Lucca! Luccaaaaa!I jolted awake, my face jerking away from the pile of books I'd fallen asleep on. Stupid lesson plans. You'd think as a school, they'd provide us teachers a curriculum to work with, but NOOOOO, they believed in "creativity," which was basically a way of covering up their laziness and disorganization. The trademark of everything Porre did. They way everything had been since Dalton conquered Guardia.
It came as no surprise I had fallen asleep on my lesson plans. I hadn't been sleeping well at night ever since they had taken me away to this stupid school. For some reason, I couldn't contact Melanie at all. It left me feeling frightened and more alone than I'd ever been since Crono and Marle had married and ascended the throne. I had needed someone to hold on to then, and I needed someone was this desperation that had led me to her in the first place. Two years ago, in the fall of 1004 AD, I had modified my helmet from it's original design. It had been made to pick up on the simple thought patterns of monsters in battle, so that I could tell when and how they would attack. I decided to use it to amplify my own thought patterns and to pick up on others thoughts…I just never thought I would end up contacting a girl from another dimension!
At first she was my "science project" and nothing more. I was still sore and prickly over Crono and Marle leaving me to myself (though later I came to realize that they didn't have much choice when King Guardia died). Luckily for me though, Mel wasn't the kind of person to hold a grudge, especially if you asked for her forgiveness. From then on we were fast friends. She helped ease the burden of losing Crono and Marle.
When she graduated from vocational school, however, things went rapidly downhill. Work was so slow she couldn't pay her rent without her parent's help, and most of the time her roommates were gone or ignored her presence. She was lonely and missed her family intensely. This time it was my turn to be her anchor. It was at this point we started sleeping together. Not that way, you sickos! The literal way. Sleeping in the same bed. We had discovered early on that through our connection, we were capable of transmitting the sensations of physical touch. Hugs, pats on the back, the occasional poke in the ribs were the norm between us. Now we added cuddles to our repertoire. It was a platonic, big sister-little sister thing, and we both took comfort from it. It eased the nights when she felt lonely for her family or when I felt lonely for my friends.
But after she moved back home, I started wanting something more than platonic. I needed something more solid, more real, more intimate. At first I fought the urges, unsure how she would respond to them. But my heart kept insisting that if I really cared for her, we should have MORE to hold us together than the bonds of friendship. More, more, more! it kept insisting, until I finally gave in.
One night I couldn't sleep, the urges were so strong, her body so warm and comforting next to mine. I wondered, What if I…? and with that thought I was bending over her and kissing her.
There were no secrets between us. There couldn't be, not when we shared mind-to-mind contact. I knew that she had been toying with the same ideas, but had dismissed them out of hand. It isn't right, she had thought. And yet, a thrill swept through her when our lips met. She was almost kissing back…almost…! But at the last minute she turned away in disgust. The worst part was that it wasn't directed at me, but at herself. That's the kind of friend Mel was. If she truly believed you were a good person and weren't intentionally trying to hurt her, she'd forgive you for almost anything. However, if she found the least imperfection in herself…
We both struggled for weeks, trying to stay away from each other, both fighting the urges that raged within us, both crying for each other's suffering, both wanting to hold the other but afraid of what might happen if we did.
Finally, her psychiatrist put an end to it. I'm still not sure how I feel about that guy. He told her that since she had no power over her hallucinations (I hate being called a hallucination) she should stop resisting and allow herself to indulge in moderation. Which meant we could be together, which pleased me to no end.
And ever since then, I've had that "something more" that I lacked. Love. Because that's the kind of girlfriend Mel is: She'll give you her whole heart, without reservations, if she truly believes you need it and will take care of it.
But at the moment, my face was covered in creases from sleeping on my books, I had no contact with Mel, and reminiscing about our past wasn't going to do me any good. Not since his idiocy himself, Dalton, had burst into my living room, flanked by soldiers and announced that I was to share my knowledge with the students at his academy or watch my family fall prey to his golem. Now we both knew I was more than a match for as sissy golem, but I really didn't need to have my family traumatized by watching me being crushed by iron balls and fried in the heat of my own fire attacks. Besides, after the golem was gone, who knew what he would do? I wouldn't put it past him to take a rifle from his own soldiers and shoot my mother on sight.
So I went into a world of starched uniforms, lockers and crowded hallways. Not willingly, mind you, but I went. And I taught. Fumblingly and awkwardly, and definitely not what Dalton was expecting me to teach (killer robots and time travel, no doubt). And every day I grew a little more miserable. I missed my family. I missed Crono and Marle. And I missed that "something more."