Charred Mirror
Falling down and down and down… There was seemingly no end to the infinite darkness.
Luke felt like he was falling every time he fell asleep.
But where am I going?
"He can never exist, because in a sense, he would end up destroying himself."
Luke wanted to find the voice that had spoken, but he wasn't sure if it was to him or not. Opening his eyes was painful, as was trying to redirect the path of his descent.
"Your theories have holes- far too many. I won't take part."
The redhead arched his back, trying to relieve some of the tension he felt in his body. The voices all around him were all calling for his attention, but every time he tried to look, a mind numbing pain would be his only response.
"No hesitations. You will do as I command."
There was beeping, and the hum of computers roaring around him, but Luke didn't dare try to investigate. He curled himself up, hugging his knees as close to his chest as he could, and allowed himself to continue to fall, falling through the dreamscape that held him prisoner. His slipped his eyes open slightly, and he noticed the darkness of blue tile on the ground, but he was surrounded by something cool, and green. Luke closed his eyes and wished he wasn't there anymore, and soon enough he was falling again.
"Perfect. No flaws. I've never seen this before!"
Luke hit the bottom, resulting in his body to sprawling out along the dirt. There were flames licking at his skin, the uncomfortable feelings of being too close to a fire began to wash over him, but still, Luke was too scared to confirm his fears.
"There isn't any way you can survive those wounds. I hope you've learned your lesson."
"I knew you would come."
The pain of the fire died away, and Luke tentatively opened one of his eyes. He was surrounded by burning ruins, the remains of a once great city.
"Am I still… dreaming?" Luke asked, as he pulled himself to his feet. He hadn't even realized that he had dropped his habit of speaking in third person, but what he saw before him was far more interesting.
"I don't exist anywhere else… But inside you now." It was Luke, exact right down to white scar marring his forehead. He was wearing charred clothing, obviously wandering around in this burning city for too long. But the resemblance was even more undeniable then his appearance compared to Asch's, from the tips of their hair to their clothing.
"Who are you?" Luke tried to reach out to his charred identical, but he flinched away before he could get close.
"I was the hope of the people, I could have saved them from the miasma… and war… and disease."
Luke was a little scared of his look-a-like, but at the same time, there was a burning sadness in his eyes, a plea to be forgiven for something unspeakable.
"You can still do that now!" Luke smiled, but he felt awkward when his charred twin did not return the gesture. "How did you get in here?"
"This was the last place I destroyed. Only one child was left alive and safe from the destruction. I gave my life so you could be born after angering… him. He was going to destroy me, and just create a new one, but I stopped him. I stayed alive so another could never be brought into this world." The mature and hardened Luke watched his childish and playful self grow fearful of the words he spoke.
"Are you… me... then?" Luke tried to reach out to his burned self once more, only to be rejected again.
"We are the same person, but I have blocked you off from me. I am your past… and you are my future. I want you to be happy for as long as you live now, but I will never bring you happiness…"
"But you can't stay here, it's dangerous here!" Luke motioned to the burning houses, the flaming debris that blew with the wind. Surely he couldn't leave his mirror image to burn in this mess.
"I created this chaos, this desolate place, so you couldn't ever find me, but you have been calling on my power far too much. You can't take pain away from humans anymore, only those of our own kind can be helped."
"But my family… Guy feels pain… and I want to help…"
"This scar." The older Luke brushed his own bangs out of the way, revealing the white mark that they both shared.
"This is my punishment. I was a savior and instead I destroyed. You can end all of this suffering Luke. You must earn the power I hid in someone very important to you, and when they know who I am and what I've done, you will be reunited with your true mission. You can save your family, your friends, the entire world… if you can undo the damage I've done."
"Will this end all of the pain I feel… in my heart? Will I have the energy to play with Asch and Guy… will I stop blacking out?"
"You only black out when you try to take the pain from a human- when you try to heal them as you would one of us. I lost that ability, I traded it for you. You can feel Guy's pain; always you can feel it, can't you?"
"Why does Guy feel pain?" Luke was starting to feel a bit lightheaded; his other's eyes were capturing his concentration. They were golden, much different then his emerald gems, as his mother called them.
"If you can figure that out, if you can understand his suffering, you might realize something about yourself… that you never wanted to know. You will be happier if you do as I say, but I guess it's understandable."
"What is?" Luke was starting to lose focus of his golden-eyed reflection, but he still had so many questions, would he see him again? Was he really trapped here in this destruction?
"I wanted you to have a second chance at life; you are my hope for the future, that we can be forgiven. You must atone for crimes you did not commit, because when I pulled away from you, I left all that was pure. You are the sacred flame, but you must find your power. Don't remember me Luke."
The world around Luke shattered like shards of glass, leaving him in the darkness as the burning village and those in it fell away. The image of the past Luke in its own cracking shard smiled, before disintegrating, like the other remains of the city.
But another voice was calling for Luke now, and it was a source of comfort in confusing times like this.
That was a bad dream. That's all.
"Luke… It's time to wake up!" Asch was gently nudging his brother awake, they were to share a bed until Luke could sleep alone in his own room, but the newest addition to Asch's quarters was quite a heavy sleeper.
"Is it morning Asch?" The remains of what Luke had seen were quickly fading away from his memory, until he couldn't remember anything but a glimmer of gold, and with it, the hope to be saved.
"Yeah, it's time to get up." Asch felt some sort of tingling, his own body seemed to be reacting to how strangely Luke had been acting in his sleep, and now as he was waking. Luke had been stirring a lot, until his body trembled and fell perfectly still. Asch tried to tell himself it just a bad dream… that maybe Luke hadn't been mumbling about his past.
But in his waking, Luke would return to Luke, and Asch enjoyed the time he had with Luke, hoping that the day would never come when Luke would remember all the things he had told him in his dreams.
This is Luke; he isn't what he was when I first met him. He promised me he would never return to that…he would be different when he met me when I awoke…
I gave him my name so he would never have to be like that again…
"Yulia."
The Order's CEO jumped visibly at the intruding voice, dropping her pen onto the model sheets she had been working on.
She nervously glanced up, meeting the gaze of Jade Curtiss, with a particularly heavy looking file in his hands.
"How did you get in here?" Yulia rose from her chair and approached the Colonel, but he held up his hand, halting her approach, instead offering her the file he had brought in.
"I have my ways, dear Yulia." Jade smirked. "I can't stay long; you know I'm not allowed in the Order any longer."
Yulia nodded sadly, briefly glancing down at the folder in her arms. On the front, was attached a picture of pre-birth Luke, his entire pre-life's story was in this folder, up until his owner came to claim him.
"Are these from the master records? I got Ion and Anise permission to go in there." Yulia bit her bottom lip, wondering if perhaps Ion and Anise had spent a great deal of time looking for the records she held in her hands.
"Do you remember the project I talked about, back on the island? Jade spoke with a longing for back when he was still Dr. Jade Balfour, before he had unleashed human Fomicry upon the world.
"Yeah, I remember it. That project was like our child… what ever happened to it?" Yulia couldn't help but be captivated by the picture of the pre-birth Luke. He was curled up, floating in a green tube of a thick liquid, with an oxygen max taped over his mouth and nose. IV's were poking out of his arms, and a few from behind his knees, no doubt all of them providing him with the nutrition to live, like a mother does to her unborn child. His eyes were half open; the sparkling golden irises were staring blankly down at the ground.
I thought Luke's eyes were green…
"Van Grants stole the research when I was ejected from the Order. I'm sure Mohs was kind in sweetening up my release for you… him and I butted heads quite often." Jade spoke with disdain for Mohs. To Jade, he was a greedy child who had cornered his close friend from his early adulthood.
"I am not allowed to leave this wing; they have me guarded in here Jade… I'm so sorry… I never even got to say goodbye…" Yulia shrunk into herself, one of her hands fanning out to cover the obvious grief on her face.
"I understand Yulia… I made a mistake putting you in such a high position, and not putting someone you trusted up there with you, they have you figuratively in a cage now…" Jade smiled, offering some comfort for his messy discharge from The Order to Yulia. No doubt Mohs had sugared up the story and suggested he had to simply return to Malkuth. Peony knew that Fomicry was Jade's passion, but lied for Jade to protect his honor, offering him a place in the military. Peony and Jade were definitely old friends, even older then Yulia and Jade could claim to be, but Jade never spoke about his past much.
"Oh! Before I forget and leave, the files I gave you aren't from the master records. I decided to come see you instead of rummaging though this place. I think they might catch your interest, but I must be going now, no doubt the guards I subdued to enter here will start waking up soon…" Jade turned and started walking towards the door, but Yulia grabbed his wrist and stopped him.
"Take me with you Jade." Yulia was staring at the ground, scared that if Jade could see the desperation in her eyes, he would reject her without a doubt.
"I can't Yulia, you are the CEO, and though you may be caged in here, Mohs will find out and probably harm Ion to get you back." Yulia flinched away from Jade, once again pulling into herself.
"If they find out he is an Impostor based upon your deceased brother, they will have more control over you then you'll know." Jade gave Yulia a sympathetic glance over his shoulder, before quickly exiting her wing, locking the door behind him.
"Van stole the plans… for Auldrant's savior? And Mohs… He cut out Jade so I would be alone… What is happening to the Order?"
"When you and Jade have found a way to bring him to our world, bring me to see him, okay? I think we should be friends…!"
Yulia laughed and ruffled her little brothers hair, setting a dinner plate down in front of him.
"I'm sure he would be dying to meet you as well! He might get awfully lonely in the Order; that is where me Jade and I are going to try and figure out how to bring him to us, will you be good while I'm gone?" Yulia sat a crossed the small table from her brother, her parents had long since passed on, but she continued to care for him as if he were her own son.
"I'll be so good! Yulia, I'll make you proud!"
"I'll make you proud too, Ion… Jade and I will get our research back from Van… though it has been years since he stole it now…" Yulia heard a guard knock against the door, frantically demanding to know if she was alright. She called back to the guard, telling him she was just finishing up her work.
The guard continued to yell useless tidbits through the solid door Jade escaped from, but Yulia had long since walked away, opening the safe in the wall where she kept all the remnants of Hod that Guy was able to save.
"Take good care of Guy… Luke… He is the only one who knows what happened back home…"
A/N: I wrote and rewrote the second half of the chapter so many times, and with each rewrite, the plot changed drastically. So let's hope I made the right choice? The next chapter is the cute, a definate moment in the development of Asch and Luke, as well at a glimpse into what one mystery stands for!
I also realized I have a whole boatload of typos and silly mistakes in all of these chapters, but my beta has computer access like... Once a year, so I'm waiting for the ten chapters I sent her to come back. She is a slow girl.