Chapter 12 - October 4, 199X - Lucas' Tune and New/Old Friends

I couldn't sleep at all that night.

I went to bed at around 11 pm, and spent the better part of the night tossing and turning. My mind was restless; random past events flashing in front of my shut eyes and echoing in my ears. The jumbled memories clashing against each other, creating a cacophony of sounds in my head.

'Hey towhead. You dropped this.'

'You have really pretty eyes.'

'Ninten! Don't take the Lord's name in vain.'

'You two are fucking or what?'

'I don't tolerate inattentive students.'

'Aww, poor weakling's crying already?'

'Hey, Lloyd.'

'Lloyd, Everybody knows you can't lie to save your life.'

'I lost control for a moment.'

'Lloyd...'

"Wugh," I groaned, burying my face into the pillow and biting at its edges. I got up and slapped at the nightstand for my glasses. I placed them on my face and glanced at the clock; its arms pointed at exactly five in the morning. I gave up on the prospect of sleeping anytime soon, considering that I had to wake up an hour or so later. I hopped out of bed and padded towards the kitchen, yawning and scratching the side of my head. I downed a cold glass of water, checked out the fridge for no reason and returned to my room. Not a second after I stepped back inside, something heavy and angular crashed through the window. Startled, I let out a sharp gasp and stumbled backwards, accidentally knocking my glasses off my face as I fell. I sat up, fumbling at the floor for my lost lenses. Once I had them back at their rightful place, I took a look at whatever crashed through my window, which turned out to be a heavy-looking brick. I ran at the shattered window and looked outside. I spotted a shady silhouette of a person sprinting down the deserted street away from the house. I couldn't tell who were they. Mom barged into my room, a panicked expression painted on her face. She was in her housecoat and her hair was all ruffled from sleep.

"Sweetie? What happened?" she whispered.

"Somebody chucked a brick through the window, mom," I said, pointing at the heavy object that landed on the floor. She gasped and covered her mouth.

"Oh my goodness, are you hurt?" She immediately rushed at me and began inspecting me for any signs of potential damage.

"No, mom. I'm fine," I replied, breathing in her comforting scent, "Whoever threw it ran away. I couldn't see who."

"I'll.. I'll call your father," she said while standing up, and hurried downstairs for the phone. I shivered at the cold air seeping through the gash in the window. I stepped closer, careful not to cut my feet on the shattered glass and tried plugging up the hole with the biggest object I could find in my room, but that still left a small space for the nipping wind outside to sneak in. I almost cut my hand on the jagged edges, so I stepped away. I followed my mom downstairs. She was talking on the phone, nervously twirling the cord with a finger. She nodded, saying that she will inform the cops. She hung up then picked up the receiver again, dialling a three-digit code. I climbed back to my room, shivering at the frigid air that obliterated any semblance of warmth that was here a minute ago. It was around forty degrees outside, so no wonder my room got so cold this fast.

I trudged downstairs again, only to find mom sitting in the living room, absentmindedly staring at the floor and tapping her fingers on the couch arms. She told me that the cops won't do much apart from patrolling more often around our area. They seemed to think that some drunk most likely did it. I told her I won't be able to sleep in my room because it was now as cold as a meat locker. She offered her room, but I chose to roost in the living room instead. She told me she was going back to her room and she would be there if I needed her, before going upstairs. I stared vacantly through the living room window at the darkness outside. Whoever threw that brick couldn't have been a drunk. Drunks can't run that fast. At least not without falling over. I thought that it could have been the bullies from school, but they didn't knew where I live. What if someone told them or if they followed me home? I shuddered anxiously at the thought. I kept staring wide-eyed at nothing, only snapping out of it a while later. I got up and headed to my room, changed into my everyday clothes and packed my bag. I glanced at the alarm clock to find its arms pointing at quarter to six. I got downstairs and prepared a steaming mug of coffee and ate a few crackers for breakfast. It was 6 AM by the time I left the house. Usually, I woke up half an hour later on school days, so it felt strange walking out this early — The sun wasn't even fully up in the sky yet! I glanced back at the house, the large gash in my window was quite visible from the street. I hoped dad gets it replaced soon.

It was dumb luck the school was open at this ungodly hour. However, the hallways were unsurprisingly deserted, with only the cleaning lady roamed the school rooms. She was cleaning up the mess the kids left from the previous day and bemoaning the fact that every kid in Merrysville was just a filthy pig in disguise. I hoped the music classroom was open so I wouldn't have to listen to her complain. As I approached the aforementioned room, I heard a keyboard playing a soft tune I instantly recognized as the Moonlight Sonata. I doubted it was the teacher since she always showed up late for class, so who was playing this early? I peeked into the room, spotting a boy with a familiar lemon-yellow hair standing in the corner and playing the electric piano with his eyes shut.

Lucas?

I was about to step inside, but Lucas abruptly stopped playing, his fingers ghosting above a key for a few moments. Then he played a simple chord twice, and a peculiar light tune flowed out of the piano. I've never heard that melody before, but it had a certain sentimental feel to it, like it would've come out of a music box. Definitely memorable, though. I was distracted with staring at the way Lucas' fingers danced over the keyboard and listening to the music he played, so I jolted when I heard a soft whimper. I looked at his face again. His eyes were still shut tight, albeit rimmed with red like his nose. His lips were parted in a snarl, revealing tightly clenched teeth, his upper body rocked with weak sobs, and a steady stream of tears was flowing down his flushed face. He stopped playing altogether, hiding his face with both hands. My jaw dropped at the sight of Lucas crying. I was obviously intruding on a private moment, so I almost backed away before noticing that Lucas was very still. He still hid his face in his hands. I eyed him curiously for a whole minute.

"Heh."

I flinched. Did he just..?

"Eh-heh heh." He was chuckling, his face still hidden in his palms. He dropped his hands to his sides, revealing a manic grin that didn't meet the catatonic stare in his puffy, teary eyes. His facial expression sent a terrified shiver down my spine. I heard Lucas whisper inaudibly to himself, staring at the black and white keys in front of him, a few chuckles eerily filling the silence.

I pushed my glasses up my nose with a trembling hand. I didn't realize I was shaking like a leaf. I backed away and leaned against the wall next to the door, breathing rapidly. Lucas' mental stability was now severely questionable. No sane person instantly switched from playing music to sobbing uncontrollably to maniacal laughter and talking to themselves without having a few loose screws up there. I thought Lucas was the calm, collected one of the twins. Speaking of which, where was the lanky redhead? Claus was always within eyeshot of his twin, but now he was nowhere to be seen.

"I know you're there, Lloyd," Lucas' now-calm voice echoed from the room, making me wince. I shyly poked my head back inside to see him flashing me a completely even look, like he didn't care or notice I'd been given a front seat to his mad show. His face was now only slightly red.

"H-hi," I stammered, waving my hand coyly.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Um, I couldn't sleep last night, so I showed up early," I answered, gingerly shuffling inside the room. Lucas shifted his gaze to the keyboard in front of him.

"So you decided to show up to school early?" He scoffed, "Nerd."

I stopped in my tracks and furrowed my eyebrows at that. Lucas was always courteous and never insulted people. What was the matter?

"Wh-why are you in here this early too?" I shot him an indignant frown.

"Couldn't sleep last night, so I showed up early," he replied, crossing his arms and giving me a pointed look.

"Oh. Um. Where's Claus?" I said, forcing a smile. He unexpectedly tensed and threw me an icy glare, his face plainly stating 'none of your damn business'. I shrank and backed away, defensively holding up my hands at his out-of-character expression. He stared at me with a vacant expression for a few seconds then dropping his gaze.

He sighed, "Don't wanna talk about it."

"Oh." I placed my bag on my usual chair in front of Lucas'.

"Um, what were you playing just now?" I asked again, trying to start some conversation.

"Moonlight sonata," was the flat reply. I chose not to ask about the other melody he was playing despite the fact it had decided to lodge itself in my brain and replay over and over again. We stood in strained silence for what seemed to be ages. The cleaning lady poked her head in and yelled at us that she'd just cleaned the room and did not want to see us turn it into a pigsty like she knew we would. Lucas nodded and politely assured her the classroom will remain devoid of porcine filthiness.

"Bitch," he bitterly spat once she turned her back. I turned in my seat and gave him a wide-eyed look. What happened to nice, passive, soft-spoken Lucas? He seemed to have noticed me gawking at him, so he rolled his eyes and shrugged, opting to sit in his usual chair behind me. For some reason, I wasn't comfortable being within his immediate vicinity, so I bolted out of my place as if a tack suddenly sprung out of my seat. He gave me a puzzled look.

"I- I wanna try and play something o-on the piano," I said, quickly thinking of an excuse.

"Really, now?" He said, a condescending tone in his voice. I puffed a cheek in annoyance. I didn't know what was his problem, but he was toxic to be around today. I apprehensively approached the piano. I wasn't half bad, but I knew I couldn't hold a candle to Lucas' skill. I quickly racked my head for most impressive piece I could play that wasn't Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. I had an idea. Since that tune was stuck in my head, I could try giving it a shot and see what Lucas would do. I started playing the first two chords.

I immediately switched to playing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, fearing the look in Lucas' icy blue eyes.

Bad news: Lucas was still keeping the bad mood act, although he silently clung to Ness most of the time like a lost puppy. I had yet to know how did Ness suddenly become Lucas' best friend, but he was naturally good at making friends, I guess. Claus was still nowhere to be seen.

Worse news: That tune had officially become an earworm, continuously repeating itself through my mind since the moment I heard it. It wasn't even catchy!

The good news, however, were that Ninten showed up to school today. The thing is, I knew he was quite a popular kid, but I had no idea he was friends with basically everyone in school. The moment he arrived, he was dogpiled by at least a dozen well-wishers. I wasn't able to come near him until break.

Or more like, I sat alone in the cafeteria and he eventually decided to wade through his fan club and approach me.

"Hey, dude," Ninten said, placing an elbow on top of my head. I shook it off and looked up, giving him a tired smile.

"Hi," I said.

"You kinda seem out of it today," Ninten noted, raising an eyebrow.

"I didn't have a good night's sleep," I replied, pushing up my glasses.

"That's the coffee you've been chugging all the time coming around," he joked, sitting in front to me. I shrugged and told Ninten about the brick that shattered its way through my window this morning.

"A damn brick?" Ninten exclaimed, drawing a few people's attention.

"Erm, yes." I nodded uncomfortably, gesturing to Ninten to lower his voice.

"Well? You saw who threw it?"

"Nope. Whoever threw the brick ran away before I could see his face."

"Weird," Ninten mused, "So what did you do after that?"

"Nothing," I shrugged, "Mom called the cops, and I came to school really early. Saw Lucas in the music room too." I snuck a glance at a table in the corner where Lucas ate silently.

"Huh? What was he doing there that early?"

"Dunno," I mumbled, remembering Lucas' attitude, "He was probably upset about something. I didn't ask."

"Why?"

"Because he's in a foul mood, is why," I replied, sneaking another look at the sulking blond, "I mean, did you see him today?"

"Uh huh," he nodded, "He looks like a wreck. Have you seen Claus today?"

"No."

"You know, Lucas had been weird like that. His family has a pretty tough past."

My curiosity was piqued, "Really?"

"Yeah. Their mother died during the Pigmask invasion four years ago," he said. I did a double take at that, "They came here and settled in Podunk at first."

"Pigmasks? Are they from Nowhere Islands?" I'd heard stories about the Pigmask Army invasion of a small archipelago off the coast of Foggyland. Tazmily is.. was the only village there, before the invaders razed it to the ground. I also knew that Tazmilites were unique people, living an extraordinarily simple life. Not many people from there survived.

"Mhm," he hummed, toying with the locks of hair that poked out of his cap, "I knew the two since they were in Podunk. We weren't exactly friends, but we played together sometimes," he paused. I motioned to him to continue, "They moved to this town so they'd live closer to their dad's work. He now works in Duncan's factory. That's why they moved down here."

I gave an understanding nod. Merrysville sort of mushroomed from a tiny town inhabited mostly by white, devout Protestants into a rather diverse small city after some big-name corporations decided to set up their headquarters and factories here. A somber silence ensued for a few moments.

"By the way," Ninten spoke up, "Did you hear about the new kid?"

In other news, a new kid transferred here. It was fairly uncommon for a new student to transfer halfway through the semester, but it happened. Everybody here loved gossip, so I heard wild things about the new kid from the chatting kids in the hallways, something around the lines of him being from some Chommo royalty among other weird rumors.

"Rumors. Haven't seen him yet."

"Well, speak of the devil. Look who's with him, too." Ninten quipped, glancing at a point behind me. I looked back and saw a peculiar kid entering the cafeteria. The first thing I noticed about him was his hairstyle; a completely shaven head save for a long, flowing black braid that pegged him as a follower of the Mu discipline of Dalaam. He was of average height and a tanned complexion. His almond eyes stared impassively at the gawking students, who were most likely taking in his novel appearance. I guess anybody had the right to stare — Not every student showed up to school in Kung Fu garb. The Dalaamian skimmed the room in apparent boredom. When his eyes landed on us, a recognizant yet perplexed look appeared on his face.

I heard Ness chatter excitedly behind him. My eyes shot at the Eaglelander, who popped up from behind the new kid. I looked between them in confusion. They knew each other? I watched Ness animatedly gesturing and talking to his apparent friend, leading the braided boy towards a table, then proceed to talk his ear off for a few minutes. I looked back at Ninten.

"Yeah. Ness apparently knows that guy," I said.

"No, duh," Ninten said, rolling his eyes. The playful smirk on his face quickly faded, staring towards the door behind me again. I followed his gaze where a tall hooded kid stood at the door, looking at the floor. The hoodie hid half of his face, but I recognized him as Claus. I noticed he had a split lip and a nasty bruise on the visible part of his cheek. Lucas sprang out of his place and hurried towards his twin. I saw them exchange worried looks from Lucas and a glare from Claus. Lucas placed his hand on his brother's shoulder, gently leading him out.

With that, they walked out of our sight. I wondered what happened to Claus to get such injuries. Ninten watched them leave with an unreadable expression on his face. Moments later, he spoke up.

"I wanna find out about the new kid, come on." He stood up and motioned for me to follow. We approached them, with me hiding slightly behind Ninten since I wasn't exactly comfortable with meeting a new person. Ness was talking excitedly with the new kid.

"Hiya, guys," Ninten greeted casually. The newcomer eyed us curiously, while Ness seemed particularly chipper.

"Ninten, hey," Ness chirped, then turned his attention back to his acquaintance, "Poo, this is Ninten. A friend of mine, too. And this is Lloyd. America's very own Jeff Andonuts," he said, pointing his thumb at us, "Guys, this is Poo, an old friend of mine from Dalaam. We go a long way back." I narrowed my eyes at my description, but gave an acknowledging nod nonetheless. I didn't quite get his name, though. The term 'Poo' usually had smelly connotations around here.

"Pleasure to meet you," Poo said in an overly formal tone, a slight accent audible in his voice. It was odd, but charming in its own way.

"Dalaam, huh?" Ninten said, then whistled in approval, "Never met anybody from there, so that's really cool. How's the thick air in the lowlands down here?"

"America has stinking air, Ninten. That's pretty much a given," Ness said. Ninten slapped the back of his head.

"Shut up, Ness," Ninten replied as he sat next to the other red-capped boy. I pulled a chair and sat in front of the narrower head of the table. An entertained smirk tugged on the corner of Poo's mouth.

"I never knew you had a twin brother," Poo remarked. Ness looked a bit uncomfortable and eyed the table formerly occupied by a certain blond at the other corner.

"Eh, Ninten isn't my brother," Ness said, laughing awkwardly.

"Yeah, but we do pass as twins, right?" Ninten said, drawling out the word 'twins' and giving me a glance, "So, maybe it's a bit rude to ask, but mind telling me how you two know each other?" he asked, changing the topic.

"I know Master Ness from my early pilgrimage years," Poo replied, "Mu initiates have to visit several locations around the world. The first of which was nearby a city in Eagleland. That was where we met."

"A world pilgrimage?" I spoke up for the first time, "Any one of those locations happens to be here in the States?"

"Yes, in fact it is a nearby place called the Holy Loly Mountain."

"You mean Mt. Itoi? It was renamed ages ago," I said, "This town is right at the foot of that mountain."

"It seems we still refer to it by its old name, yes. I am supposed to visit the summit in two months time."

"Why two months?" I asked. Poo wore his amused smirk again.

"You are quite full of questions, sir. Master Ness was right to compare you to Sir Andonuts." I pursed my lips to the side in exasperation.

"To answer your question," Poo continued, smirk still firmly in place, "My visit has to coincide with the 90th anniversary of my father's pilgrimage."

"90th?" Ninten and I cried out in unison.

"Just how old is your dad?" Ninten asked.

"My father would be 105 this year," Poo replied casually, "My family happens to be long-lived. My grandfather died at the age of 120 long before I was born."

"Yeah," Ness chipped in, "Did you know Poo is royalty? His father is the king of Dalaam himself."

"Whoa, no way!" Ninten exclaimed. The aforementioned prince looked less than impressed.

"Master, I implore you not to discuss this in front of others," he said as he steepled his fingers together.

"Wait, why are you calling him 'master'?" Ninten said, looking perplexed.

"In my country," Poo replied, "If someone teaches you a physical discipline, be it a form of martial arts or sports, they become your masters. Master Ness taught me baseball, so he would be my master of baseball."

"Ness? A baseball master? Hardly," Ninten said mockingly. The 'master' elbowed him, only for Ninten to respond back with a light shove. Soon, they started slapping at each other's arms. Poo watched, his amusement seemed to double.

"Are they always like that?" He asked me with a raised eyebrow. I bit back a laugh and nodded. The shrill ringing of the bell interrupted their silly fight.

"Welp, there goes the break," Ninten said, readjusting his cap and standing up, "It was a pleasure meeting you, Poo. We'll see you around, yeah?"

"Of course."

Ninten stood behind Ness and leaned down towards his ear, "I need to talk to you after school, okay?" he muttered in an undertone, then tapped the seated boy's shoulder. Ness looked in confusion back at him.

"Okay?"

"Good. Hey, we don't wanna get late to class. Come on, Lloyd," Ninten said, straightening up and turning towards the cafeteria. I stood up and quickly said goodbye to the other two, before following Ninten out to the hallway.

"What was that about?" I asked, catching up with Ninten. He shot me an amused look not unlike Poo's.

"Poo's a PSI user too," he said, "I have to be blind not to notice. The guy's practically glowing with it."

I looked at him flatly, "Really? Because I kinda missed that."

"That's because you're not a psychic, dude. Ness and I aren't strong enough for our powers to be that visible to each other, but Poo is something else."

"Oh. You didn't say why did you ask Ness to meet you after school?"

"I'm probably gonna grill that idiot about Lucas too. He must've told him who fed Claus a knuckle sandwich for breakfast. Have you seen his face?"

"Yeah," I said, wincing at that, "What makes you so sure he knows?"

"Because I have a good hunch who did it, though I ain't jumping to conclusions yet," he replied with a knowing smirk as he skipped into the classroom.

I rubbed my forehead. This was all too confusing, and Ninten wasn't helping with his stupid mysterious act. Whatever he's up to, it's none of my business. I followed Ninten to our usual seats. I let out a yawn and propped up my head on my elbowed arm. I'm exhausted already and it's barely halfway through school.

Oh, I'd kill for a nap right now.

A/N: So, the tune Lucas played was 'Letter From You, My Sweet' in case you were imagining. I kinda think of it as Hinawa's leitmotif in the game. It also fits the piano really well. Just look for the piano cover on YouTube. I guess it's called Mother 3 Piano Medley? You'll know it from the sunflower photo.

I'm not too happy with this chapter, really. I wrote it all in one sitting weeks ago, but I'm still 'meh' about it. At least I wanted to introduce Poo, because he'll be crucial a few chapters from now.

ANYWAY, reviews:

AzureNova: Yeah, the dating thing is a misunderstanding that'll be a pain in the behind for Lloyd. At least I find it funny enough to bring it up a few times. :P

Good eye. That is Travis. Figured I'd place him in the story somewhere. It's unfortunate Mother 4 has stalled this long, though. It's a... Travisty.

Please don't hit me. XD

'Beware the Quiet Ones?' Oh, c'mon! Quiet Ones are the best Ones out there. Unless they're too quiet, which raises the question of their mental stability and validate the trope.

Connor the speling pro: Reading back helps discovering cringeworthy mistakes that slipped through the proofreading. I'm sure I'll find plenty in this chapter after I read it a day or two from now. :P

I finished Differential equations last year. I got a D+ but I couldn't have been happier. (Since only 5 out of 20 passed it, myself counted). As for calculating foci of conical sections, it's got practical use. For example, an engineer could use that to design a parabolic antenna (aka satellite dish) that concentrates the signal beam on its focus point (which is the point where equal length straight lines from the parabola shape converge to... Umm.. OK, I think I'm nerding too much now. I'll stop boring you) XD

Speaking of nerds, Lloyd never punched someone before, so yeah I'd imagine he'd feel awful for doing that. The pencil case thing is harmless (It was a Mother 4 cameo. :P) As for Jeremy, he's apparently some reactionary guy who got told that Lloyd said something nasty about him.

Ye, that's basically what I think of Jeff. Quite the curious kid - enough to ignore a baseball to the eye. :D

StickOfTruth: That 'being watched' thing is gonna be explained next chapter. I'm sure you noticed the bullies were hardly mentioned this time, right? :P

Aw, thank you so much ^_^ I'm glad you think of it that way. Good thing you told me about This Game Called Life. I was thinking of writing something about an 'Adopted' Ness. Glad to know that idea has been used already. XD Great story, nonetheless.

Responding to reviews is actually my favourite thing when I post an update, so I like to reply to each review posted even if it was critical or really short.

Soleil: Thanks :3

Well, not really, Claus didn't teleport to the end of the corridor. Sort of. Long legs plus a quick pace equals Teleport illusion. I kinda imagine him as being a lanky, spaghetti-like dude. No idea why, though.

Yeah, that was a little Travis moment. Also Ness did indeed cause a catastrophe. Whoops! XD

I'm planning a side-plot concerning the twins. I was going to make them only feature as a cameo, but those two are just more interesting/complex than that. As for how did Lucas and Ness meet, they share a class (namely Art), but how did they hit it off as friends is still anyone's guess.

Thanks for taking the time to read and review this. ^_^

adricarra: Hey again. :)

Everyone's busy because schools/universities like to see us poor students squirm. T_T

Yeah, Lloyd let Ninten's secret slip, but it's all good at the end. It's not like Ness is stranger to PSI, no? :P

That PK Flash fail is basically me playing Super Smash Bros. - I have to yet land a successful hit using that attack. xD