This oneshot is based on my future story. So this can be seen as a bit of a preview to that one.
The new world. The merged world. One of the many people that now call the place home, whether they want to or not, is a boy named Lucas. His journey is a long one. A rollercoaster, if you will. You, the reader, may see this as the peephole view of what Lucas does in the world. But let's not dilly dally any longer. My name is X, I will be your narrator this time around, and this is Lucas's Journey…part of it, at the very least.
It all starts with the day he wakes up. He spurs awake in a random building within the Wrecked Village. It was a village that lived up to its name. A village torn apart by a horrible war long before the merge. Lucas wakes up on the floor of the building. He was very clearly confused, which I can understand. I don't know what, and even if, he saw how he was brought here. But suddenly waking up in a strange place will cause anyone some confusion.
Either way, being the adventurer he is, makes him feel less confused than most people would be in his situation. He stands up and stretches his back as a powerful yawn comes upon him. As he recovers, a small snake head pops up from Lucas's wrist. This is his Rope Snake. A weird creature that seemingly lives inside Lucas. How he feeds? How he, well, lives? I do not know. And part of me doesn't desire to know. The two of them are close, that's all that matters.
Lucas greets the snake before the snake retreats back into his wrist. Lucas leaves the building, scanning the area around him, seeing that it was in fact not any place he knows. He calls upon the snake. "Hey, could you look around and find something? Water or….or anything of note?" he asks the snake. The snake nods before slithering off. There isn't much around him. But I need him to go somewhere in particular. I need to influence the snake. I'm able to reach into the mind of the snake, which I can't do with anyone else. I'm able to bring the snake to the Sharp River. After he sees it, he rushes back to Lucas to tell him.
Lucas makes it to the Sharp River. Good. There's one particular reason as to why I want him to be there….
He crouches down and drinks some of the water in the river. However, while drinking some of the water, what ends up happening is he sees blood in the water in the corner of his eye. He looks around the river and sure enough, sees more and more bloody water. He jumps back and sees Mario floating aimlessly through the water, face down, and bleeding from his gut. Lucas shoots up but is almost instantly filled with the need to help him. He grabs his snake before running alongside the rushing river to stay with Mario. He tries to extend the snake to grab him, but the rushing water moves Mario faster than the snake can extend. When the snake returns to normal length, Lucas continues running alongside the river. This time, stopping a bit ahead of Mario. He extends the snake, but much like last time, fails to make it all the way.
Getting a bit agitated, Lucas runs alongside the river to keep up with Mario. Lucas's eyes are centered on the body, not where he was running. This causes him to crash into someone and fall down. He looks at the person he bumped into. This person is Dark Samus. A very important person within Lucas's life here in the new world. He doesn't know it just yet. But soon enough, he will.
He jumps up and bows his head, "I'm so sorry. I-I didn't see you there, please forgive me." Dark Samus changed right there. Why you may ask? Because of Lucas. Lucas is special. At least in this new world. He just treated the Phazon clone of a real human with respect and worry. Dark Samus never felt that before. No one ever treated her as a human before. She knows she's not a human. She always knew. But in this one moment, she was able to forget.
Lucas looks up and sees Mario in the distance, gaining a lot of, well, distance. He looks at Dark Samus. "Uhh, s-sorry, I've gotta save him." He runs past Dark Samus, causing her to look back, her head glitching a bit. Lucas is able to catch up, and further, down the river, he sees there's a rock within the river that will allow him to stand closer to Mario. He runs forward and slows down before jumping on this rock. The rock, as he expected it to be, is very slippery and it's not a very flat rock, to begin with. "A-a-alright buddy. It's now or never." The snake nods his little head and Lucas waits for Mario to come a bit closer. When he does, he extends the snake forward and actually grabs Mario, grabbing one of the straps of his overalls. Lucas chuckles. "We did it!" However, when he was trying to bring the snake back, his feet were slipping. "Oh no…" He tries to stabilize his feet, but can't without making the snake let go of Mario.
That's when Lucas feels something around his body. He looks down and sees a laser. It's not exactly a laser, but I don't really know how to describe it. Perhaps a Phazon laser? Grapple laser? I am unsure. I still need to learn about each individual universe that was brought into this one world. But either way, Lucas looks back and sees that the user of this laser is none other than Dark Samus. The first sign of Lucas's influence. Of his power. Dark Samus lifts Lucas up off the rock easily. Lucas is able to shrink the snake back to normal size, also allowing the snake to lift Mario out of the water. Dark Samus brings them to the ground and softly puts them down.
Lucas looks at Dark Samus with a wide smile before hugging her. "Thank you. Thank you so much." This causes another glitch within her. Lucas breaks the hug to look at Mario. He's unconscious. He also has a stick within his side. Dark Samus crouches down next to Lucas.
"Looks like he had a bout with someone, and lost," she says. Her feminine voice surprises Lucas.
"Can you help him?" Dark Samus puts a hand on Mario's chest.
"He likely has water in his lungs. I don't have a mouth for CPR and you…probably don't feel comfortable going mouth-to-mouth." Lucas shakes his head, confirming it. "Ok, then we'll do something else." She puts her hands on top of each other on Mario's chest. "Grab the stick. I need you to pull it out as I pump his chest. Got it?"
"Y-yes ma'am." Lucas grabs the stick as Dark Samus smiles? I don't really know how to describe it. She doesn't have a mouth or really any facial features. The fact she's able to talk is a shock to me. All you, the reader, need to know is that she appreciated being called ma'am.
"On the count of 3…..3…..2…..1….now." Lucas pulls the stick out and Dark Samus starts pumping his chest, and within seconds, Mario shoots awake as he coughs up water.
"We did it!" Mario lays back down and groans.
"Where am I?" he asks. Dark Samus supports his head up.
"You're in the Lake Shore," she says. He tries to sit up, but only has shooting pain in his side. "Relax, you sustained an injury."
"I've got this," Lucas says. He looks at his hand and a small hexagonal shape shows up. He moves his hand to the wound and it seemingly heals. "My healing powers aren't the best, I can cover wounds. It'll stop your bleeding, and hopefully, it'll heal." Dark Samus pats Lucas's back before looking back at Mario.
"Dr. Mario is in the town nearby."
"Dr. Mari-" He tries to sit up again, but feels the pain once more. "Ack."
"S-sorry, pain is still there." Dark Samus helps Mario stand up, making Mario grab at where the wound once was.
"Thank you. M-my name is Mario."
"Wait, there's a Mario AND a Dr. Mario?"
"Confusing? I know." It is indeed confusing. Everywhere I look they aren't related, Dr. Mario isn't some weird relative of Mario and Luigi. Mario and Dr. Mario has the same body composition, the only difference is their minds. Perhaps Dr. Mario came from a different timeline? Either way, Dr. Mario is a doctor version of Mario. A smarter and more competent person than he is.
"Well, my name is Lucas." Mario's face moves to look at Dark Samus.
"Name is Samu–I-I mean, Dark Samus." Mario nods his head.
"Do you need our help to get you to the town?"
"Where is it again?" Mario asks. Dark Samus points in the direction of the town, which is across the lakeshore but is still in sight. "I should be able to make it before nightfall. Thank you though."
"Of course." Mario backs away from Dark Samus and starts twisting his body to feel how the wound will affect his walking.
"Thank you guys, again." Lucas simply smiles, which makes Mario smile before he starts his walking. Lucas sighs happily before hugging Dark Samus again. "Thank you too, Sam."
"Sam?"
"S-sorry, I like giving nicknames," he says as he breaks the hug up. Dark Samus giggles before ruffling Lucas's hair.
"No worries, I don't mind it. Lucas looks around and sees the bloody stick. He grabs it before washing it in the water. The stick was very sharp, at least in terms of other sticks. This stick is a special stick…weirdly enough. A hatred of one brother for another causes the strongest and pointiest of sticks, makes for a mighty weapon.
Lucas clicks his gums and his snake comes out of his wrist. "New weapon buddy. Care to take care of it for me?" The snake then eats the stick before retreating back into his wrist.
"You have any idea where to go?" Dark Samus asks.
"Gonna find my family."
"What if they're not here…in this world?" Lucas smiles happily. But something about him…held this somber tone to it. Dark Samus was able to see it. See the sadness in his eyes. The sadness Lucas is clearly trying to hide.
"I know they are. They're always there. They'll never leave. I just need to find them….again. Wanna come?"
"My apologies, I can't make it. I need…to go do something."
"Oh, I-it's ok. Thank you, Sam, I hope we can see each other again."
"I'm sure we will." Dark Samus giggles as she ruffles Lucas's hair, making him feel happy. It's something his mom used to do. When she stops, Lucas looks up at her as tears form in his eyes. "Are you ok?" Lucas smirks.
"Yes. Perfect." He keeps his eyes on her as he starts walking away, after a while, he finally looks away and continues on his own. Dark Samus watches him, her head twitching once more.
"Bye….Lucas…"
He made it. There were a few bumps in the road on his journey here, but he overcame them. He's a strong boy. He just doesn't see it yet. But he did it. He made it to his home, Tazmily. Not just his home, but the home of his family. Within the town square, he looks around and finds it to be in the exact state it was in when he left. He sighs happily before bringing his snake out. "We made it, buddy, we made it. Ready to see them?" The snake nods his head before retreating back into his skin.
He looks around and finds the village deserted, fully empty. He departs from his goal to see if there is anyone in the town. And to Lucas's dismay, no one from Tazmilly was brought over aside from him. Lucas feels different about it though. He feels a way that he shouldn't. He feels they left him. He feels that everyone he knew just abandoned him.
After everything that had happened back in his world, he was branded as a monster. As someone who brings misfortune. He was given the title of the black sheep. Only one person saw otherwise, that person being a boy his age named Fuel, but he wasn't brought over. Lucas is alone.
He gets to Fuel's house and finds it empty. He chuckles a bit as he looks into the mirror. "Guess he left me too. It was only a matter of time." He feels his eyes start to swell with tears before he leaves the room. And in his stead none other than his own reflection. While he may have left the mirror, his reflection did not. It is only a small sign of his future. A sad one. One I tried my hardest to prevent…but I am still but a human, and thus I failed. But we'll get there soon enough.
Lucas walks to his house. He knows his one is going to be empty. He doesn't need to look through it. He just knows it. He touches the door before going away. He walks all the way back to town square then to the villager's graveyard. But this still isn't his destination. There's a small path to the right of the graveyard. This path goes up to a small plateau. Lucas starts walking up that path. He makes it to the top and is greeted by his family.
But they're not normal. They're a family of graves. Hinawa. Flint. Claus. And Boney. His family, all beneath graves. Lucas softly smiles. "Hey, guys…" He walks over and sits on his knees in front of their graves. "You wouldn't believe how long it took me to get here. I started doubting Tazmily was even here, so I'm glad it's here. I'm so glad you guys are.
Lucas's story is not a happy one. His mother was killed by a chimera while trying to protect her two sons, Lucas and Claus. Claus then went after the controller of said chimera for revenger, but only turned into one himself. Forced to fight his own brother, eventually, he finally got his mind straight. His head was filled with so many realizations that he couldn't live with what he did. And thus, he killed himself. Not too long after, Lucas's dad was overcome with guilt after losing his wife and one son. He wasn't right, mentally. And one day, as Lucas entered the house, he saw his dad having hung himself. And finally, poor Boney. A young dog like him can only live with so much guilt at a time and died due simply to guilt. Ever since then, the people of the village avoided Lucas, aside from Fuel. But, the damage was done. Lucas's mind started to twist and turn, to alter. To welcome the darkness. Lucas now, his mind is so full of darkness that it attracts him. I apologize for the tangent. Let's resume.
Lucas looks at the four different graves and chuckles again, but his eyes are very clearly tearful. His chuckles slowly but surely turn to crying. He misses them. He has his snake leave his body before standing up and walking to Claus's grave. He smiles somberly as he puts a hand on it. "I love all of you. I tried living without. Fuel was helping me….but even he left. Everyone left me. I can't hold on, Claus. You were always the strongest of the two of us." Lucas leans down and kisses the grave. "I miss you. I can't….I can't go on." He chuckles some more as he starts crying some more. "I'll see you soon." He looks over and sees the edge of the plateau. He walks over to it and looks down. The height was overwhelming. "I forgot how….h-high this was." He gulps before looking back at the graves.
"Lucas…." a very familiar voice says from over the cliff. He looks over and sees…his family. Hinawa, Flint, Claus, and even Boney. All floating, all ghosts. "My lovely boy, it has been a while, hasn't it?"
"M-mom?" Lucas stumbles backward.
"We miss you, son, I'm sorry, about leaving you," Flint says.
"D-dad….." Lucas's eyes were getting tearier.
"If you come with us, we'll live happily. No fighting. No Porky. Just us….a family," Claus says as he extends his hand. Even Boney gets in on the action as he barks.
"Claus…" Lucas steps forward before looking down and gulping. He looks back up and sighs.
"Y-yeah…you're right…we can be together again…" He tries to reach for the hand, but is very slightly out of range.
"You have to jump for us, Hunny. We'll catch you," Hinawa says. Lucas looks down one final time before turning back toward Claus. He takes in a deep breath before jumping forward. But where he is supposed to grab onto Claus, he just goes through his family and starts falling down. He looks at his hand and balls it up into a fist.
"Soon…we'll see each other again." He continues falling as he closes his eyes, preparing for utter doom. And that's exactly what he's getting….or would've gotten. There's a streak of thunder that seems to catch Lucas. The figure that catches Lucas slams into one of the buildings. The user of that electricity is clearly not used to it. Perhaps they weren't even using it, but instead only used it on instinct alone.
Lucas is able to tell that his goal didn't succeed. He opens his eyes and sees the person who saved him, Ness. A boy similar to Lucas in many ways, but very different in others. Their future only begins here. Their journey of discovery is a long one, but it's one they do together, for they learn more about themselves when they're with each other. However, at this point, this is their first meeting.
Lucas shoves himself off of Ness and shoots his look up to the plateau's edge, where he sees the ghosts of his family. They slowly disappear, making Lucas's emotions go wild. He falls to his knees and just starts crying. Ness can't do anything but stand there and watch him. "Hey…" Lucas isn't responding. He's clearly not in the talking mood. Ness thinks a bit before kneeling in front of him. This stops Lucas's crying as he looks at Ness. A single look between the two boys causes Lucas to bring him instantly into a hug. Ness hugs back, knowing Lucas probably needs this. "It's ok. What's wrong?" Lucas breaks the hug up and looks into Ness's violet eyes. His eyes spoke honestly. He felt he can trust the boy. But it's not his eyes that helped him realize this, it's just what he thought. I know the truth, of course.
Lucas stands up and grabs Ness's hand. "C-come on…" He walks back over to the graveyard, with Ness still in his hand. He leads the boy up to the plateau edge, where his snake rushes over and wraps around Lucas's body, but it's still obvious he's not the brightest of people yet. The snake looks at Ness, confused. "Oh, buddy, this is….oh….I-I'm sorry, I never got your name."
"It's Ness."
"I'm Lucas." The snake returns into Lucas's skin as he walks over to the graves. Ness carefully follows him.
"Graves? Who….who are they?" Ness reads the names on each grave.
"My family." This took any breath inside of Ness out, as he just stares at the back of Lucas's head. Lucas softly shakes his head. "I don't get why they left me….e-everyone left me…I'm just a monster."
"Everyone?" Lucas turns around, his face looks numb, but his eyes speak the truth.
"The village. Everyone is gone, I'm….alone….again." Ness shakes his head before stepping forward.
"You don't know? The merger only brought over certain people?"
"Wh-what?"
"The merge. The one that took all of our worlds, and all of us, and brought them into this world. It didn't bring everyone, so a lot of people are not here. My mom, my sister."
"A-are they…..dead?"
"I don't know the specifics, but they're not dead." Lucas looks down and chuckles.
"I'm so….stupid." Ness shakes his head.
"This is a new thing. Everyone is confused by it." Lucas slowly looks up at him with somewhat of a relaxed face.
"What do I do now? There's nothing for me….nothing but the end…" Lucas says as he looks back at the grave. Ness grabs Lucas's arm, making him look back. Ness has a supportive smile on his face.
"You may not have your family….or your friends, but that doesn't mean you can't make new ones." There's a small smile that forms on Lucas. "Come on, there's a few people I want to introduce you to." Lucas takes one final look back at the graves before sighing. He looks back and nods his head.
Lucas wakes up in his new Onett home. But he's not alone. He's with Ness. The two of them share a bed. He stretches his arms and walks over to the mirror. He stares into it and his normally happy-looking face disappears as he sees what he always sees in the mirror, himself but with blood-red eyes and mouth. Nightshade. He's had his eyes on Lucas for probably since he woke up. That darkness within Lucas, no matter how much he may try to showcase brightness and happiness, it attracted Nightshade, so much so, he attached himself to him. Their only way of communication is through Lucas's head and through mirrors, or really anything with a reflective surface.
"Lucas, it's been a long time, hasn't it?"
"Not long enough."
"Now now, Lucas. If you keep saying that, I'm going to assume you hate me. And you don't hate me, do you?" Lucas sighs. Poor boy. Nightshade is a master with feasting on darkness, even darkness you may not know exists.
"What do you want?"
"Nothing, my sweet boy, can't a guy just be here to support him?"
"You, support me? Yeah right."
"I do, Lucas. You just need to know that. I'm your only true friend. Once you see how everyone truly feels about you, you'll know."
"Just leave me alone, Nightshade." Nightshade has a temper problem. The smallest things can set him off. He reaches through the mirror and grabs Lucas's Neck as he brings his head out of the mirror.
"Just shut up, Lucas. I'm trying to be considerate. I live in your head, Lucas. I know things about you that you don't even know….and I know you know everyone doesn't truly like you." Lucas's eyes lowered. There he goes, feasting on Lucas's darkness, making it grow. Nightshade lets go of him. "Now be a good boy and thank me."
"F-for what?" Lucas asks as he rubs his now bruised neck.
"For not killing that sweet friend of yours." Lucas looks back and sees Ness. "Unless you want him dead. I wouldn't mind it. He's quite the annoying character." He's only annoying to him due to Ness's innate nature to bring out the light within people. And obviously, Nightshade hates the light. Lucas sighs, knowing that if he didn't do what Nightshade wanted him to do, he would not only kill Ness but everyone else he cared for.
"T-thank you Nightshade for being so considerate."
"Good boy…" Nightshade reaches out and grabs Lucas's chin, forcing him to look at him, directly into those blood-red eyes. "Was that so difficult?" Nightshade disappears as Ness starts to wake. Ness sits up and rubs the drowsiness out of his eyes. He looks at Lucas.
"Lucas? What're you doing?" he asks, still sort of out of it. Lucas sighs as he stares at his now normal reflection.
"Nothing. Just fixing my hair." Lucas isn't really focusing on the mirror or his reflection though. He's in his own head. This is why he doesn't recognize Ness jumping at him from behind, wrapping his arms around Lucas's body.
"Come on, let's have a chill day today. We don't need to go out and fight. I don't wanna!" Lucas is able to giggle. He twists around and sees that Ness has yet to put a shirt on. His wide smile is so contagious that Lucas has no choice but to smile with him. "There's the smile I love from you, your pearly whites on full view." Lucas blushes from the complement.
"Oh stop it."
"I mean it." Ness grabs Lucas's shirt and smirks. "How about we lay in bed for a bit longer? Hmmm?" Ness knows he would never turn down an offer like that, so he doesn't even wait for a proper answer before dragging him to their bed. They lay there, not even tucked in, for a while.
"You do realize that if we want to go back home….we won't be together anymore."
"We'll find a way. I refuse to never see you again…" Lucas giggles again. Ness is the opposite of Lucas. Their mindsets are very different. But it's a mindset that the others need to change. A person will only change if met with someone of a different mind. However, this world isn't always in the boys' favor. Always trying to pull them apart, and I am guilty of the same thing.
There's a knock at the door. Ness looks at Lucas before jumping up and walking over to the door. He opens it and sees Mario. "Mario? Need something?"
"Where's Lucas?" This is a fateful day. The day that Lucas succumbed to his darkness. The day that Nightshade is able to take control. All because of one thing….isolation. Lucas stands up and walks over to the door. Mario looks angry yet sad. The face alone told Lucas of what this all means. They found out. They learned the truth. Lucas sighs. He puts a hand on Ness's shoulder.
"Wait for me here, ok?" Ness is unsure, but he nods his head nonetheless. Mario grabs Lucas's arm and escorts him away from the house.
"I assume you know why I have you."
"Yes. And I'm sorry, Mario."
"You should've said that way long ago, Lucas. But instead, you lied to me. You lied to us all. I hope you're proud of yourself." Lucas's eyes dart downward. He's not proud. Not in the slightest. But Nightshade? He very much is. This is exactly what he wants
Mario takes him to a small lake by the name of Ronolf. This isn't a normal lake, however. Underneath its surface is a prison. The reasoning as to why it's there is unknown, and it seems randomly placed, with no paths in or out of the place outside of the lake entrance. Mario pushes Lucas into one of the cells. However, that's not even all that happened. Palutena is there, waiting for him. "Lucas, I apologize, but we can't risk you hurting us all."
"I….I understand…" Palutena pushes Lucas against the wall that has four chains reaching out of it. Palutena straps Lucas to all for chains, two for his arms and two for his legs. Palutena walks to the outside of the cell, allowing Mario to come in.
"And this, Lucas…" Mario's fist is engulfed in fire "Is for my brother." Mario punches Lucas across the face. "This…..is for lying to us." Mario punches his face again, and he loses some blood from the hit. "And this…" Mario grabs Lucas's face and makes him look at him, "Is just because I want to." Mario gives a powerful punch to Lucas's gut, making him spit up blood onto Ness.
"Enough, Mario." Mario shakes his hand and scoffs before leaving.
"You're lucky Lucas. If it wasn't for Lady Palutena here, you'd be much more for wear." Mario leaves the area. Palutena closes the door and locks it.
"You should've told us before Lucas. We wouldn't have resorted to such heinous acts. Now, for everyone's sake….you can't leave here." Palutena leaves. Lucas looks down at the ground, which he is no longer even standing on. He's strapped to the wall, suspended in the air.
"Tch, tch, tch, tch. Lucas, I warned you, didn't I?" Nightshade says from inside the cell. Lucas is still looking down at the ground, however. "Come on, my sweet boy, you're not still mad at me, are you?"
"You're the reason I'm in here….you're the reason for all of this. You're the reason for every bad thing in my life." Nightshade cackles. This is what he wants. He wants Lucas to showcase his darkness. He wants to turn that darkness to anger….to power.
"Oh? Lucas, you're blinded by trauma. I am not your brother, Lucas." Lucas tries to rush forward at Nightshade, but due to being chained up, he doesn't make any progress.
"DON'T SAY HIS GODDAMN NAME!"
"Ooo, lashing out, are we? And where did you learn those naughty words?" Nightshade walks over to Lucas and grabs his chin. "But you, it's the truth. Your brother caused every ounce of darkness inside you. He left you….all by yourself."
"H-he…..he wanted to help m-mom."
"She was already dead. Your brother was stupid to think he could do anything."
"N-no….SHUT UP!"
"If your brother didn't kill himself….you would still have your dad." Lucas stays quiet. "Oh, cat got your tongue. Or are you just acknowledging that I am right?"
"Shut up….shut up!"
"Look where being good has gotten you. Bottling up your darkness only means if you lose control…you do unspeakable things."
"Y-you made me do those things."
"I did no such thing, Lucas. I'm a monster, yes. But I would never make someone do something….against their will."
"Y-you're lying."
"Potentially." Nightshade's face moves in closer to Lucas's as he grows an evil smile. "But I never needed to force you to do anything. I just needed to show you what you wanted to do."
"I-I-I'm not a bad guy!"
"Correct. You're worse. We're worse. I say it's time to show them…how bad we can be." Lucas is still hesitant. Nightshade snaps his fingers, freeing Lucas of the chains around his arms. He falls forward, clapping his hands on the cold concrete ground. "You're trapped here, Lucas. Your so-called friends all locked you here. And it wasn't just a decision made by Mario and Palutena." Lucas looks up, tears starting to roll off his face.
"Wh-what?" Nightshade kneels down with his evil smirk.
"They weren't even the ones to suggest it."
"Wh-who was it?" Nightshade stands up and walks over to the bars.
"But I thought you didn't care, Lucas. I thought you'd happily stay here."
"WHO WAS IT!" Hearing Lucas yell makes Nightshade smile wider.
"Your so-called family, more specifically, Cloud Strife." Lucas looks down again, trying to drain in what was just said to him.
"H-he would never…"
"Oh, but he did Lucas. In actuality, no one is your friend. Not even that Ness boy. All he cares about is 'fixing' you. He doesn't actually care about you. No one does. No one…aside from me. I'm the only one who showed you how strong you can be. I am here, Lucas, to help you. Lucas's mind is going a mile a minute, trying to think of all the different things he was just told. He's trying to fight the darkness. He's really trying…but Nightshade is correct about one thing. The more one holds in darkness, the harder it gets to do just that. Lucas looks up at Nightshade with tears gushing out of his eyes and a sad face.
"P-please…."
"Please what, Lucas?"
"H-help me…" Nightshade extends his hand out.
"Grab my hand. And we will show everyone….just how bad we can be." Lucas stares at the hand reaching out for him. He reaches out but doesn't grab his hand right away. Lucas moves his eyes to Nightshade's.
"Please….i-if I do this….if we do this….don't hurt Ness. Anyone but him."
"But he-"
"Please." Nightshade normally doesn't follow things like that, pleads by the people he takes control of. Yet…something is different between him and Lucas. It almost seems as if he genuinely cares for him. But he keeps this promise. Up until Lucas is able to temporarily free himself of Nightshade, he truly keeps this promise, never once harming Ness.
"Ok. I promise." Lucas smiles before grabbing Nightshade's hand. He screams in the sudden pain as Nightshade and Lucas come together in a way they were never before. Once the pain ends, Nightshade and Lucas are one. They are able to break their legs from the chain and crack their neck. "Are you ready? To show them our true selves. To show all of them?" "Aside from Ness, remember?" "Right, aside from him." "...yes….let's show them….show them all…" "Mmmm that's like music to my ears, Lucas." Two different voices, one body…one mind.
Lucas and Nightshade, still one being walk through their new and improved base of operations, which is Zelda's Castle. They are a duo that has wreaked havoc on the new world. Everyone was fearing them. They have eyes everywhere, and if they want someone dead, they'll kill them without remorse. One person, however, is having it worse than the others….Zelda. She's chained up in their dungeon.
They walk in. Lucas's body has been changed, partially by Nightshade's dark influence and partially by the two of them just wanting a wardrobe change. Their hair is black, their eyes and mouth are blood red. They also have a dark shirt and shorts on, with pitch-black shoes. They have black gloves on, since, while Nightshade is the evilest evil to ever see the light of day, he's not a fan of blood. The body's skin, patches of it at least, were torn off and are now replaced by pure darkness. They see Zelda chained to the wall and smirk. "Princess. How are you today?"
"What do you want, Nightshade…"
"It's not what I want. That's what none of you understand. It's Lucas. It's all about Lucas." They walk over to her and smirk. "Everyone has been mistreating that poor boy for far too long. And I am helping him. And next on that list…is you."
"You're just a monster!" Their noise twitches before they smack Zelda across the face with the back of their hand, where blood is left behind. Their eyes lie on the blood.
"Relax Nightshade….allow me." The red in their eyes and mouth disappears as he walks over to a table that is holding some cloth for them to use. "Princess Zelda."
"Lucas? Lucas, you really are in there?" They wipe the blood off of their glove before turning toward Zelda.
"In the flesh."
"What's happened, Lucas? Y-you're better than this!"
"Am I? Or am I just a monster?"
"Wh-what're you getting at?" They walk over to right in front of Zelda.
"Everyone thinks of me as a monster. All I bring to people is misery. Yet it was always accidental. If all I do is bring pain…sadness….fear, then why not control it."
"Lucas, everyone never saw you as a monster-"
"DON'T LIE TO ME! EVERYONE LIES TO ME!" They turn around and walk back toward the table. Lucas just needs some time without seeing her. "How is Ness?"
"He's worried about you, Lucas. He still cares for you. He's trying everything in his power to help you."
"Help huh? Unfortunate." A singular dark tentacle forms from their back. The tentacle moves over to Zelda. "Too bad no one helped you." This tentacle stabs right through Zelda's heart. Zelda screams in pain as they decide to look at her before walking over. Their hand hovers right over Zelda's chest as they focus and soon enough, bring out her spirit. The tentacle leaves Zelda's body before disappearing altogether. They move the spirit to their chest and soon it gets absorbed by them. They feel their new power, Zelda's power, rush through them. They preserve Zelda's body, hiding it away. They close their eyes and Lucas finds himself in a dark void with Nightshade in front of him.
"Was all of that really necessary, Nightshade?"
"I didn't steal her spirit, you did."
"I know…but was it necessary?"
"Very. All she was going to do was stand in our way, and you know that." Lucas stays silent. Nightshade walks over and puts an arm around his back. "Still having doubts?"
"Of course. Surrounding all of the world in darkness is not an easy thing to get into."
"I understand. But it's to make sure everyone starts treating you right."
"R-right."
"Now get back in control, Ness and the others are almost here." Poor Lucas. He doesn't know Nightshade's true plan. Nightshade is just using Lucas to get the goal he's always wanted. Yet, part of me feels like Nightshade is feeling….remorse for using Lucas in this way. And generally, these feelings of mine are never wrong.
Nightshade had been defeated….or at the very least, delay him. He was defeated by Lucas. He was shown the light. He was shown the errors in Nightshade's plan and was shown that Nightshade's interests never aligned with his. After the defeat of Nightshade, Lucas was struck with guilt and ran away. Ness is now trying to find him.
He makes it back to Onett and sighs. Mario walks over to him. "Find him yet?" Mario asks. Ness shakes his head.
"Can't find him anywhere."
"Not even in your guys' special place?" Luigi is standing next to him. He has his black mask sitting in his pocket, with part of it out of the pocket. Luigi crosses his arms.
"Well, I went through what he did. I hid in a place that meant a lot to me, yet I made sure I couldn't be seen. So he probably is there, just try to look a bit harder," Luigi suggests. Mario nods in response since he remembers how long it took him to find Luigi. Ness nods before surrounding his body with fire and electricity and teleporting away.
He gets back to the Ocean Plateau. This is their special place. The place they would always go to for air, and when they ran away from Palutena's Temple, they made a little base here. It has a very pretty view of the Boundless Ocean. The two of them would often be spotted sitting on the edge, holding hands, and watching the sunset. Ness looks around, his eyes staying on the sunset for a bit. "Come on, Lucas! Everyone misses you."
"GO AWAY!" Lucas's voice echoes.
"Lucas, please." He knows the echo. It's in their base they made. While he did look there before, he's going to give it a second try. He walks to the entrance of their base, which is a simple one-room cave. "Lucas?"
"I mean it, Ness…"
"Lucas please, can we just talk. We're going to miss the sunset." There's a bit of a silence before Lucas suddenly appears from the darkness. His body is no different from when he and Nightshade were one, for the most part at least, there's no longer red in his eyes and mouth. His eyes aren't focused on anything as he walks past Ness and to the edge of the plateau. He sits there and sighs. Ness carefully follows him and sits right next to him. They look at the sunset. "Lucas-"
"No. Don't. It's useless."
"But everyone truly misses you."
"Ness, look at me. I'm a monster. I….I did all of those bad things."
"You were being manipulated, Lucas, it wasn't you." Ness places a hand on Lucas's.
"But that's the thing, Ness. It was me. All of that power…." Lucas takes his hand and looks down at both of his hands. "All of it felt so….good. Only a monster would enjoy that much power."
"Are you kidding me? I'd kill to have that type of power." Lucas looks at Ness without moving his head. "N-not literally, b-but you get what I mean. So many people would do exactly what you did, or even more. You were able to control Nightshade, preventing him from doing too much." Lucas looks back at the sunset.
"But I still allowed him to do all of that. A-and some of it, I did myself. And…Nightshade is still here…"
"What? I-I thought you said he's gone forever."
"Lies exist, Ness, you of all people should know that." Ness scoots in closer and grabs his hands.
"Talk to me, Lucas." Lucas is still hesitant to do just that, but seeing the honest look in his eyes is enough to convince him.
"He's still inside me, Ness. I can still hear him. He may not be able to control anything about me, o-or make me see him, but he's still there. I'm a danger. If something were to happen to me, he would be freed, and….I-I doubt I'll be able to trap him again."
"Then you won't have to do it. I will."
"How?"
"Nightshade's one weakness, light. And guess what handsome feller is the controller of light," Ness says with a wink, which causes Lucas to chuckle again.
"You're a confusing person, Ness."
"How so?" Lucas takes his hands back again, looking down at them and seeing parts of his skin replaced with darkness.
"Despite all of this….everything wrong with me, you still decide to be friends with me."
"It's not just me, Lucas. Everyone. We all care for you. Why else would Palutena trap you, why else would everyone risk their lives to save you? Granted, Mario may dislike you, but he still respects you."
"What about you?"
"Me?"
"How do you feel about me?" Ness looks out at the sunset as he leans back and hums. He has a blush and a smile on his face. Lucas stares at him, waiting for an answer. Ness looks back at him before jumping up onto his feet.
"Stand up."
"Why?"
"Just do it, grumpy pants," Ness says as he grabs Lucas's hands and forces him to stand up.
"I still don't see why we need to do this."
"Close your eyes."
"Close my eyes?" Lucas asks with a raised eyebrow. Ness nods his head ecstatically. Lucas shrugs before closing his eyes. Ness giggles before putting Lucas's hands on his shoulders and his own hands-on Lucas's hip. "Ness? What're you doin-"
"Shush, just go with it." Ness smiles to himself before bringing Lucas into a deep kiss. Lucas is hesitant at first, but eventually, he falls for the kiss. Ness breaks the kiss up.
"Open your eyes." Lucas does just that, and it already seems that he has that sparkle in his eyes that he once had. "Surprise, your new boyfriend."
"And what if I don't want to have a boyfriend?"
"Oh, Lucas, remember….I can read minds," Ness winks. Lucas giggles as he grows a smile. "You asked how I felt about you. Well…I love you, Lucas. And I know you have the potential to lose control, but that's not going to change how I feel. I know the true you, and the true you is the best person I've ever known." The smile on Lucas's face grows.
"Ness….you're always the one with initiative." Ness giggles some more.
"I try."
"I…..I love you too. B-but are you sure-"
"As sure as this sight is beautiful." Lucas looks at the sunset.
"The sunset is beautiful."
"It is, but I wasn't referring to that."
"Then what-" Lucas looks back at Ness and sees his bright eyes focusing solely on him. This makes Lucas's face blush as he finds out what he meant. "Flattery too? How lucky can I get?" Ness shrugs before bringing him back into a kiss. Lucas doesn't waste any time before melting into the kiss. As the two of them are kissing, Lucas's body starts returning to how it was. The darkness is replaced by his normal skin. His hair turns back to blonde. Even his wardrobe changes to what he normally wears. I don't know how that one works, but I'll go with it. They break the kiss up and Ness sees what happened.
"Lucas….you're truly back!" Lucas looks down at his hand and smiles.
"Yeah…" He turns his hands into fists before looking back at Ness. "I….I think I'm ready to go back to them."
"Good." Ness grabs Lucas's hand, forcing him to relax his fists. They interlock their fingers. "Let's not waste any time….love."
"Don't. That's cheesy."
"Yeah, fair enough." Lucas smiles as they are surrounded by fire and electricity, teleporting away. Not too long after this, they are forced to leave and go back to their worlds. But while it seems like this is where their story ends, living a happy life…..but life isn't like that. Especially not for the embodiments of light and dark. This is only the beginning of their life. And I am here for them both. For they are not just my students….but they are also my future. So Ness and Lucas….when you take up my position, I hope you find these archives and see just how far you two have come. How much you two have been through. Until then, so long. I am X, Overseer, and the protector of Smash Brothers, now and forever.