Birth and Re-Death: Two Year Anniversary Special
Chapter 36: Birthdays and Brain-Eaters
Lucina sits quietly a short distance from the Shepherds' camp. She was tempted to join them officially back at Anchorage, but the risk of her father or anyone else seeing her Brand is much too great, especially since the mask she received from Gerome broke those months ago. She really should see about finding a replacement mask. She's fairly sure that Gerome had a few backups for situations just like this.
In any case, she is content for now to remain at least nominally hidden from the Shepherds. It's as painful as ever to keep her distance from her father and mother and everyone else she holds dear, but knowing that they are safe is by itself a great comfort.
Well, with the exception of Uncle Randy, of course. She hasn't slept once without the mental image of that wyvern carrying his limp body off into the distance haunting her mind's eye well into the night. She knows that many of the Shepherds blame themselves for his capture, but in her heart she knows that if anyone is to blame, it is her. She was the last to see him. She had come so close. She should have left Gangrel and pursued Randall straight away.
She shakes her head. What's more important now is the next step. She has yet to decide what that might be, though. She could help with the siege effort, of course, but is that the best use for her? She's trained for years to be able to move quietly, unnoticed until she wishes to be seen. Surely these skills could be put to use somehow. Maybe she should consult with Robin. She resolves to come to a decision about that sooner rather than later.
An unexpected sound catches her attention. Is that someone… laughing? In this setting, with the siege going on, it wasn't something she thought she'd be hearing anytime soon. Keeping to the shadows as has been her habit, she curiously approaches the source of the sound, over by the campfire.
She sees Sumia sitting with Gaius next to the fire, hard at work preparing some food or other by the look of them. Gaius makes quick work of cutting an apple into tiny chunks, while Sumia mixes other ingredients in a bowl. She's… having some difficulties, evidenced by the splotches of flour visible on her face, her chest, the ground around her, and other assorted incorrect locations. Gaius is having a good-natured laugh at Sumia, which at first seems to make her self-conscious, but after a moment she starts laughing too.
"I think you, uh, got a little flour there, Sumia," Gaius says between bouts of laughter.
"Oh, do I?" Sumia replies sarcastically, but then leans over to him and says in an exaggeratedly sultry voice, "Well, maybe I just thought that since I'm so sweet, all I need is a little flour and then I could be your birthday treat."
Gaius looks surprised for a moment, but catches on quickly. "Well then, I'd better not let any go to waste. Oh, would you look at that, you've got some flour on your lip. Let me get that for you." He leans over to meet her halfway, and at this point Lucina's sense of decency forces her to avert her eyes and swiftly quit the scene.
She can still feel the heat in her face twenty or so seconds later, when she's put some distance between herself and that private moment. What would Cynthia have thought of that? She can't help but giggle to herself at the notion.
So it's Gaius' birthday today? It's been a long while since she's had a chance to celebrate any birthdays, whether her own or others'. Some of her fondest memories from her younger days are of birthdays, particularly her own. Even after her father passed away and things began to spiral out of control, she still had an anchor to the time before things started going wrong in the form of birthdays. As long as she could count on something so simple and innocent, the world wasn't yet too far gone.
She sighs as she sits on the cold, frosty grass and leans her back against a lonely, leafless tree with gnarled branches. She closes her eyes and lets herself think back to a time when she could count on birthdays.
Lucina's twelfth birthday begins to wind down. With all the chaos going on in the world lately, it certainly wasn't the same cake and presents affair that it used to be in her younger days. Still, a few of her closest friends had spent the day with her, and even though most of them had gone home by now (most parents didn't let their children stay out after dark these days), there was a lingering sense of birthday joy. Severa, Owain, and Cynthia were being allowed to stay overnight; the three noisiest children among their little circle, much to Brady's chagrin. Uncle Randy's children had both already fallen asleep, so while they were technically 'staying the night' as well, they weren't really being considered part of the 'sleepover' at the moment. Aunt Lissa and Uncle Randy were here as well to keep the mood festive, but Mother had stepped outside for a bit. Everyone was nice and cozy in the Ylissean royal palace's east lounge on this cool, clear mid-spring evening.
"Well," Uncle Randy says, interrupting the animated chat going on among the four children, "did you have a good birthday, Luci?"
She nods with a small, cute smile. "Mmhmm."
"Good." He stands from the couch where he was sitting with Aunt Lissa until now. "Anything else you want before I hit the road?"
"You're leaving?" she asks. She doesn't quite know why, but she really doesn't want him to go.
The expression on his face is hard to read behind his greying beard. "I've got a lot of work to do yet, Luci. Things are about to get very, very busy around here. I want to be sure that I've made all the preparations I can when that happens."
"Can't you just stay a little longer? Please?" Lucina pleads, putting on her best puppy-dog eyes.
He frowns for a moment, trying to resist, but his resolve visibly cracks with every passing second. Finally, he sighs. "You little shit. Fine." Aunt Lissa giggles.
"Yay!" Lucina rewards Uncle Randy's compliance with a quick and tight hug.
"Never takes more than a cute face and some fluttering eyelashes to break you down, huh Randy?" Aunt Lissa asks with a laugh.
"Hardy-har," he replies in her direction, then turns back to the kids. "Well, since you've successfully trapped me here, it's been a while since I did a song for you all. Does the birthday girl have any requests?"
Lucina hesitates for a moment, then timidly approaches Uncle Randy, prompting him with a hand gesture to bend over enough that she can whisper in his ear. He nods as she tells him what she wants for her birthday song.
He stands up straight again. "Haven't had an excuse to play that one in a while! Sounds like fun. Good choice, Luci." He turns to the sulking ten-year-old in the corner. "Hey Brady, got your violin on hand? We got us a performance to do!"
Brady looks up. "Yeah, what song?" He tries not to look pleased, but Lucina can see the joy behind his eyes at the chance to play a song alongside his mentor.
"I need you… to bring me… some braaaaains~" Uncle Randy says in a goofily ominous voice, waggling his fingers. Brady nods, then grabs his violin – never far from him – and stands to join Uncle Randy.
"Uugh, this song," Severa grumbles.
"You know the rules, Sev. No protestation of birthday songs," Uncle Randy snaps instantly with a grin on his face to ensure her he isn't actually angry.
"We've literally never said that before!" she protests.
"Well we're starting now. No protestation of birthday songs."
"...Fine."
Brady finishes tuning his violin. "Okay, ready?" he asks Uncle Randy.
"Ready. Go for it, bud."
Brady begins playing the first notes of the song, long and haunting strokes of the bow across the strings, before launching into the uptempo part of the song. Uncle Randy's children in the corner stir for a moment, as if considering waking up, but then settle back down, deciding against it. Lucina can't help but start clapping to the beat excitedly before Uncle Randy starts singing in his exaggerated, goofy voice (Uncle Randy had once called it his 'Vaudeville voice'):
"Well, hello there, little girl! Don't be shy!
Step right up! I'm a reasonable guy!
Don't be frightened by the look in my eye;
I'm just your average evil meteor from outta the sky."
The door to the lounge opens, and in strolls Mother. She doesn't say anything for courtesy of her son's playing, but she looks at her sister-in-law questioningly. Aunt Lissa just grins and continues bobbing her shoulders to the beat.
"Well, I'm just shy and scared in this place,
I'm just a fish outta water from outer space.
You can see that the trip has left me tired and drained,
So why don't you be a pal... and bring me some BRAINS!?"
"Oh, this ghastly song," Lucina hears Mother sigh as she takes a seat next to Aunt Lissa.
"Aw, be a sport, Maribelle," Aunt Lissa says with a nudge of her elbow. "Look how good Brady's doing!"
Lucina tunes the women out and focuses on the song. Uncle Randy plays the part well, looking every bit like the caricature of a stage play villain with his wide movements and erratic facial expressions as he sings about devouring everyone's brains and turning them into zombies. It's all Lucina can do to keep from laughing outright at the display.
The song nears its end, and Uncle Randy crouches in front of Lucina for the last verse:
"You've been swell to go around
And bring me every single brain in town
But with all these brains, I can't help but think
That there isn't one left out there to drink.
Now fess up, girl, come on, heck!
Is there someone that you're trying to protect?
Bring her down here to meet her end
And I promise I'll be your bestest friend."
As he sings, he points pretend-covertly over to Mother, sitting and watching with a skeptical expression on her face. While he stands to begin the last refrain, Lucina dutifully leaps to her feet, scurries over to Mother, and grabs her by the hand to lead her over to the 'evil meteor' so he can eat her brain. Mother rolls her eyes but plays along, allowing herself to be brought to the villain as he finishes:
"Brains...
Bring me her brain...
Bring me her brain!
Bring me her braaaain! Whahahahahahaaaah!"
With that, he pantomimes taking a large chomp out of one of her drills of hair, then biting closer and closer until at last, he reaches and eats her brain. She stands there, waiting for the next part of the act. When it becomes clear that she isn't going to play dead, he instead seizes up and play-writhes all the way down to the floor.
"Gaaaah! Her braaaain! It was too spicy! Noooo! Blehhh," he moans as the evil meteor meets its maker, prompting laughs from all the children who are still awake. A moment later, he springs to his feet, and he and Brady take their bow together while the children and Aunt Lissa clap enthusiastically. Eventually, reluctantly, Mother joins them in clapping as well.
Hours later, in the deepest part of the night, Lucina wakes up to find her throat is intolerably dry. She rises carefully from her bed, taking pains not to nudge Severa or Cynthia enough to wake them as she slithers out from between them, steps over Owain snoring on the floor, and quietly leaves the room. She creeps down the moonlit hallway toward the kitchen, the only thing breaking the silence being the light slapping of her bare feet on chilly marble. However, as she nears the door to the lounge, another sound catches her attention. She approaches the door and finds she can hear the voices faintly on the other side of it. She very slowly, very carefully cracks the door just enough that she can make out the words coming through the gap.
"I don't get why you don't just play along, Mari. It's just a song, it's not like she's actually expressing a desire to feed you to an alien invader. It's a game," Uncle Randy says. She's not used to hearing him speak in such a serious tone. He's normally such a goofball.
"I just… I don't understand why she even likes something as vile as a song about feeding your loved ones to a brain-eating monster. A child shouldn't be exposed to things like that," Mother replies.
"Yeah, well, there's lots of things these kids have seen that they shouldn't have been exposed to. And there'll be plenty more down the line."
"Then why add to the list? Why not let their stories be about happy things, peaceful lands, puppies? Something to hope for?" Mother asks.
"They're gonna have to learn to come to terms with the world they're going to grow up in, Mari. They've gotta learn to live with being afraid sometimes. If they can cope with fear even just a bit, they'll be ahead of the curve, for sure," Uncle Randy explains. "And… I dunno, Maribelle, there's something valuable in a good ghost story, you know? These kids are going to have so many things that they'll have every right and reason to be afraid of someday. They don't know how bad things already are, but we won't be able to keep the illusion up forever. So just this once, it's nice to be able to tell a scary story, but at the end of it lean forward and assure them that none of it's real. The monster is fake. There's no alien coming to eat your brain. Why not let them point some of that fear at something they know deep down can't hurt them?"
A long moment of silence passes. "I suppose I see your point. You're simply too good at talking people into a corner, Randy. You'd have made an excellent politician, I'm positive."
"Yeah, well, not much use for politicking these days, huh?" Uncle Randy replies. "All that's left now is keeping the kids safe for as long as we can and praying things pan out. That's all we can do in this timeline now."
"Randy…" Mother says. "Randy."
To Lucina's shock, she hears a sniffle. "I'm sorry, Mari. I'll get a grip in just a sec, promise. I just… I miss her. I miss her so goddamn much. I know you're the same with Chrom, but…" He doesn't go on.
When Mother replies, she too is clearly either crying or just barely holding it back. "It's okay. I know. I know better than anyone. It's okay."
Lucina hears a few deep breaths as Uncle Randy calms himself down. "Alright. I'm good. Just had a little moment there. Sorry. Today's supposed to be happy. I can be happy. Our kids are safe. We're safe. I'm good."
"Right. We're going to be alright," Mother replies. "You sit there. I'm going to make us up some tea."
The sound of shifting fabric sends a shock of adrenaline through her chest as she realizes she needs to hide. She quickly ducks under a nearby bench before the door opens and Mother steps out of the lounge. Lucina forces herself to breathe very, very slowly and quietly while Mother goes down the hallway toward the kitchen. Realizing that her own trip to the kitchen must now be postponed, she prepares to head back to her room. But as she starts walking away, something in her prompts her to go back. She steps into the lounge and sees Uncle Randy sitting on the couch with his forehead leaned against his palm.
As she draws closer, Uncle Randy notices her coming. "Damn, that was qui-whoa!" He reels back a moment, startled. "Oh, Jesus, it's you, Luci. You spooked me. What're you still doing up?" The redness around his eyes is evident, but Lucina knows better than to point it out.
"Got thirsty. Went to get some water," Lucina replies. "Mother was in the hall though, so I didn't want her to see me up."
"Well, that's a smart idea, I guess. She'd probably be pretty ticked." Uncle Randy isn't as talkative or as smiley as usual.
Lucina sits next to him on the couch. After a brief moment of internal debate, she decides she will indeed reach over and hug him from the side. He lets out a single through-the-nose chuckle, then puts his arm on her shoulders.
"You heard me and your mom, huh?"
She nods silently, which he feels against the side of his chest.
"I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to see grown-ups lose their cool like that. We're supposed to be strong for you kids," he says, with the shadow of his habitual levity in his voice as he tries desperately to be his usual self. "But I'm afraid that pretty soon, we're gonna have to ask you kids to be strong too."
Lucina doesn't know what to say. She decides to squeeze just a bit tighter instead of replying with words.
"It's not that I don't think you can do it. I just don't want you to have to. I want you all to be kids for as long as possible, full stop. I want to sing silly songs with you all. I want to stay strong enough to lift Cynthia on my shoulders and pretend I'm a pegasus. I want to be able to make all the whooshy-whooshy sound effects Owain wants as we go on epic adventures." He glances at his children, still asleep on the pile of cushions in the corner. "I want to watch my kids grow into happy, healthy people with families of their own someday."
Lucina nestles closer, comfortable against the soft fabric of Uncle Randy's shirt. He almost whispers, "Promise that you'll stay a kid for as long as you can, Luci, okay? And keep the others kids as long as you can manage it."
Through her dry throat, she croaks, "Promise." Her eyes threaten to flutter shut for the night.
"Thanks, Luci. Now come on." With a swift motion, Uncle Randy scoops her up into his arms and carries her back down the hallway to her room. Stepping inside, he crosses the room toward her bed, but yelps in surprise as he trips on Owain sleeping on the floor, dropping Lucina onto the bed and waking up everyone in the room in the process.
"Gruh! What, who goes there?" Owain moans from the floor.
"Shuddup Owain," Severa replies automatically, her voice thick with sleep.
"Don' be so mean, Severa," Cynthia replies in turn, her voice equally drowsy.
Lucina, her hair messed up from her fall, looks up at Uncle Randy, who looks with concern down at her to make sure she's unharmed. Once it's established that everyone's okay, Lucina and Uncle Randy mutually cover their mouths to hide the laughter that threatens to burst through. Snickering with quiet desperation, Uncle Randy sneaks back over to the door and puts a finger to his smiling lips as he closes the door behind him. Lucina returns the gesture with equal mirth.
It doesn't take long for Lucina to fall asleep again, drink or no drink.
Lucina sighs as she pulls herself from her reverie. That was one of the last truly carefree moments she can recall. She clings to the memory and the warm feeling it puts in her chest as if they were a precious heirloom. As she curls up to sleep, the tree's exposed roots her pillow, she puts a finger to her lips and allows herself to smile, thinking about that spring night all those years ago.
A/N: Didn't expect that, didja? Today marks two years since I started publishing Birth and Re-Death, and I wanted to do something special for it. I thought having a nice glimpse into what the future was like would be a nice break from all the craziness of the present, and I wanted to add some levity, because God knows we won't have much during the siege. My thanks go out to Mixed Valence as usual and Derek from the Discord for making sure this little blurb of a chapter was good before I put it up. And here is your Mixed Valence out of context quote of the week: "Virizion = Verizon + Virion"
I have so much more story to share with you guys, and I want to sincerely thank you for putting up with me thus far. I know that I've become a better writer through this project, and it's the encouragement that you all have given me that motivates me to keep going even when the going gets tougher. Thank you all!
For the curious, the song I used was "Brains!" by Voltaire. You might remember it from the undisputed best episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy: "Little Rock of Horrors."
Join the Discord! discord. gg/ 3mdunvc
As always, comments and critiques are welcome. See you next time!