Title:Ghost
Genre: Drama/ Angst
Rating: K+
Pairing: None
Warnings: 2nd person POV, some bad language, angsty, spoilers for the game.
Disclaimer: I don't own Mother *sad face*
Summery: What do you do when everything you've ever known and thought you would have forever is suddenly ripped away from you? How does a young child deal with something like this? I want to help him, but all I can do is watch.

Ghost

You're alone, but then again, that's nothing new. You stay hidden in your house, alone, not even letting your faithful dog (who hopes everyday that you'll come out and play) in.

Flint, your father, is never around either. He bottles everything up and holds on to that last shred of hope that his son, your brother, is still alive somewhere. He thinks that he'll just find him wandering around lost in the woods after all these months of being missing. You know he's wrong but you refuse to be cruel and tell him so.

You miss him during the day, but at night when he's home you wish he would go away. The silence between you two is heavy and you hardly look at each other anymore. Both of you are just too scared to look at the other's eyes and see the sadness and accusations which lie dormant in you both. You both know how you feel, but you two refuses to air it out because you know if you do that nothing will ever be the same.

He doesn't hate you though Lucas, he just doesn't know what to do. I bet you don't realize he checks up on you during the night. If he wakes up from a nightmare (Adults still have dreams Lucas) he'll go to check that you're still asleep and safe in your bed. Did you ever wonder why the covers were always more snug around you when you woke up then when you went to bed? He still loves you Lucas, he always will.

You're very young to lose half your family like that. You're only eight. You are at the point that you understand what death is and why your mom isn't going to be coming back and that the same might as well be said about your brother, but you don't understand how to cope. So you do what most kids do and you follow your father's example.

Flint won't let you go with him to look for Claus so you lock the front door after him and stay inside all day. Friends and townspeople try to get you to talk, to play, or to even give you food but you stay hidden under your blankets of your bed and pretend.

Hinawa is making food in the kitchen, some kind of beef stew, and it smells delicious. Flint is getting the table ready and talking softly with his wife. You hear Claus' voice, your brother's voice, calling for you. He tells you it's dinner time and within seconds you kick the covers off of you and race into the kitchen.

Only to find it empty.

No one besides your self is here and you are left feeling a strange emptiness in both your heart and your stomach. Soon the emptiness in your stomach begins to hurt so you decide that while you can't fill the empty feeling in your heart, you can fill the one in your stomach. So you make a sandwich.

You're half way done eating the sandwich when you realize that the last sandwich you ever had was one made by your mother and it was so much better than the one you are eating at the moment.

Once you start crying, you just can't stop. The sandwich falls to the ground; along with your tears. You are bawling into your hands on the ground and you wished more than anything that your mother was there to hold you and tell you what to do. You cry yourself to sleep on the hard floor and you're asleep for hours. By the time you wake up, the sun is setting and your father will be home soon. You clean up the mess you made and go to your room and hide under the covers again.

Years go by and many things change. The number of people who tried to help you in the beginning has dwindled down to two: Fuel and Tessa.

You hardly see your father anymore. He's taken to sleeping in the woods or staying at the inn so he can stay closer to the forest. If he ever has anything to say to you, he'll ask someone else to relay the message to you. You haven't actually seen your father face to face in weeks.

You've become distant Lucas. No one knows what you're thinking anymore so they just leave you alone. But that's how you want it though, isn't it? You want to be alone because being alone is easier then caring about someone only to have them taken away. Even as you set off on your journey, you still hold yourself together.

You never cry like you used to, not since that one day in the kitchen where you broke down and cried. Ever since then your eyes have been dryer then the desert and your emotions reigned in tightly. You continue hard towards your goal with two strangers and a dog by your side. You tell yourself that it's only for a little while, that you shouldn't get attached. If you do, in the end they'll just leave you and it'll be too painful once again.

You're so numb Lucas. So very comfortably numb. Nothing seems to make you feel, and you don't even feel angry or upset when you wake in the middle of the night and hear Kumatora and Duster talking about you. You worry them, the way you keep everything inside. You do nothing but close your eyes and force yourself to block them out.

I wonder about myself sometimes and what I have to do with you. No one seems to see or hear me as I follow you around. It's almost like I'm forced to follow you though. The moment I try to walk away, I'm dragged to whatever direction you are going towards. It's annoying at times, but it's not really that bad. I just wish I could do more for you.

You don't seem to hear me, but if suggest something to you or tug on your shirt to make you go a certain direction, you follow me. There are some things you won't do or places you won't go either because of obstacles or because you just don't want to and it makes me feel better about the fact that I could be somewhat leading you into danger. You still have free will to do what you wish, I'm glad.

But overall, you're a much better kid than I ever was Lucas. You're going to save the world, save all the people from being destroyed (Even though some of these people deserve to die). I could never do that. All I can do is stand and watch you as you fight and bleed and grasp your emotions even tighter than before.

You feel a strange feeling of familiarity when you meet that guy with the mask. I know, I can feel it too. The strange sense makes you feel something else you haven't felt in a long time.

Hope.

You aren't sure why you feel it, but you do and you find yourself wanting to meet with that masked man again, even though you know he is an enemy.

The journey gets harder as you go on, and it was especially hard on that island after you ate those horrible mushrooms. It…It was horrifying to watch. I can only assume what you saw as you stumbled through the forest. It almost would've been funny if it wasn't so heartbreaking the way you touched monsters, nearly crying (but you still didn't shed a tear), as you called it by your brother's name.

Never had I ever wished more for you to feel me hug you. But you don't, no matter how hard I hug you and no matter how much I cry for you. Your life has touched me so much since I have been with you for three years. I know you so well, but you don't even know I exist. It's hard, but all I am is a ghost of a person.

Your adventure is coming to an end and you are now in New Pork City. You learn truths from Leder about your "innocent" hometown and you meet the one responsible for it all. For three years you've kept your emotions wound up tight inside. They're starting to leak now though. I can feel your anger, no, not anger-fury.

This man, if you can call him that, created these horrible machines and cyber animals and is the reason you've suffered in near silence for the past three years. Why your father is never home. Why your mother is buried six feet under. Why your brother is missing (but oh so close). He's why everything has gone to hell.

I've never seen such a look on your face before Lucas. It scares me. You scared me. I will admit that it made me leery around you for a few moments, but I could only empathize with you as time went by. I guess seeing the man who destroyed your life can do that to you.

You continue onward, down into the deep caverns that the elevator drops you to. You feel heart beating rapidly and you clench and unclench your fists many times before letting them swing limply by your sides.

That's when your father shows up. He tells you that he has to make sure about something and runs ahead. He doesn't even stop to really look at you, but you look at him. His hair has gotten grey around the back and his ears. There are lines on his face and a look of determination borderline obsession in his eyes.

He's gotten so old these past three years, you realize.

You run ahead, chasing your father, until you finally meet up with him. He's stiff and staring blankly at nothing when you reach him. He tells you that he's finally found him, that he's finally found Claus.

The masked man is Claus.

It isn't hard for someone who has spent the last three years by your side to tell what you're feeling. The horror and shock is flooding your bright blue eyes to the point I thought you might almost cry. You didn't of course, but you seemed so close.

You numbly nod and continue onward; unaware of the concerned looks your friends are sending you. Your response even seems to awake your father for a bit as he looks at you as if for the first time in a long while.

Porky is pretty easy to beat actually, when you're putting all your anger and hatred into attacks. I think you would've actually killed him Lucas, if he hadn't gotten into that safe ball of his. For your sake, I'm a little relived; but the look on your face looks like one of a predator that lost its prey.

Scary.

Now if this was a video game, I'd have to say that facing the masked man/your brother is the final boss. I can't turn away as the battle begins, even as it's only the two of you fighting. The emotions you've wound up so tight are starting to unravel Lucas.

But you're still not crying.

In a way, I know you want to attack him. You want to bring out all that rage and sadness you have and unleash it on your brainwashed brother, but I can't let you do that. I gather all the strength I have and pull you into an embrace.

During the years I've found that I can touch and even move things if I put my mind and all my energy into it. Even if I touched you, or someone else, they never seemed to feel me though.

When you tried to move, you found yourself unable to.

I'm crying. I'm crying for you Lucas, and not just you, but for everyone. You don't deserve this, and you definitely don't deserve to have your brother's death on your hands; so I continue to hold you back from something you'd regret.

I wonder what's going through your mind. I wonder why you think you can't move. Soon enough though, I loose strength and I'm not able to stop you anymore. I'm weak and I can only pray that you don't commit a horrible sin in your rage.

But you didn't, and it's thanks to your mother's spirit.

She spoke to you and your brother in such a gentle loving voice. Such a voice was finally able to pull Claus out from his deep sleep. Claus was clenching his eyes shut with pain before sighing and finally opening. He had a look on his face as he smiled at you Lucas. I recognized that look Lucas, that's the one you get on your face when you have an idea.

He raised his electric sword and shot you with lighting.

For a moment, I forgot that you were wearing that badge that reflected it. Fear rippled through me as I saw it go towards you-only to be relieved when it bounced right off you.

That relieve turned to horror as I saw the smile on your brother's face (So much like your own). The lighting hit him with deadly accuracy. There was a ringing in my ears, but I could still hear your scream over it.

You ran towards your brother calling his name and Claus staggered forward. He fell into your arms and you embraced your brother for the first time in three years.

Do you remember it now Lucas? Do you remember what he smells like?

His voice is cracked with pain and he can hardly even speak at all. The electricity that rode through his body is making him spasm in your hold, but you don't care. You hold him as tight as you can and tell him you love him and why would he do something like that. Even as he asks you if you can ever forgive him and he looks at you with big sad eyes (or eye, I guess, since only one is real anymore) and tears go down his cheek.

You can tell he's dying and it kills you. You want to cry for once but you can't. You've locked it away for so long; you don't even remember how to simply cry. You tell him that you'll always forgive him and you kiss his cheeks and his forehead and Claus gives you a small but happy smile before he dies in your arms.

I'm not sure how long you sat there Lucas, just holding your brother in your arms, but after a while your father had put a hand on your shoulder and whispered to you. You blinked as if coming out of a dream. You set Claus' body down with a gentleness that was borderline reverence and mechanically made your way to the final needle. I, of course, followed.

Pulling the final needle and listening and feeling the world be destroyed and then blessed was one hell of an ordeal. It was scary, but you didn't seem to care at all Lucas. You just stood there with your head down and biting your lip till it bled.

I wish you could feel me as I put my arms around your shoulders; as I hugged you. You never do though.

Suddenly, everything goes black and I let go of you in surprise. In the dark, I try to feel around to where I am but to no avail. Suddenly I hear voices, Kumatora's and Duster's and even Flint's. There are a lot more voices but I'm too surprised to really pay any attention. Their speaking to someone and that someone is me!

I'm excited that they can finally hear me so I ask them questions like where is Lucas and other such things. They don't answer my questions though; they act like they are reading pages off a script. In the end, they don't really hear me either.

Lucas…It's painful to hear you speak to me. I've wanted you to know I'm here for so long and now you know about me, but yet it's like I'm not even really there. You lie to me, to me of all people, and tell me you're okay. No you're not Lucas, you are definitely not okay. But even as your voice says goodbye and I'm left alone in this darkness crying I can't find myself to blame you.

Because after all you've been through, you don't really don't even live anymore Lucas. You just go through the motions blankly and emotionlessly. You're like me Lucas.

You're like a ghost.

Owari

Inumaru12: Well, that was different. This started off only going to be about Lucas, but it ended up being about the player too. I hope that it tenses didn't seem weird or the fact in was in this point of view. I'm trying out a few stories in this POV and doing different things. Hopefully you all liked it~

I'm sure it was obvious also, but near the end I can't remember for the life of me when Flint appeared. Haha. Feel free to point that out and tell me I'm wrong, XD. Anyway, yay for getting another story out before I have to go back to school tomorrow! *Cries about having to go back to school* I probably should've updated Don't Fear The Reaper but oh well~!

Anyway, please leave a review and tell me what you thought!