A/N It's only been a "few" years since I've updated... to be honest, I've had this story going in my head for a very long time. Putting it on "paper" is a little weird. If anyone is still out there, I appreciate you letting me share it with you.

Marseille, France

The sun was beating down on the streets of the oldest part of the city. It was so hot out even the street vendors were hunkered in the shade fanning themselves with whatever they could find. The street dogs were too hot to bother begging for scraps from the local butcher and the nosy old ladies had all retreated inside from the midday sun.

Lucas Sashimoto rode through the streets on a bicycle that had seen better days. After 3 near crashes ("I'm sorry!") he had finally arrived. He stopped just inside the door to the building and picked up his mail from the dingy box that was barely secured to the wall. He began his climb up 3 stories to the attic apartment he called home, while struggling with bringing up his bicycle. Somehow, he managed to get his bicycle, lunchbox, mail, and laundry up the flights of stairs without dropping anything.

He'd decided to move to France as part of his ambition to become a baker, which meant he got up for work while most of the city was still fast asleep and arrived home while the sun hung high in the sky. He took a quick glance at himself in the mirror of the bathroom as he washed the dust and dirt from his hands and face. His light brown, almost red, hair was in terrible need of a haircut and he hadn't shaved in days. His sleeves were dirty.

He sat down on the couch to catch his breath and began nodding off to sleep when his cell phone rang. He picked it up without looking, expecting to hang up on yet another robocall trying to sell him something in French.

"Lucas?" Came a vaguely familiar voice from the other end of the line.

"Yes?" He sat up, knocking his head on the low overhang above the end of the couch. "Who's this?"

"Hey, it's Kaidan. Do you remember me? You know, cousin from New York."

"Yeah..." Why would he be calling? Lucas got up and started pacing around his tiny apartment.

"Yeah, I know sorry. It's weird calling you out of the blue like this, but I was wondering. Have you been... uhh, feeling weird lately?"

Lucas' immediate reaction was yes, but he couldn't quite place why that was the case. He thought for a moment. A faint yell came from his downstairs neighbor. Apparently they didn't appreciate the amount of pacing he was doing.

"Sorry!" he yelled at the floor.

"For what?" Kaidan asked.

"Not you, sorry. I mean, I've had a lot going on I guess. I moved to France a few months ago and I've been kind of focused on that. What a terrible decision that was let me tell you."

"You moved to France? What the hell for?!" Kaidan's surprised voice came through on the other end of the line.

"I don't know. I just felt like... I was in the wrong place. Felt like I wasn't meant to be in Boston. I packed up my stuff and I left. You guys always said I should take some initiative... you know. Be confident. So I did that, and now I'm here."

"Yeaaah. Something tells me France isn't the place you were supposed to go."

"Sorry, what do you mean?"

"The pull. Tatsuya came by a couple weeks ago and said he'd been feeling it too. We thought we'd reach out to... you know, everyone... and see if you guys were feeling it. A general sense of unease, perhaps? Moreso than usual?"

"I really don't like where you're going with this. Even if we are being... summoned or whatever, what we're just gonna show up and be like 'Hey! Nice to meet you!' Somehow I don't think that would end well for us, sorry but ... you know what I mean."

Kaidan laughed. Well, he's not wrong.

"Can you come back to New York for a couple weeks? I think we're going to try and get everyone together and talk about this."

"That would be exceedingly difficult. I mean, the younger ones... they don't even know do they?"

"No, it's going to be tough getting them away from their parents. Or maybe it isn't. You know our folks generally aren't great on the whole parenting thing."

"Hah, you got that right. Okay, I guess I'll see what I can do. Maaaan, it feels like I just got here. I'll probably get fired you know."

"Name one job you haven't been fired from." Kai had a point. He always had a point.

"I'm sorry, okay!" It's not very nice to be reminded of your shortcomings. But Lucas should be used to that by now.

"Yeah, yeah, you're sorry. For the hundredth time, I know. Look, one more thing."

"What's that?"

"Can you swing by London first?"