"The dragon's sadness rippled across the light and darkness like a melody, wrapping around all of existence."
The Heartbeat Cycle. Author unknown.
Lua sensed Yuma's arrival, but could not for the life of them figure out where the boy was hiding. That was odd...Yuma always came to greet Lua first.
It was quiet beneath the thick canopy of leaves. Not even Yuma's squirrels were rustling about for once. And they were always loud, always calling out to each other and screeching as Lua passed beneath them.
"Yuma-kun?" they called, brow furrowed as they wove around the trees. "Yuma-kun...are you here?"
A soft, strangled sob caught their attention. Immediately, Lua was alert, darting around a particularly large tree from which the sound had come.
They found Yuma there, nestled between the thick roots, huddled in a ball underneath the big tree. Lua's heart panged as they dropped to their knees beside the nook.
"Yuma-kun," Lua whispered. "Yuma-kun...what's wrong? Are you okay?"
The boy's shoulders shook, his little hands gripping his knees. He should have been just a little too big to fit in this space; it had barely held him back when he was seven, and he had hit something of a growth spurt at nine. But the tree had changed itself to accommodate him, and he continued to fit neatly in the space.
"Yuma-kun," Lua said again. "What's wrong?"
Yuma sniffled loudly, face pressed into his knees.
"L-Lua-kun," he muttered. "M-my...it's...k-kaa-chan and t-to-chan..."
Lua's heart leaped. Oh no. Already? It was too soon...too soon for the Tsukumos to have gone. He was still too young. He was too young. They tried to keep their voice steady despite the choking feeling in their throat.
"Sh, sh...it's okay. It's okay. Take a breath. You don't have to talk yet."
They reached one hand into the tree and touched Yuma's head gently, stroking soft fingers against his hair, soothing. Yuma kind of leaned into the reassuring touch for a moment. He shook under Lua's hand.
"Do you want to come out of the tree?"
Yuma shook his head.
"Do you want to tell me what happened?"
Yuma nodded.
"Okay."
It took Yuma a few moments to compose himself. His voice was muffled, as he did not lift his head and was speaking into his knees.
"...Kaa-chan and to-chan...they...they're gone."
Lua sucked in a breath, but did not speak.
"T-They...they went on another adventure...and t-they haven't come back...they h-haven't c-called. T-They always c-call. B-baa-chan w-won't say anyt-thing, b-but I can tell...I don't think...t-they're coming b-back..."
Yuma's shoulder drew up and he choked on his words, sobbing. Lua felt something in themself break. Oh no. They had gone. They had already responded to the call and that meant—oh no. Yuma. This wasn't fair, it wasn't supposed to be now, the Door was supposed to wait, but now the Tsukumos had already left to prepare the way for Yuma but he was too young, he wasn't ready—
Yuma's soft sobs drew Lua back from their thoughts.
"Oh, sh, sh, sh," Lua said, reaching into the nook and carefully drawing Yuma up and out, into their arms. "It's okay. It's okay."
Yuma flung his arms around Lua and buried his face in their chest, sobbing.
"It's okay. It's okay. I'm here. I'm here."
"T-They left me and Akari-nee...t-they LEFT! W-why didn't t-they c-come back...w-where are they...?"
Lua held the shaking boy close to them, stroking his hair gently, murmuring soft, reassuring sounds. Slowly, Yuma's sobs receded, and he just sat there in Lua's grip, sniffling and shaking.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I shouldn't cry..."
"No, Yuma, it's okay. Don't be afraid to cry."
"Boys aren't supposed to...Tetsuo said so."
Lua squeezed him.
"Everyone cries. You have to when you're sad or everything hurts too much."
Yuma sniffled loudly.
"...it still hurts even when I cry."
"I know...I know."
Lua held Yuma close, tight. So small—the boy was so small and fragile and too easily hurt. They closed their own eyes against their own tears. This was their fault. Their fault. Yuma didn't deserve this...he deserved to live a happy life. He didn't deserve to have his parents taken from him. This was Lua's fault. If they hadn't...made Yuma for this...
The child felt alone and abandoned and it was Lua's fault for putting this burden on him.
Lua's jaw tightened.
"Yuma," they whispered. "I will bring them back. I promise. I will bring them back."
Yuma sobbed once more and burrowed deeper into Lua's arms. Lua tried to still their own sobs as they hugged Yuma tighter.
Over Yuma's head, they could see the spindly red nightmare peeping around the corner. Another one in as many days. Too many. Lua glared at it and it dissipated.
But, they thought, as they stroked Yuma's hair, how long would that last?
"Yuma-kun."
Yuma looked up from the big silver bumblebee that he had been staring at, and it buzzed lazily away from the flowers.
"What's up, Lua-kun?" he asked.
Lua swallowed. They ducked their head for a moment.
"We...we need to talk."
"Okay."
The nine-year-old crawled over to Lua and sat beside him, looking up expectantly. No jumping up and down, no wiggling in his seat or begging Lua to please please tell what was going on. He had been...a lot quieter since his parents had disappeared. Lua sighed as they sat down beside Yuma, folding their legs underneath them. They tried to emphasize the importance of their words with their gaze, holding Yuma's eyes as best they could.
"I have to go for a while," they said. "And while I'm gone, I don't want you to come here. It's not safe."
Yuma just stared at them for a moment. Then his eyes glazed over with a shadow and his face turned to stone.
"You mean..." he said. "You're leaving me too...?"
"No," Lua said. "But...I need to see something. There is something out there that I need to check out for myself, and...things are changing here, Yuma. You have noticed it too, haven't you?"
Yuma looked down. He started to draw in the purple sand with his finger. Lua sighed. The boy was trying to block them out. They reached out with gentle fingers and tilted Yuma's chin back up to them. Yuma was pouting, trying to make his best puppy dog eyes—but behind that, there was real fear. Fear that Lua was leaving for good, that he would never see them again, that they would disappear just like his parents...
"I promise," Lua said. "I will be back. As soon as I can."
"Why can't I come with you?" Yuma said.
"Because you need to stay with your sister and grandmother. They need you."
"But...but I don't want you to leave."
Lua sighed. They smiled as gently as they could.
"And I don't want to leave."
"Why can't I come here without you? I want to wait for you every night. How will I know you're back?"
"Have you seen the nightmares?" Lua asked softly. "There are...more of them than usual."
Yuma ducked his head. A light shudder went through the boy.
"But...but I can make them go away," he whispered. "By saying I'm not scared."
"There are the white nightmares, too...those don't listen as well, you know."
Yuma shook slightly. The first white nightmare to appear...he had been so scared that he had ended up throwing up when Lua chased it away. It hadn't listened when Yuma said he wasn't afraid. Lua bit their lip just thinking about it. They shouldn't be this strong this soon.
"But—" Yuma started.
"No," Lua said firmly. You need to stay away while I'm gone. I promise, as soon as I return, I will call out for you. You will hear me. And I will come back."
"How do I know?" Yuma said. His voice cracked. "That's what to-chan and kaa-chan said too—"
Lua reached out and wrapped their arms around Yuma, pulling him into their chest. Yuma's words were cut off. After a beat, Yuma wrapped his arms around Lua too, and squeezed so tightly that Lua though they might break.
"I will come back," they said. "I promise you."
They kissed Yuma's head gently, ran their hand through his hair in a soothing gesture. A soft sob escaped the boy, and he cuddled into the embrace deeper.
"I don't want you to go away."
"I know."
And they didn't want to go either. They didn't want to separate themselves from this boy, their friend, the first person they had come to care for so closely in years. Not when they knew what danger Yuma could be in...
But that was just it. He would be in even more danger coming here, to this place between places, where things weren't always as they seemed and details could slip through the cracks. Better that Yuma remained in his own world for the time being, until Lua had...finished the preparations...
The Door was right. Lua couldn't keep coddling him forever...and they couldn't wait forever either.
Lua squeezed the boy one more time.
"I will be back," they whispered. "And who knows...I might bring your mother and father back with me."
Yuma sniffled.
"Promise me one more time," he said.
"I promise."
And they would keep that promise, they vowed silently. No matter what it took. They would always come back to him, to this child, to Yuma.
It was a promise forever.
Yuma didn't listen.
He couldn't believe for a moment that Lua would leave him, even for a few days. He didn't want to believe it. And so, the very next night, he popped back into the Dream World, and waited.
He sat at the edge of the ocean for what felt like hours, watching the deep violet waves breathe in and out, in and out. Watching the sparkles in the air dance lazily around him, the stars blinking quietly above.
He wanted to go into the forest and search for Lua. Maybe walk down the paths to the Twilight Garden where he might find his friend sitting under a tree and thinking quietly to themself, the way they liked to. Or perhaps even sleeping again, although that was honestly a rare occurrence. He wanted to wander through the woods and look for that inky black river and maybe find the strange dragons and unicorns and the funny squirrels that made funny sounds and maybe climb up a tree and stare at the mountains in the distance and count stars again.
But when he had walked towards the Butterfly Meadow, he had seen a red nightmare crawling around a tree in the distance. He knew he was tougher than them. He knew he could handle a red nightmare easily. But then he had seen the white nightmare rise up from the grasses far away, and he had retreated back to the ocean. At least over here, in the slippery purple sand and the quiet relaxing noises of the ocean, there weren't any nightmares yet.
Yuma hugged his knees, burying his face against his legs. He felt like crying.
"Lua-kun," he mumbled. "Please come back."
Skrrtch. Skrrtch. Skrrtch.
The horrifying sound cut right through to Yuma's heart. He immediately scrambled to his feet.
White nightmares. At least five of them, approaching him slowly, their blurred, indescribable forms heavy and dragging behind them.
White nightmares didn't talk the way red nightmares did. They didn't ask you if you were scared. They just knew. And even pretending to be brave couldn't scare them away.
"I'm not afraid of you!" Yuma shouted anyway. "I'm not afraid of you!"
But his stomach was starting to twist, and his vision blurring out, and he could barely breathe. His brain screamed at him to run, so frantic that he couldn't think about anything except a desire to escape, to run as far away as he could. But his legs were frozen, his shoulders trembling, mouth going dry and hanging open and he couldn't breathe.
Yuma managed to stumble back a bit anyway, and his ankles hit the water. The warm ocean water was enough to snap him out of his panic, and he retreated farther back into the ocean waves. Maybe nightmares couldn't swim, he thought desperately. Maybe they couldn't follow him into the ocean.
It was a stupid thought, because they pushed on towards him anyway. Making that horrible scratching sound, the sound of death following him, and the little boy was so scared that he couldn't breathe.
"Go away," he sobbed. "Go away! Lua-kun! Lua-kun!"
But Lua really was gone, weren't they? Because they couldn't hear Yuma calling out, didn't appear to save him as he pushed farther back into the water until he couldn't reach the bottom any more and was just treading water backwards desperately.
"Lua-kun!" he screamed. "Lua-kun!"
Lua was gone.
They really had left Yuma.
The white nightmares were swimming closer and closer, their blurry claws reaching out vaguely for his face, and he couldn't swim fast enough to get away, he just wanted to disappear under the water and vanish and—
"Yuma! Yuma!"
Yuma awoke with a scream in his throat, flailing out wildly.
"Yuma, it's okay, it's okay! I'm right here. I'm right here. It was just a dream."
It was hard to see—it was so dark, and cold, and he couldn't feel the ocean around him anymore...oh, he was...on the floor? In his room? He had fallen off his hammock.
Akari was squeezing him to her chest, holding him tightly, trying to keep him from hurting himself in his nightmare flailing. She made quiet, soothing sounds at the back of her throat, starting to hum a little song, her hand running through his hair over and over again.
"It's okay. It's okay. It was just a dream. I'm here. I'm here."
Yuma relaxed into a faint tremble. He pressed himself into his sister, tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Lua-kun didn't come," he sobbed quietly. "Lua-kun didn't come."
"Sh, sh, it was only a dream...it was only a dream...you're awake now."
But it wasn't a dream. It had been real. Lua was real. The Dream World was real. Yuma—Yuma knew it was. And Lua had left him. Would they ever be back? Would Yuma just be alone forever?
Maybe it really all had been just a dream.
Yuma buried his face into his sister's chest.
"I don't want to go back to sleep," he whispered.
"Okay. Do you want something to drink? We can put in a movie. How does that sound?"
Yuma nodded.
"Do I have to go to school tomorrow?"
"Nah. Forget school. We'll just go somewhere tomorrow, okay? Just the two of us. Where do you want to go?"
I want to go back to the Dream World with Lua.
"Let's go to the park."
"Okay. That sounds great."
Yuma squeezed his arms around Akari.
"Don't leave me."
Akari's voice cracked a little when she spoke next, her own around tightening around her little brother.
"I promise."