~*Improviso Vir*~

Unexpected Hero

Often, Lucas found himself unable to sleep.

His dreams were haunted with nightmare images of someone calling.

What did they want? Help? Guidance? Someone needed to explain!

"How can I help you?" He'd cry out into the darkness. The figure would turn to look at him with sad blue eyes and beg for death. Death was his only escape.

He would call out to him in dreams-or were they nightmares-and he wasn't sure what to do.

The Dragon send me guidance… He'd pray sometimes tiredly.

It was during one of those sleepless nights that Lucas lay awake, his eyes staring fixedly out at the river in front of them. Duster was snoring loudly, laying face first in the grass, and Boney was curled up beside him.

Kumatora was…somewhere. She went places. Lucas guesses the lost of the Magypsies affected her more than she let anyone see. But that was okay, he wouldn't pry.

It was there amongst the trees that he heard the earth call to him. Sometimes he imagines he can hear it: A sort of light, bell tone that plays different songs in different locations. He's insane, but sometimes he can see pictures. He doesn't know what to do, and so he judges it best to do nothing.

Lucas reaches out to grab a pebble, levitating it off of his hand, and throwing it in a skipping line across the river. It lands halfway across the wide water with a splash.

A heavy pair of footsteps behind him and Lucas knows those steps. Surprisingly, it wasn't Duster that walked with that quick, loud pace, it was actually Kumatora. A thief wouldn't survive long walking like that. Lucas knew his friends well, and the heavy steps meant she was angry.

This was often.

"Something bothering you?" He murmured, looking over his shoulder. He kept his position of his legs drawn up to his chest.

The moonlight reflected off of her sharp eyes as she studied him, then with a tired groan she stomped back up to him and dropped down, removing her gloves to trail her fingers through the water.

"Life sucks," she informed him with a sigh.

"That's often. No one knows more so than me." He offered her a wan smile, and she rolled her eyes.

"So melodramatic, I just say these things to let out some steam."

Lucas didn't reply he just watched her with a silent, thoughtful look. Kumatora lifted her eyes, then asked, "What're you up for, anyway?"

"Can't sleep."

"Nightmares?" She tugged absentmindedly at a strand of her hair. A chill wind started and tugged the back of her hood up on her jacket, making it flip onto her head.

Lucas snickered, wrapping his arms around himself, wondering why the heck he wore a T-shirt sometimes. "Yeah, nightmares. No big deal."

Kumatora yanked her hood off, muttering a curse under her breath, she then put her gloves back on and sat back on her hands. "Same. Not that I'm scared, but those things just wake you up and next thing you know, you're so jumped up from it you can't get back to sleep." She added hastily.

Lucas let the obvious lie pass, dipping his head to the side like an inquisitive bird. "You miss them," he stated.

Kumatora growled from between her teeth, once again reminding him of a bear…or a tiger. It was hard to say which. She surprised him by saying, "Of course I do."

Lucas raised his eyebrows.

"Hell yeah," she continued, punching the ground furiously. "I really miss them sometimes, but hey, they seemed happy to go, so to hell with it! I'm glad they're pleased, wherever they are."

"Wish it was that easy for me."

"Gotta be strong, Lucas." She replied, calming down slightly now. To ease the tension, Lucas asked her if she was a Magypsy too.

"Being raised by one doesn't make me one, at least, I hope." She snapped, crossing her arms. "As if I want to guard a Needle all my immortal life. Anyway, I'm not immortal like them, nor do I look like a cross dressing boy."

Considering some of the things he had heard on her, Lucas decided not to pursue the topic. "Let's get some rest," he suggested. "Or at least lie down."

"Go ahead, I'm fine." Kumatora snorted, obviously not taking orders from him.

"Night then, Kumatora."

"Hmm." She hummed in response, watching the stars. He thought her eyes looked a little wet, but maybe it was his imagination.

The boy settled back near Boney, looking at the stars above. He thought back to all of the folklore on the Dragon he had heard, and wondered if she was up there, in the stars, with Claus.

I need to be like Kumatora, Lucas thought. Accept I can't change certain things, be at least mildly happy, learn to let things go, and…curse out everything that irritates me. Here he laughed a bit, and Kumatora looked at him from her position near the river, her expression quizzical.

Kumatora was the guard for the night, not going back to sleep, and she didn't quite have the heart to wake up her sleeping friends as the blackness was chased away by the sun, like a great phoenix that rose from its ashes every night, and burned again to nothing but glittering white embers every sunset.

Throughout the night, Kumatora didn't shed a tear. And neither did he.

~***~

I might change from just emotions to one word themes, for example, "star" and "family".

Anyway, if I do that, these will stop being so bad. I can't do Mother 3 well so if you don't mind, thank you very much, review!

Lucas "hearing the earth" is a minor reference to Ness, in case it wasn't obvious.