Chapter VI: Louie, Louie, Louie, Louie…
I was so incredibly nervous. This would be the first time I'd seen Loue since he was 9. He was 27 now. I missed his teenaged years and his early-adult years. As my family and I wandered about town, trying to find the gate, I wondered what Loue had become. I already knew that he had followed in my and Dad's footsteps by becoming a military man, and I knew that he was engaged to the Crown Princess of Norad, meaning that he'd be King Consort someday. But that was all I knew.
My family and I (not including my parents) finally found the gate. I looked for a lone new recruit to ask about Loue's whereabouts. I wanted the soldier alone so that I could ask in complete privacy, and he needed to be a new recruit so that he wouldn't recognize me at all. I finally found one. "Excuse me, soldier," I whispered loudly to the boy, startling him. "When will Major Loue be coming back?"
"Oh, um, h-he should be back in about an hour and a half! …Sir!" the soldier replied. "There's no need to call a normal citizen Sir, soldier," I told the soldier. "S-Sorry!" he replied. "Never mind that," I said, brushing the matter aside. "When Major Loue comes back, tell him that someone is waiting for him in the secret hiding place." The soldier looked at me quizzically, but agreed. I took out my gold sack, and said, "10,000 Gold for your efforts, soldier," handing him the said amount. The soldier beamed and exclaimed, "Thank you, sir!" That time, I knew he wasn't talking to me as a superior.
After that, my family and I returned to my parents' house, but we didn't go inside. "No, the secret hiding spot is outside!" I said. "The entrance is under the porch. It used to be a storage center and shelter for this house in times of severe war hundreds of years ago." I then realized that in my absence, Loue may have neglected the passage. "Michol, do you sense any sort of life forms under the porch? Or objects like spider webs?" Michol immediately closed his eyes and acquired a serious face. "No," he said, "there's nothing there. It's completely clean. It's been like this since… very… early this morning…" Michol opened his eyes.
"Oh, God bless you, Loue," I thought, relieved. "Yosef's Gift must have touched you last night." …To make a long story short, Yosef's Gift is another name for prophetic dreams in Norad. I might tell you the legend later. "Looks like this is your lucky day, Michal!" Michal was thrilled. She has entomophobia, you see; she's terrified of bugs. In fact, the only bug that she's not afraid of is the ladybug. She loves them, in fact. But enough about that. My family and I crawled under the porch; I was leading the way. "Just follow me, everyone. I know it's extremely dark, but that'll change."
Finally, we entered the storage shelter. There was a lot of tumbling, and Kuruna's horn nearly skewered Michel, but managed to get in without any casualties. "It's so dark, Daddy!" Michol commented. "I know, Michol, but Daddy'll fix that very soon. Now, where's that light…?" I suddenly bumped into it. "Ow. …Here it is." I turned the light on, and the shelter was illuminated with an eerie glow.
"Creepy!" Michol squealed in his oh-so-adorable way. The place was just as I remembered it: it was as big as our bedroom, and the only thing in it was a large treasure chest and the lamp we put in here. "This place brings back memories… I hope Loue hasn't told anyone about this place," I mumbled. "This place is amazing!" Kuruna exclaimed. "Tell me, how did you come about this place, Honey?" I smiled. I saw no harm in telling her about this place. "You'd better get comfortable, 'cause this is a bit long," I said.
"Twenty-two years ago… My goodness, has it really been 22 years? Anyway, 22 years ago, when I was 16 and Loue was 5, I was babysitting Loue. Mom and Dad were out shopping for our basic necessities. Loue and I were just messing around on the porch, playing games like hide and seek and tag and the like. While we were playing hide and seek, I was it, and Loue went to hide. He crawled under the porch. However, he kept on crawling until he entered the shelter, which none of us knew was there. I was at 85 when I suddenly heard the call of, 'Big Brother!'
"When I heard Loue's cry, I immediately panicked, and asked where he was. 'Under the porch, Big Brother! Come under the porch!' So, that's what I did. I crawled under the porch, which, by the way, was filthy, wondering what in the world Loue could have found. When I finally reached the storage shelter, I could barely see anything. When my eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, I looked at Loue in shock. 'This place is incredible!' I said. 'Our own secret hiding place! Will this be our little secret?' I asked. Loue nodded, and we pinkie swore on it. 'Earth, Fire, Sea, Air! I declare a pinkie swear!' we recited.
"Suddenly, we both noticed the treasure chest right in the middle of the shelter. 'I wonder what's in there…' Loue said. 'Well, let's find out!' I replied. So we walked over to the treasure chest. 'Can I try to open it myself, Big Brother?' Loue asked me. 'I don't see why not,' I said, and Loue proceeded to try to lift the top. It was extremely heavy, though. After 30 seconds of struggling, I asked him, 'Would you like some help?' Loue shook his head and said, 'No, I can manage.'
"Unfortunately, I ended up having to help him. 'My goodness!' I said. 'This IS heavy!' But, we were able to open it. And boy, oh boy, it was something beautiful, let me tell you. 100,000 Gold, in fact." The jaws of my family dropped. "Yes, you heard me: 100,000 Gold. Loue and I had the same reaction. 'There's… just so much!' I said. 'Where are we going to put it all?' We just stood there for about a minute, marveling at our incredible find."
"What did you spend the money on?" Michel asked me. "It figures that Michel would ask that," I thought with a smile. "Nothing, actually," I said. "In fact, if my memory serves me correctly…" I had a bit of trouble remembering. Eighteen years and amnesia can do that to you. Then, I remembered. "Five steps to the left from the front of the treasure chest… turn right and walk four steps… turn left and walk three steps… and turn left again and walk three steps… The money should be right here!" I patted the spot with my paw to confirm it. "We put the money in wineskins made from monster hides. Mom worked at the vineyard at the time, so she taught me how to make them."
I realized something. "I wonder if Loue's been storing memories in the treasure chest… Kuruna, do you mind helping me lift the top?" I asked. Kuruna agreed, and we did, with a lot of effort. When we finally lifted the top, we found that there was only one thing in the chest: Loue's Diary. It even said that on the cover of the journal! "His… diary?" I said quizzically. "When in the world did he start a diary?"
I knew that it was wrong, but I decided to take a look through his diary, to find out what he had been through these pasts 18 years. I looked at the first page, and saw, "He started it exactly a year after my disappearance. …And he wrote in it on the first day of every season over these 17 years." I flipped to a random page in the journal, and found that it was the last entry that Loue had written. I looked through it, shocked at his hardships. I decided to read it to my family. Loue wouldn't be here for a while yet.
"Spring 1, Year 18 of Micah's Disappearance
Today I proposed to my sweetheart, Crown Princess Jane. She accepted my proposal, but she didn't smile. Although… even though she didn't smile, I could feel her aura, and it was overjoyed to the point of hysterics. I proposed to her with a Happy Ring with multiple Sapphires of different colours set into it, hoping that it would make her smile. However, I soon found out the reason why she didn't. Jane told me that we might not be able to have children. She's barren. I don't care, though. I love her with all my heart, soul, and mind. I can only hope for some miracle…
It's been exactly 18 years since Big Brother disappeared, and 8 years since he was publicly pronounced dead by who is now my future father-in-law. However, just because it was publicly pronounced doesn't make it true. King Vani has been sending search parties all over the globe for Micah, and lately, I've been being assigned to these search parties. None of the regular citizens know about the secret search parties; they only mourn his death. …I'm starting to lose hope. I'm beginning to believe that Micah really is dead. Killed by those 5 monsters… I never even got to say goodbye… I was mad at him that day for breaking his promise to spend time with me. Maybe if I hadn't been so stupid, he wouldn't have gone after those monsters… Maybe he was chasing those monsters for my sake…
I was so heartbroken when I found out that he was missing. I cried myself to sleep for a whole season. In the early days of Micah's disappearance, Mom and Dad fought a lot. They fought about Micah, they fought about me, they fought about who would pay for whatever necessity… Mom started to lose weight and get wrinkles. She looked old. It was heartbreaking… Then, I started to purposely hurt myself so I would feel Micah's pain. I wanted to know everything my brother had gone through. I was, and still am, so obsessed with him that I even joined Norad's military to imitate him. And, as you know, Diary, that's how I met Jane. I never realized how much Big Brother and I look alike until Jane mistook me for him. I had even styled my hair like him. I wanted to live up to my brother's legacy as a military man, but…
'I know you're trying to be like your brother, Captain-Lieutenant Loue, but… well, you're not Sergeant Micah. You're Captain-General Loue. Micah and Loue are two completely different entities. So be Loue, not Micah.' That's what the King told me. He was right. I stopped trying to be just like Micah, and went back to my true self. But, I'll always secretly wish to be like Big Brother. I've recently been promoted to Major, which I'm happy about, but I know that Micah would have been Captain-General by age 24. I'm 27."
"…Poor uncle Loue…" Michal said sadly. I could tell that this had affected her deeply. "I can't believe that he actually resorted to hurting himself… all for the sake of being just like me… DAMN IT! That idiot! That's how he lives up to my legacy? Imitating me to the point of trying to feel my pain? I never knew… I was such a huge role-model. This is my fault… I put my family through so much pain. Mom looked so healthy when I saw her! I never guessed that she and Dad had fought to the point of premature aging!"
I cried for a little bit, trying to think of how Loue felt, losing so much at such a young age. All I could do was cry. I couldn't go back in time to fix everything. I couldn't do anything but cry. And I hated it. After I got all of that out of my system, my family and I prepared for Loue's arrival. "He should be here in a few minutes," I said. We waited for a little bit, and Michol suddenly said, "Someone's coming this way." The lamp was low enough for the mood, and I had put Loue's diary away so he would never know that I had looked through it.
"Who's there?" we heard a voice coming towards us say. "No one knows about this place but me. Who's there?" When he climbed into the room and saw me with my wife and children, a look of disbelieve greeted me. "No… It… It can't be… Micah?" I smiled and nodded. However, as I feared, a look of absolute rage came over his face. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE, YOU…!" Fists raised, he came at me and punched me in the face. The blow sent me tumbling backwards into the wall. "You've… gotten stronger," I said, winded. "OF COURSE I DID, YOU IDIOT! EIGHTEEN YEARS IS A HELL OF A LONG TIME!" Loue proceeded to punch me again and again.
"Why aren't you fighting back, Micah? Has 18 years affected your ability to dodge and counter?" I wasn't able to reply. He was punching me extremely hard. I had told my family not to interfere with Loue's rage, but… once I started to cough up blood, Kuruna cast a paralyzing spell on Loue. "THAT'S ENOUGH, LOUE!" she shouted with extreme authority. "Ku…runa… Don't… interfere… I… deserve this…" I said weakly. "Release him…" Kuruna obeyed, but Loue suddenly seemed out of steam. "I was only going to punch you until you coughed up blood anyway, Micah." Casting a healing spell, he said, "Tell me, why are you here?"
I thanked him and explained my predicament. When Loue found out that I might die, a look of fear crossed his face. "I may have wanted to beat the living daylights out of you, but I don't want you to die!" he said, terrified. I turned to my family and said, "Forgive Loue, he can be rather curt." That's when I realized that I hadn't introduced my family to Loue. "Loue, these are my wife and children: Kuruna, Michal, Michel, and Michol." Loue walked up to each one of them. He gave Kuruna a peck on the cheek, kissed Michal's hand (to which Michal blushed severely), shook hands with Michel, and hugged Michol. "You three kids can call me Uncle Loue. Kuruna, you may call me whatever you'd like. …Wait a moment… Are you a univir?"
Kuruna grinned and said, "Yes, I'm the Elder of the Univir Settlement in Sol Terrano Desert. I'm more than 4 times your age, comrade." Loue's eyes widened, and said to me, "I know you were always a ladies man, Micah, but how did you manage a catch like her?" I smiled and shrugged. "I honestly have no idea myself. I've never been able to figure out how I was able to convince her to live in harmony with the humans of Sharance." Kuruna grinned even more, seeming amused. "You were in Sharance?" Loue exclaimed. "We looked all over the world for you, and we never thought to look in Sharance? By all the Gods of every religion, we have got to be some of the densest soldiers in the world…"
"Dad's the mayor of Sharance, Uncle Loue," Michel chimed in. "He has been for about… 5 years now." Loue seemed impressed by this. "Knowing your leadership, I'm sure Sharance is the most incredible villages in the world," Loue said. I blushed slightly and said, "Well, I-I don't know about that… A-Anyway, Loue, I'd like you to help me to defeat Palermo's Monster God. Would you like to help?" Loue smiled and nodded, saying, "Anything for Big Brother." I did a little happy dance and cheered. Everyone looked away, embarrassed for me.
When Kuruna and I went to bed that night in my old bedroom (which was also Loue's), she asked me something that I won't forget: "Why didn't you fight back?"
"Because I deserved much more than I got."
My goodness, this was a very, very, very long chapter. The title is a bad reference to the '70s song Brother Louie, just to let you know. Oh, and, anyone who gets how I got the coordinates of where the money was stored in the ground gets a lifetime supply of the virtual snack of their choice. It's a doozy! The answer is somewhere in this chapter, by the way. Oh, and that person also gets to name the next chapter if the correct guess is made within a month.
