Superheroes
A/N: I don't have much to say about this one, or the next few, my updates are going to become a lot less frequent though, I have other thigns that I have been neglecting because I loved this story too much D:
I hope I'll be able to finish it all before september, when my appearances will definatly be sporadic.
"I didn't mean to offend father, honest!" Asch huffed, throwing himself onto his bed. Luke watched curiously from the window sill, where Guy had left the child to attend to his laundry. The boy had offered to help, but Luke's appearance anywhere where his father could see him at the moment was not a good idea in Guy's book.
"Would you like me to do something about it?" Luke smiled, innocently, but there was a hint of deviance in Luke voice. Luke's desire to bend over backwards for Guy and Asch hadn't gone unnoticed, but when questioned, he simply responded that 'it makes me sad when you are sad!'
Guy never questioned how Luke knew they were sad, but he had managed to trick the boy into believing that simply behaving well would bring him happiness.
"Nah, I was defending you from father. I think he is scared of you." Asch waited for a response, but Luke simply stared in return. Watching had become one of Luke's favorite pastimes, he would just watch the commotion around the manor, and all the while Guy would worry about what was going through his head.
"Is everyone afraid of me?" Luke's tag caught the sunlight when he turned to face his brother. It looked like a normal necklace when its contents were hidden like this, but as Luke became more aware of the world around him, he became more aware of what he truly was.
Asch frowned, and beckoned his brother over. They both sat cross legged, facing each other in silence. Asch finally reached out and grabbed his brother's shoulders, bringing them both to lie on their sides, still facing each other.
Asch reached up and brushed Luke's hair away from his eyes, the same way his mother used to when he would doubt his confidence.
"I'm not afraid of you, and Guy never stops worrying about you, he isn't afraid either." Asch watched as a glimmer of a smile danced along Luke's lips, he could never hide how happy it made him when he was complimented.
"Did I make momma sick?" Luke reached out and placed his palm against Asch's chest, waiting to see if the pain in his chest was the same as Asch's, so maybe he wouldn't feel so bad about his mother figure's untimely illness.
"Mom has never been well Luke." Asch reached out and grabbed Luke's tag in his hand. Luke visibly flinched, but the grip Asch held on the collar prevented him from pulling away.
"You are my best friend Luke, even if you don't remember anything before you came home with Ion. I will never get angry with you." Asch tugged Luke's collar, bringing the boy closer. He wrapped his arms around his brother.
"Remember Luke, no matter what happens from now on out, you always have me, okay? I don't care what you are, or where you came from, you always have me."
Luke curled his body up, allowing Asch to cradle his surprisingly slender form to his chest. As much as Luke wished to cry, he doubted he was able, he didn't seem capable of expressing a majority of the emotions he felt, but in Asch and Guy's presence, he only wanted to please, no matter how he felt inside.
Asch rested his back against the headboard of the bed he and his father had argued about. He allowed his emotional distant brother to curl into his lap, Luke's forehead pressing into Asch's shoulder.
Guy stood in the doorframe, watching as the two boys sat in silence. Asch had rested his cheek on top of Luke's messy red hair, and closed his eyes. The two appeared to be sleeping, which was probably for the best after the blowout Asch had with his father.
Guy pulled the door closed, catching Asch's attention. The noble looked up and caught Guy's gentle smile as the door clicked shut, leaving Asch and Luke and the setting sun.
Most of the manor had grown used to Luke's presence, and that he was always to be watched by Guy, but Suzanne's reoccurring illness had started to rest poorly in the Duke's mind. Luke showed no animosity towards anyone, even when he was insulted or put down because of his disposition, he never even batted an eye against them. But still, Duke Fabre found it hard to adjust to a creature of the same race that almost injured him earlier in his life.
Human Fomicry had only been in use for ten years, Yulia had been CEO of the Order for seven of those ten years.
But the Malkuth massacres… Those only happened months ago, the murderer could still be on the loose… It wasn't entirely Duke Fabre's fault he was afraid of his newest son and the attachments he created with all those that interacted with him. He wasn't afraid of Guy's helpfulness around the manor, or Suzanne's declining health, but the way Luke was perfect. Fomicry never created perfection; it wasn't possible for a creature creation science to create perfect humans, even though they were the same, in exchange for higher-order thinking, physical appearances and individual mentality was sacrificed.
Yet Luke now slept in his son's room, his ability to think and respond to situations without any programming, his flawless appearance, all of it was too unreal. Something was amiss with how seamlessly Luke had adjoined himself into the family, but the Duke was the only one to notice.
It was a slow day for Luke. Guy and Asch were practicing sword-fighting, but Luke's own abilities were ailing. He instead took to watching the clouds as they drifted through the sky, remarking at how strange and soft the white billows appeared, yet when they got 'angry', they would poor rain from the sky.
There was still so much Luke didn't understand, but he was able to learn most of what he needed through observations. Most of the time Guy would have to correct Luke's interpretations, minor details Luke has missed, or false impressions he discovered from occurrences that weren't normal.
Luke had decided he wanted to learn the swordplay that Guy and Asch enjoyed playing with one another. Guy offered to teach Luke once he regained his mobility, but something about the handling of a weapon for sport struck a nerve within him.
Instead, the young Impostor enjoyed learning without actually doing, in this aspect at least. Weaponry would not be a strong point of Luke's; no matter how much it was expected of the Duke's son. There was something that denied Luke the ability to pick up a blade, even the wooden practice swords
"Did anyone ever teach you about fonic artes, Asch?" Guy signaled for the sparring match to end, sliding the wooden sword back into his cloth belt.
"I've never tried them really; I've heard only certain people can use them." Luke looked interestingly between the two, but chose not to express his interest in these fonic artes.
"You can channel fonons through the slots on your body to cast powerful artes, I can't do it though. You're right; only certain people can cast them." Guy took a seat next to Luke, who hardly acknowledged his presence, but silently asked Guy to continue his explanation of the artes.
"Could Luke do them?" Asch's question pulled Luke from his unresponsive state, which would have shocked Asch and Guy, but they were used to his strange mannerisms by now.
"I've never heard of an Impostor successfully controlling fonic artes, strike artes- maybe, but Luke refuses to wield a weapon." Guy ruffled Luke's hair, grabbing Luke's shoulder and pulling him in close.
"You want to try Luke? I don't know how to use them myself, but I can teach you how to call upon fonons, and maybe they will answer you." Guy cheerily tried to rally Luke's spirits, but when Luke was in a pensive mood, nothing but Luke could lift himself from the vast expanse of his mind.
"Can we both try?" Luke looked to Asch for reassurance, receiving a smile from his twin brother.
"Of course, now go stand in the center of the courtyard, and I'll tell you what to do. Luke, you might need to make adjustments depending on how many fonons answer you call, I'm not sure the same amount will answer as they will Asch, if any come to either of you…"
Guy was aware that Impostor's were made without the proper fon slots to call fonons, but he wouldn't aid in Luke's feelings of inferiority. The boy already had to deal with his leather collar as a reminder of his place in society, because when he stepped outside the walls of the manor, he wasn't the Duke's son any longer.
"Close your eyes, and try and hear the fonons around you. Once you can hear them, try and see if maybe you can feel them when they blow through your fon slots." The twins heeded Guy's advice, both closing their eyes in the center of the manor's courtyard.
Asch was the first to hear the fonons, but he didn't say anything to Luke. He didn't want to discourage his twin from trying.
Luke could hear something entirely different then Asch, and he could feel the fonons as they tried to rush into his fon slots, but they were blocked off by something. When Luke opened his eyes, he could see the blurry outlines of seven unlit lanterns forming a circle around his feet, each one representing a different fonim element.
Asch didn't have the unlit circle around his feet, and neither did Guy, but the static sound of the fonons colliding against a barrier kept distracting Luke.
"Something is blocking my fon slots Guy, do you know what it is?" Luke opened his eyes fully and the blurry images all disappeared, like an illusion.
"Maybe it's a fon slot seal?" Asch piped up, giving up after he was barely able to feel the fonons breezing around his fon slots.
Guy studied Luke, trying to focus on the fonons around the boy. He may not have been able to command them, but he could still hear and feel them, and of course, they did aid in his strike artes, they very few he actually knew.
"It's not a slot seal, they are all open…" Why does he have fon slots? "It's something just barely off of your skin… It's strongest….. here…" Guy traced the invisible barrier to its strongest point, its origin no doubt.
His white scar.
"This was here before I woke up in the miasma… Ion said something about it when he was checking my older wounds." Luke placed his delicate hand over his forehead, effectively hiding the white mark from Guy and Asch's view.
"What happened to those injuries? You were bandaged up pretty bad at the dealer from what Anise had told me." Guy gently pried Luke's hand away from his forehead, and began to examine the boy's hairline again, in case he happened to miss anything during the preliminary examination.
But again, there was nothing.
"Do you heal fast? Is that Luke's superpower?" Asch gleefully clasped his hands together, trying to lighten the mood surrounding Luke's lack of scars.
"Yeah, Luke is a superhero. He is going to save the entire manor from the super villain Asch." Guy laughed when Asch's faced dropped, the noble boy obviously didn't enjoy being evil.
"Then what does that make you Guy?" Luke poked his caretaker in the center of his forehead, while Asch tried to coax Luke into jumping on his back.
Guy swatted Luke's prying hands away, only to have the boy finally accept Asch's offer to join forces and take on Guy.
"I'm the most evil super villain of them all!"
And so the dual superhero and the super villain fought valiantly, but Guy ended up defeating the totem pole that was Asch and Luke, picking the original superhero off Asch's back and foiling their plans.
Asch sighed, realizing what time it was, and reluctantly following the struggling Luke (although he was suspended in the air by his midsection) into the manor for bath time.