Chapter 5: Abandoned

The clouds perpetuated slowly over the world. However, the sky, painted with violet gloom, forever froze.

The strayed boys awoke to lavender completely filling their vision. They lied still, weary from their battle not too long ago, and thought that the sky above them was slowly revitalizing them. Though, it was almost as if they could sleep forever under such a beautiful view.

Ness, however, felt that something was off-putting from his sense of comfort, and forced himself awake out of his sleepy trance. The next thing that surprised him was the sudden change of his surroundings. He found himself resting in a small clearing surrounded by thin trees—completely different from fainting in a land purely made with grass. The trees, however, looked old and dreadful, as if they had been growing in poisoned soil.

Beside Ness was his recent companion, the frail-looking blonde. His eyes were still lulled by the sky, and his body was still. Ness quickly shook him awake. "Lucas? Lucas!"

Lucas's eyes widened instantly, and he sat himself up. Rubbing his eyes, he looked down at his hands, and then around. He stopped upon seeing Ness again.

"What happened?" the blonde asked.

Ness shook his head. "I don't know." He looked beyond the trees again, only to see something off putting about the horizon in his view. It was the fact that he could easily see the horizon.

The two boys passed through the trees and walked towards the skyline. The dry earth ahead of them was cut off by a wooden fence. Looking over the cliff, they were riddled with enigma about the world they were standing in.

Neither of them could figure out where they were any more. At the very least, they knew they were not in their respective worlds. There was no such place that could look so dark, bleak, and full of...nothing.

They stood on a tall hill, looking over higher mountains surrounding them. The most peculiar thing was a dark forest that endlessly connected, trapping a visible clearing in the middle of the area. And in that clearing, peculiar settlements and buildings could be seen.

"There may be someone over there," Ness pointed to what he assumed was a small town in the forest clearing.

Lucas huffed, looking at the only route possible to the settlement. "We have to walk all the way over there, though…"

"It's better than being here." Ness looked to the side and found a declining dirt trail that would eventually lower them to the forest. At the end of the trail, it would be a straightforward walk to the settlement.

Lucas understood, and nodded. "Right."

:*:

Nighttime seemed to have lasted forever as they continued onwards. The violet sky lacked constellations, but the clouds collaborated to block out all possible entries of light. It was as if the world conspired to deny all light of hope onto the land.

The two boys trailed the steep path down to the darkened forest, and continued to walk through cautiously. Nothing was said between them as they let mud stick to their shoes, but they knew they had each other's backs. Anxious with whatever could jump out at them from the bushes, they focused on reaching their destination safely first before they could talk about anything they wanted to. As they believed they reached closer to the settlement they saw, the path only continued to grow narrower. Though they continued to tread with growing fatigue, they persisted in leaving the forest.

Eventually, they reached a peculiar stone bridge, leading to what they believe would be the village they saw from afar. The dark sky slowly dissipated as they crossed the bridge, and they could finally see sunlight rising from beyond the high mountains. Though, its rising light did little to lighten the silent tension in the air.

The sunlight slowly blanketed the village as they crossed the bridge. Up close, they saw that most of the buildings looked very tarnished and damaged. Pieces of metal sheets of roofing and walls were falling apart off buildings as well as scattered amongst some walkable paths. Excessive greenery looped through and over fallen metal fences placed at some house buildings, as well as over a few public constructions that Ness identified as a pay phone booth and a foreign mailbox, which felt out of place for such a rustic looking village. Lucas recognized a small shrine beneath a tree, with an unfamiliar dirty clay figure glued to its wooden temple. Most importantly, they both noticed the lack of humans.

"Hello?!" Ness bravely called out. "Is anyone here?! We need help!"

There was no response for at least five seconds. Ness yelled into a different direction of buildings, "Hello?! Somebody?!"

Lucas looked around the area one more time, eventually turning his head to the path they came from. In the background, he sees massive hills that take the form of mountains, and identified the long route they took from one of them. He was amazed by how far they had gone, and hoped they didn't have to go back.

"No one's answering…" Ness acquiesced after a few more moments. "Let's go check inside the houses."

Lucas nodded, "All right."

The first house nearby was a simple and small one. The front door was one that slid open rather than swinging, and Ness opened it cautiously without knocking. "Hello?" he called out. "Is anyone home?"

Another moment passed, and there was still no answer. The two boys walked in to examine the contents of the house. Down the thin hallway, they located a living room on the right and a kitchen and bedroom on the left. Save for the distinguishing furniture, there was no sign of living presences in the house. In fact, Lucas rubbed his finger on a lonely desk, and looked disgusted at the amount of dust he swept up. Ness had then only noticed how much dust was on the floor as well, and advised them to carefully watch their step as they exited the house.

The two boys went to examine another house, one that was a little further into the heart of the village. It was designed differently than the first one, but there was no sign of anyone living in the home as well. Dust was scattered all over the house, and weeds were prominent in the front yard. They found the same in a few more houses they decided to check. Aside from millions of dust particles, the houses were overall clean. Clean, in the definition that it was as if no one was living in the houses in the first place.

"Where are all the people?" Ness asked. He looked down the road in both directions, hoping one more time that someone would appear. "A town this big has got to have someone."

"Maybe they're camping or something?" Lucas suggested.

"This place… might be abandoned." Ness sighed, hoping that it wasn't true.

Lucas gave him an uncertain look. "That's weird, because I saw a lot of vegetables growing pretty healthily."

Ness blinked. "What?"

Lucas led the way back and towards a different path, leading to a bountiful field laid next to a creek of clean water. In Ness's eyes, the area looked unusually like a field of harvests, but Lucas was sure the crops were nearly grown.

"These are vegetables?" Ness questioned, still unsure of what he was seeing.

"Yeah, come here." Lucas approached the nearest shaggy stalks and planted his feet carefully into the ground. He gave a test pull upwards, and then used both hands to remove the plant. He easily unearthed a bush of spuds, and waved it in front of the other boy's face to see.

"Potatoes?" Ness identified.

"Yeah," Lucas answered. "And over there…" he pointed to a farther area of the fields, "I see cabbage, carrots, some corn... and I think eggplants? Most of these haven't completely matured, but they're still edible if they're taken out now."

"So we can eat them now if we want to," Ness voiced.

"We could," Lucas agreed. "No one apparently seems to be here. But this place…" He rubbed his finger into the soil, and pinched a speck between his fingers. The sensation of the damp dirt feels a little reminiscent, but he was unsure of the memory. "The field here feels so well-maintained. It was as if there were people living here… until maybe just a day ago."

"…Are you sure we should eat these then?" Ness inquired cautiously, until his stomach growled loud enough for the both of them to hear.

Lucas grinned, almost holding back a forced chuckle. "They don't look bad—I think it'll be fine. If whoever comes back doesn't like us eating them, we can offer to help with their farm work for a bit."

"I guess," Ness shrugged.

"We can come back for these after we get a basket or something," Lucas expressed. "Let's really make sure that there's no one here."

They left the field and returned to the heart of the village again—a main square, although empty and round—seemed to be the middle of the area. If people were truly living here, they would have seen each other walking through the different paths and entering houses. Down one path, opposite to where the two had arrived from, seemed to be another entryway into the village, and they decided to check that route. The village border ended with a house, which was just as empty, and the dirt road continued into another forest, with its depths unviewable. They dared to not travel that far again, at least not until they were ready.

They returned to the entrance of the village—to the bridge where they had first crossed—with nothing to begin and end with. There was absolutely no sign of people for as much as they saw.

"This is really weird," Ness commented. "Tons of houses, prosperous farms… but no sign of people at all."

"Maybe it's just us in the world."

Ness looked to the blonde, who stared blankly into the sky. He was fazed by those words.

Lucas clutched his chest, holding back the growing anxiety within him. He tried to convince himself he needed to stay cautious, but it only added to how worrisome he felt about being alone with nothing to guide him. If there was nothing to go on about, what was he supposed to do?

Ness concerned himself with the same impression. He had still not found a way to return to his friends, and worried about what trouble they may be in without him. He also wanted to wonder why—why, if it were true, that it was just the two of them in the world, and why it was them specifically. But there were no clues to go on about all the questions he had, so it was useless to try and think about it.

Ness patted his companion's shoulder to shake him out of it before he went on about it.

"Let's not worry too much," Ness suggested. "Why don't we rest first? Get some food in us?"

Lucas grinned. "Sounds good."

They returned to the crop fields, taking two baskets along with them that they had found in a nearby house. After gathering an assortment of vegetables, they returned to that same house to shorten the need of walking. Lucas had a hunch, and looked into the kitchen area. He had conveniently found unused silverware and pots, and set the baskets onto a table.

"We can use these," Lucas told. "And the stove…" He turned one of the dials, and listened carefully to the sound of gas releasing into the stove. Then, there was a flicker, and one of the cooktops had lit up.

"The stove actually works?" Ness asked.

Lucas nodded as he extinguished the flames. "We can use it too. Now we just need water. We can probably boil the creek water…"

"What about the well?"

Lucas blinked. "There's a well?"

This time, Ness led the way to a small water reservoir behind a few houses. Lucas examines the stone well, pumping it and watching the water flowing into the storage sink right next to it.

Lucas lets go of the pump. "The water looks clean enough. I think it's safe for us to drink."

Ness cups the last running flow of water with his hands, and brings it to his mouth. "Tastes safe."

"Right. And I could use this to cook the vegetables."

Ness widened an eyebrow. "You can cook?"

Lucas shrugged. "I remember just being able to boil vegetables together, if you count that as cooking."

"Works for me. I could eat anything right now." Ness patted his empty stomach, hoping to keep it calm for just a bit longer.

They bring a couple of buckets filled with water back to the house they chose to reside in, setting them beside the table. Ness helped prepare the vegetables to be cooked per Lucas's help with how to, and then patiently waited in the living room as the rest was handled by himself.

Lucas stirred up a meal of decently diced potatoes, carrots, and cabbage, as it was all he knew he could confidently offer for now. After ensuring a thorough simmer of the ingredients, he served adequate portions for Ness and himself.

Ness, taking an immediate first bite, was not so surprised about the given meal. He liked soft potatoes, and didn't mind vegetables, but there was just not enough flavor to make the meal memorable. He smiled though, to show his friend that he was thankful for the food that would let him live another day.

They set their bowls away and then sat back against the wall of the empty living room. Everything in the world was silent to them, and they depended on each other to keep each other's sanity safe. Though now, with the belief that they really were the only two people in this world, there were too many topics to talk about comfortably that they couldn't quickly decide on what to converse about. Ness was first to spit out the first thing that came to mind.

"So, have you lived on a farm before?" he questioned.

"Huh?" Lucas looked him.

"You seem like you knew what you were doing out there," Ness added. "Pulling out all the vegetables carefully. Knowing how well cared the soil was."

Lucas sighed. "Honestly, I can't remember much… but doing what I did feels familiar somehow. Maybe I did live on a farm. I think there were animals that I took care of too…"

"Like…?"

"Cows… pigs? What else…"

"Sheep?'

"Yeah! Sheep. I remember hearing a lot of 'baa'-ing noises from them…"

"How about horses?'

"Horses, too! I think my parents kept a couple—"

Lucas's excited expression dropped immediately. Despite uttering the word, he failed to remember the faces of his parents. "Parents," he repeated. "My mom and dad… I can't remember what they look like."

Ness genuinely looked concerned, and scratched his head. He tried to remember his own too, but nothing had immediately came to mind. "If it helps, I can't remember my own too."

"But you remember you friends?" Lucas questioned.

"Pretty well," Ness nodded.

"What're they like?" Lucas asked.

"Mmm," Ness hummed as he leaned back against the wall. "One of them's a girl. She's very pretty, but also very strong. She has psychic powers, too. There's also another guy, kind of dorky-looking. But he's super smart—like a scientist—he can build tools and make these cool things called bottle rockets. The other one is a prince—he's pretty cool too. He's also psychic like me."

"What're their names?" Lucas asked.

Ness articulated the first syllable, but failed to understand what he was about to say. In fact, he couldn't complete the name. It was as if he instantly forgotten.

"Puh—?" Lucas repeated.

"I… don't remember." Ness held his head, and closed his eyes, trying to go through his entire mind. He knew their faces, knew their personalities, and everything else about them—all except for their names. "It's so weird. Why don't I remember?"

"You don't have to stress yourself," Lucas told.

"I know, but—this is frustrating. How can I not remember their names? How… how are we not remembering things?"

Lucas let his memories wander too, but failed to recall significant events in his past life. "It is pretty frustrating."

Ness looked to the blonde. "You remember your brother, right?" Ness asked. "What's he like?"

"Brother…" Lucas could actually recall such a face in his mind as soon as he repeated the word. He had the same face as him—or perhaps his mind was playing a trick due to fatigue—but he wouldn't doubt it. He had virtuous eyes just as Lucas had, and the personality of an annoying, but caring brother. Though, anything that he did with him was all a blur. He only remembered one important detail.

"Claus," Lucas said. "His name is Claus."

"Claus," Ness repeated. The raven-haired understood how hard Lucas was trying to remember, as he was putting on an expression similar to how he had when he tried to recollect his own past. He patiently waited, hoping that something would evoke over time.

"…That's all," Lucas finally said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Ness assured.

The room was silent again. They kept to their selves for another few moments, trying on their own to recall anything about their selves. They then wondered why they only had so few memories in them, because they were both sure there was more to their lives than just friends and family.

Ness particularly remembered Magicant. It was the dream world within his own self that he would enter whenever he needed a place of peace and tranquility. He vaguely remembered entering Magicant not too long ago, but from when and where in the real world, he did not remember. He doubted Lucas knew about it, and suspected wherever he was now being not Magicant.

"Hey, Ness?"

Ness turned his head, making eye contact with Lucas. "Yeah?"

"Do you think… we're dreaming or something?"

Ness looked beyond Lucas into another room, where a window displayed the outside hills and sky. He repainted the blue sky into the gloomy purple that it was earlier, and sighed. "If we are, I hope we wake up soon."

Lucas proceeded to pinch his arm, wincing lightly. "Ow. Yeah, not a dream."

Ness chuckled, realizing what the blonde was trying to do. But if the pain Lucas felt was real, then it only confirmed his deepening worries about where he was.

"What're we going to do?" Lucas asked. "Neither of us know what we're doing here, we can't remember anything, and there's no one to help us."

"Hey, we have each other, right?" Ness protested. "At least we're not in this mess alone."

Lucas grinned. "Right."

Ness turned his head back forward. "I wish we could get to know each other more, but apparently we both can't remember much."

"Well, for starters, we know each other's names," Lucas stated.

"Yeah," Ness responded, weakly chuckling. "Oh… how old are you?"

"Thirteen," Lucas answered.

"Oh, me too!" Ness turned his head back. "Do you know your birthday?"

"April 20th."

"Dang it, you're older… oh, wait, what year?"

"Does it matter who's older?" Lucas chuckled.

"To me, yes!" Ness jested.

"1996. And you?"

"June 5th, 1995! I'm older!" Ness pumped a fist downwards with joy.

"What, so should I call you 'Mister Ness' then?" Lucas laughed.

"Nah, I was only curious. I'm just glad you're around my age at least."

"Me too," Lucas agreed.

"Hmm… what's your favorite color?" Ness inquired. "Mine's blue."

"I like red," Lucas answered. He looked down at his shirt, and then at Ness's shirt. He found it strange that they both had the same style of clothing, save the different favorite colors.

"Do you have a favorite food?" Ness asked.

"Omelettes," Lucas replied. "You?"

"Steak," Ness proudly answered. "Medium-rare, that is."

"Oh, steak… I prefer mine well done at least."

Ness faked a revolted glare. "You disgust me."

Lucas forced a smile, and then they both ended up laughing together. As they calmed, Lucas brought the next question.

"How did you find out you were a psychic?"

"Hmm…" Ness hummed again. "That I can't remember. I just know I have… powers." He snapped his finger, intentionally showing off a spark of energy in front of Lucas's eyes.

"Huh." Lucas snapped his own fingers too, concentrating his mind energy into his fingers. There was indeed a flicker, but not as vividly strong as Ness's. Perhaps he didn't try hard enough, or had little power to offer.

"Speaking of which, what did you do back then?" Ness queried.

"Back when?"

"When we fought that giant… thing," he explained. "You were giving me more energy or something."

Lucas silently gasped. "Oh, that… I was, in a way. Here, I'll show you again. Gimme your hand."

Ness scooted closer and offered out his hand. Lucas sandwiched it between both of his, and focused a flow of energy from his body into his hands. Ness sensed the blonde's strength flowing into his hand, and eventually naturally merged with his own. It was giving him a boost of vitality.

"I'm not sure what's the name for this," Lucas said as he ceased the energy flow. "But I can boost your attacks like this."

"Hmm…" Ness nodded. "PK Power-Up?"

"PK…Power-Up?" Lucas repeated.

"Or… well, it's based on improving a PK… so maybe PSI would be better…" Ness mumbled himself. "PSI Power-Up…? Offense Up? Hmm…"

"What is this PK and PSI thing?" Lucas questioned.

"Oh. PK is short for psychokinesis, and PSI is short for psionics," Ness answered.

"What's the difference?"

"Materializing your psychic energy into an attack is psychokinesis. So like PK Flash, it's an attack in the form of light, but it's all made from our psychic energy."

"Okay. And psionics?"

"I don't have much PSI moves for myself, but it's usually psychic energy that doesn't materialize into a shape or form so easily. In your case, you gave me a boost in psychic power. It was energy that was just flowing through me, it had no shape to take form for us to see. That would be PSI."

Lucas nodded. "I understand now. Why are you trying to name them?"

"It's better to know what you can do by name, right?" Ness answered. "If we need to fight again, you'll know what to do if I call out to you."

"Well, you can figure out the names by yourself," Lucas told. "I still don't know much about psychic powers yet."

Ness nodded. "That's fine with me, I'll figure something out. I just really hope we don't have to actually fight those… things, again."

"Those things," Lucas restated. "Maybe you should give those a name too."

Ness shook his head. "I still don't even know what they are. And I don't think I want to."

"I understand," Lucas nodded. "Those things looked… really creepy."

"Well, I didn't see any sign of them while we wandered around the village. We should be fine."

"I hope so."

Ness stood up, stretching his arms. "That said, why don't we go sleep? We'll need to fully rest to do more exploring."

Lucas shrugged his head. "Well, I am still feeling tired from all that walking…"

"Yeah, so let's go find some beds."

They didn't need to do much searching for the bedroom, as it was across the hallway. Lucas located futons in one of the closets, and helped lay them out on the floor. They both examined the pads, seeing that they looked and felt clean. Ness even noted that they smelled rather clean too, as if never used before, but was washed and dried with a scent of cleanliness.

They locked the door for their own safety. Each of the boys made their selves at home, getting comfortable enough to sleep in the same room together peacefully. They had no special quirks when it came to sleep, except for the fact that they both wanted to wear pajamas, but there were no spare clothes lying around. There wasn't much they could do about it, so they decided to sleep in their normal wear.

With the daylight blocked from the window, the room was dark and set an environment for quiet rest. The boys laid down in their respective beds, looking at each other one last time to made sure they were beside each other. Then, they shut their eyes, hoping to fall asleep without protest.

Hours easily passed. The bright sky dimmed out over time, and eventually large clouds of gray rolled in rather than a purple gloom. Rain fell on the land, with occasional roars of thunder. Had the boys been awake, it would have been something assuring to see, knowing nature worked as normal.

Help me…

Lucas immediately sprang up, echoing the voice of a boy in his head. It wasn't his own voice. Was it Ness's?

He looked over to see the raven-haired boy still downed—or rather, he looked knocked out. Ness's eyes were wide open, but difficult to see in the darkness. When he sat up as well, both boys' suspicions only grew bigger.

"Did you hear it too?" Ness asked.

"A voice, saying 'Help me?'" Lucas reaffirmed.

"Yeah—it was telepathy!" Ness exclaimed.

Lucas's eyes widened. "Someone's out there?"

Ness quickly put on his shoes, and tossed Lucas his. "Come on!"

The two rushed out of the house and into heavy rain, already majorly wetting their clothes. Ness tapped into his mind, sending out another call of telepathic messages in every direction he could, hoping to invoke another call from the unknown voice. Lucas had heard Ness's communication, and tried his best to call out too with his own power, but was unsure if he was successful in sending out a message.

They ran together down the path leading to the village center, calling out telepathically as they rushed through blinding rain and large moonlight to brighten their path. Lucas was getting less certain of the voice that failed to respond to them, but Ness didn't want to give up. He tried to call out once more, this time with as much mental strength he could muster, in hopes that the range of his message expanded.

Help…

"There it is again," Lucas acknowledged, erasing his doubts.

"Where is he?" Ness questioned. "Come on, tell us where you are…"

The two decided to expend their energy rushing to the front of the village—a big possibility as to where the voice could have originated from. The bridge was far in sight, but they ran through puddles and heavy dirt as fast as they could to close the gap.

"Ness, look!"

At the entrance of the village was another human figure. There was nothing irregular about the body they saw—it was a live, tangible human who had collapsed on the ground. Shocked by the sudden appearance, they hurried over and checked on the person's condition.

As they inched closer, they realized it was another young boy, with similar age and height features compared to them. The downed boy had a disheveled hairstyle of black color, and almost seemed facially familiar to Ness as Lucas witnessed, despite his face and neckerchief stained with mud.

"He doesn't look too good," Ness concluded.

Lucas placed his ear close to the boy's chest, and adjusted his hearing to find a soft drumbeat. "He's still alive, but we need to get him inside."

Ness took one shoulder around his neck. "Let's take him back into the house. Help me out here."

:*:

Reviews:

Darude Dogestorme & StarTiger7: Thank you, and so sorry for the VERY long wait (and for anyone else reading!). But I was recently inspired to finally start up this fic again. No promises, but I have a lot of motivation at the moment and I hope to make the best of it while it lasts.