the same place as they were before they felt unconscious, but instead of being near the shrine, they were resting under a nearby tree surrounded by flowers petals that had fallen from it.
"Lucas?" asked the spiky haired king.
"…Yeah?"
"I just had a dream…"
"I… I don't think that was a dream, E-Enma"
Enma noticed how Lucas voice was breaking as he said that, he immediately got up and saw that the younger one was trying to wipe tears from his face.
"h-hey Lucas, why are you… come on, let me help you up" the blonde grabbed one of Lucas' arms and helped him sit up at eye level, Lucas made eye contact with Enma, face full of tears and a half-hearted smile.
"It… sure has been a while hasn't it… Jizou?"
And before Enma could even react, he felt Lucas wrapping him in a tight hug; before long, Enma also felt something warm running across his cheeks, ah… guess he was crying too.
"To think you were right in front of me all this time… Yamao" he said, returning the hug just as tightly.
"It's all clear now, the reason I was feeling homesick… it was not because I missed my life as a prince, but because I missed being with my family…" the black haired boy sobbed, burying his face on Enma's shoulder.
"Haha… then I suppose the reason I've been feeling so lonely is because I missed my best buddy in the whole world huh?" Enma nuzzled the other one, tickling him with his spiky hair and pointy ears.
There was a long, yet comfortable silence, both children tearing up, holding each other as if it had been thousands of years since they last saw each other, none or the other wanting to move at all.
"Such a best buddy I turned out to be, when I couldn't keep a single memory about you…" Lucas lamented, finally breaking the hug, he tried once again to wipe away his tears and readjusting his glasses.
"Hey now… is not your fault that the old fool wiped our memo… wait…" Enma tilted his head slightly, noticing a weird item near Lucas' leg "what's that thing?".
Lucas turned to the other direction and there was indeed a small cylindrical-shaped object, it seemed like a paper scroll or sorts "Maybe Vacuumory left it behind by accident?"
Out of sheer curiosity, Lucas opened the scroll, widening his eyes a bit after reading the very first line "it's… it's actually addressed to us!" he exclaimed.
"What?! What does it say?" the young king asked, basically smushing his face against Lucas' so he was able to read as well.
"To my dear children, Yamao and Jizou.
By the time you are reading this letter, I had been long gone, and hopefully one of you has been already crowned king, I have ordered my vassal Vacuumory to deliver this letter to you when the time was right.
I know you may be feeling confused and even angry at me for ordering to forcefully take away all your memories; and indeed not a single day ever passes without me deeply regretting having to sever the wonderful bond you two shared, but with the little time I had left, and my illness slowly eating away what I had left of common sense, I had no other choice…I do not ask to be forgiven, but I hope one day you understand I only did this because I love you with every fiber of my decaying soul.
However, it is with relief that I say that my soul will be able to rest peacefully, because I'm confident that I'm leaving my legacy to most capable hands.
Jizou, you got power that excels my expectations, you're wise beyond your age, and your desire to keep learning and improving yourself more and more are surely going to take you far someday.
Yamao, you face the unknown with no fear, but the love and compassion in your heart knows no boundaries, and while you may believe that I send you to the human world because your powers still remain dormant; I want you to know that I believe you will understand humans better than anyone.
Indeed, you two possess qualities worth of a king, qualities that complement each other quite beautifully, and although the crown can only be held by one person, I ask of you to keep supporting each other, the path to being a good ruler should never be a lonely one.
I really wish, I could have spent more time with you… but alas, fate had other plans for us it seems… so to conclude, I will leave… my last words to you.
I am truly proud of you, my beloved children.
Atte.
Great King Enma"
"Father… I… I understand" Lucas sighed, trying his best not to burst out crying again.
"Oh geez… now I feel bad for calling him 'old fool'" Enma furrowed his brow in awkwardness, scratching the back of his neck.
"He left us this letter because he knew we would be reunited one way or another…" the black haired boy smiled weakly, rolling over the letter and placing it on Enma's hands.
"Well, I guess we can't disappoint pops now, right?" Enma said, both yokai gazed once more at their predecessor's monument.
Then, they both resumed enjoying each other's company in silence for a while longer…
A couple of hours later, the sun was already setting and night was falling in, at the front of the palace gates, the two young boys were standing facing each other.
"Wait, are you really going to leave?! After all that happened today?" asked a rather frustrated Enma.
"Y-Yes, I have to return to the human world…" Lucas averted his eyes.
"But why? We were supposed not to separate again!" the blonde inquired.
"Jizo—I mean, Enma… remember what father wrote? He did send me to the human world for a reason, I'm supposed to give guidance to the yokai watch bearers with my clairvoyance…
And besides… You're doing a wonderful job at ruling over the yokai world, I don't think I will be much of a help to you with my powers still being dormant… not yet, anyway" Lucas grabbed one of his arms, still avoiding making eye contact.
Enma didn't say anything in return, but he was not entirely convinced of Lucas' words either; the black haired boy stepped closer and grabbed both of Enma's hands.
"But we're not actually going to break apart again! Venoct has shown me the route to reach the palace, so I can always come visit you, and you can come visit me too! We can send letters to each other and we can teach each other things about our respective worlds…
We will still be together, just… living at different houses, it will be just like before you moved to the palace, remember?" the younger one attempted to cheer his big brother up with a sincere smile.
"Hah, I wish things were just as simple as they used to be back then" the blonde shrugged, this time his golden eyes were the ones avoiding looking directly to Lucas' face.
"Please trust me… I promise you, I will never let anyone break us apart ever again" Lucas comforted, closing his eyes and gently pressing his forehead against Enma's.
There was a pause of silence, before the older yokai finally smiled and returned the motion "I trust you… and I will promise that as well".
But before Enma could say or do anything else, Lucas quickly placed a small kiss on his cheek.
"Ahaha… you're gonna make me get used to those, aren't you?" Enma laughed with delight.
After that, the two boys nodded at each other before letting go of each other's hands, Lucas called for his snake friend, who appeared almost immediately out of thin air.
"Venoct, you actually waited for me after all this time! Sorry I took so long…" Lucas scratched his head in embarrassment.
"It's fine… I already knew you two had a lot to catch up to" the serpentine yokai reassured, he then directed his stare at Enma.
"Your Majesty…"
"Venoct… you haven't grown up a single inch, have you?"
"I hope you have been drinking your milk, your majesty, unless you want to end up like me" Venoct shrugged.
"Tch…" was all the blonde could say, immediately regretting his snark, Lucas couldn't help but chuckling a little.
After waving their goodbyes, Venoct and Lucas walked away in search for the Mirapo that would send them back to the human world. Enma just watched as they disappeared from sight, but not unaware that Zazel was approaching him.
"Are you sure about this, your majesty?" inquired the tall white haired man.
"Well, Learning about the fact that I completely forgot about my little bro it's gonna take some time getting used to I suppose!" the blonde placed both arms on the back of his head.
"You know that's not what I meant…" Zazel shook his head, Enma had to regain his serious composure again.
"…Actually, I'm not really sure at all, but Yamao's hunch has never been wrong, so if he says that things should stay like this for now, then I will trust him…
Besides, knowing that there's someone out there who is rooting out for me… that I'm not alone anymore… it makes me really happy, and I know he feels the same way too..." Enma once again looked at the horizon, noticing that Lucas had turned back once again to give one last look to his home… It was kind of far away, but Enma could tell that Lucas was smiling.
There it was, that smile that he loved so much.