Maxie had been restless the entire night, tossing and turning in the meager space she had for rest. She tried rewatching some of her favorite shows to tire out her mind, but they didn't help. Reading her favorite mystery novels, which she had saved on her phone, fared no better. She even went on a walk around the hospital a few times to see if her body was the problem, but she just couldn't relax.
The entire time she was awake, her mind was on Lucian.
Was he okay? Did he get hurt? What if something went wrong?
If anything did go wrong, then that would mean that she sent him into danger that he couldn't handle. A more reasonable part of her mind argued that he was the one who agreed to do it in the end, and that she should trust him to get the job done.
Despite her attempts to assure herself, she just couldn't help but worry.
At around five in the morning, dazed and exhausted, she was greeted to a notification from the Gotham Gazette's internet page. They were primarily a tabloid, but they must have found a way to profit off of this. Anyway, nearly everyone with internet access followed their page just to keep on top of major news—like when gang wars erupted over their petty disputes, or whenever there was another shift in the noxious political sphere within the city.
This time though, the page was broadcasting something that nobody had ever seen before. Its header read:
"Mysterious Purple Light Spotted Streaking Across Gotham's Skies. Astronomical Event or Extraterrestrial Phenomenon?"
Maxie had a feeling that she knew what it was about, so she shifted into a more comfortable position on her little bench. She adjusted her earbuds to make sure they weren't on the verge of falling out, then let the attached video play.
"Just earlier this morning, a strange purple light was spotted crossing over our city, accompanied by a noise loud enough to be heard from the ground."
As the announcer spoke, footage of the event was shown behind her. Indeed, a tiny blip of light soared through Gotham's skies with purple flames tracing its path. It was easy to assume that it was just an oddly-colored space rock.
Following that were clips from random Gothamites being interviewed on the phenomenon. Some reasonably presumed that it must have just been a meteor cutting through the skies and burning itself out. In the clip, it did indeed fizzle out and disappear before long.
During the interviews, others believed it to have been an 'exhaust trail' or some-such-other from an alien spaceship. There was no denying that extraterrestrial life did, in fact, exist, and so this spurred them into clinging to that idea.
When asked about their surety despite the lack of concrete evidence, they reasoned that it could have been the spaceship's coloration that hid it so well. Others presented the possibility of advanced visual cloaking technology, or came up with other things that sounded less and less plausible despite the things that the world had already seen.
Lastly, there were the typical raving conspiracy theorists that were all too eager to share their opinions. One of them spoke of the 'end-times' with concerning vigor, spittle clearly visible as he yelled into the camera pointed at him.
Maxie grimaced at the sight, tapping the right side of the video a few times to skip forward. There, the footage of the light replayed with audio. Many in the discussion board at the bottom of the page described it sounding like 'the wind tearing apart,' agreeing with the meteor theories. Others thought it sounded more like an engine, in line with the belief of it being an alien spaceship.
Lastly, a handful of people believed that it sounded like an animal's roar.
Both former sides united to disagree with the latter opinion, with some even ridiculing those who expressed it. Maxie found herself agreeing with the thought, but said nothing. None of them knew what she did.
'He made it,' she told herself.
Now, all she had to do was wait for Lucian to come back.
...
As Lucian neared his destination, he ceased channeling his ki and disengaged Full Cowling. He made sure to slowly fade out both of them, creating the illusion of fragmenting into pieces before vanishing entirely. Then, while gliding down to a building two blocks away from West Mercy, he covered himself in Blackwhip tendrils to more easily blend in with the darkness and avoid visual detection.
He touched down in civvies and emerged from an alley, exhausted after flying the distance he crossed. He sort of missed that feeling—of being all out of energy after doing something productive. He figured he should fly more often.
While ruminating, he slowed down his pace and walked the rest of the way to the hospital. The streets around him looked almost serene as the sun rose slowly, painting everything with low light. It reminded him of some urban landscape paintings he'd seen before, those themed with either melancholy or dystopia.
When he arrived at the hospital, he was allowed entry without so much as a fuss. Then, he took the elevator to get to Adelaine's floor. Going up the stairs would have been faster for him, but he saw it as a good opportunity to come down from his recent power high.
When he finally made it to Adelaine's room, a sense of expectation and accomplishment filled him. Like he had just done something lifechanging, in a good way. With a feeling of assurance in his chest, he knocked three times and pushed the door open.
Inside, Maxie lay on the bench by the wall, totally out cold. One of her earbuds had fallen out of her ear, and her hand was in an awkward angle, phone halfway to slipping out of her fingers.
Lucian closed the door behind him and approached. He sat down on the floor by her, chin resting on the bench itself. He took her hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb while whispering for her to wake up.
Maxie's eyes eventually fluttered open. "You're back," she stated plainly, after her brain fully registered that he was there. Her voice was tired, coming out somewhat coarse.
"You look like your night was worse than mine," Lucian replied. He shifted his position as she rose, resting his chin on her knees when she sat up. "Couldn't sleep?"
She shook her head. "I was worried about you," she mumbled. "But I guess my body decided to get some rest on its own at some point..."
Lucian took both of her hands now, observing up close how faint her aura had gotten. For her own part, Maxie played idly with his fingers without a single thought in her mind besides 'He's here now... he's safe.'
While Maxie busied herself with her inner world, Lucian closed his eyes and brought her palms to his face. When she started rubbing his cheeks, he trickled some lifeforce into her. Warmth filled her body, flowing like water soaking into grooves engraved in a stone tablet. When he reopened his eyes to look up at her, her eyebags had faded somewhat.
"Better?" he asked, and she nodded wordlessly.
While she was still processing what happened, he took one of her hands, palm atop his own, and kissed her knuckle. He felt her body react subconsciously, the ambient heat rising as she blushed over him. Chuckling, he smiled to tease her.
"I've always wanted to do that," he said tenderly.
Maxie gulped, unsure of how to respond. Then—laughter. It wasn't hers.
Both she and Lucian looked to the bed in the middle of the room. There, Adelaine had turned her head towards them, eyes struggling to stay open. On her lips was a smile that Maxine hadn't seen since she was a freshman in high school. Faint as it was, she recognized that expression all the same.
"My little princess looks so happy," Adelaine exclaimed as best she could.
Upon hearing that hoarse voice, more heat crawled its way up to Maxine's face. Tears pricked at her eyes, then fell freely as they accumulated. When Lucian got up and stepped aside, she hurried to go to her mother, who met her embrace as she came sobbing over her body.
Lucian stood silently by them, watching from the sidelines. Just peeking at Adelaine's aura told him everything.
It flared brighter than that of any normal human he'd seen, even those who possessed vitality in spades. Yet, as brilliant as it was, her life's fire was hollow, empty at its core. Watching carefully, the emptiness was actually growing as it ate away at the flames. The fire of her lifeforce seemed to fight back against its own internal collapse, but it was a losing battle.
Leaning over Maxine, he whispered to her, "I'll go get the nurses and call your siblings."
She nodded into her mother's hospital gown, which was moist with her tears—she didn't dare lift her face. As Lucian left, Adelaine ran her hand through her daughter's hair, a comforting action for them both.
"He looks like a good young man," she remarked.
Maxie hummed her agreement.
"Charming, too. You chose well," Adelaine added, which pulled a tiny laugh from her baby who proceeded to embrace her tighter.
...
The nurses came shortly after Lucian left, accompanying the doctor that admitted Adelaine on the day she was brought there. They checked her over, and everything looked fine. Her vitals were as stable as they could be, her recovery seemed promising, and nothing was amiss. Yet, through Lucian's eyes, the void in her aura had only grown with time.
Brodie and Bailey soon arrived as well, breathless as they hurried to return. The former was in borrowed clothes, as formal as he could get, and the latter was still in her work garments—she'd called an early lunch break for herself just to return to her mother's side, though she couldn't completely abandon her work.
Like before, Lucian watched from the wayside as Adelaine's children fussed over her. Maxie was with him this time, snuggled into his side as they sat on the bench. Her legs had given out on her earlier, so she needed to sit down.
As the pair sat together, Maxie wrapped her arms tightly around one of Lucian's. Every so often, tiny little sobs still bubbled up from deep within. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen from the tears, but her energy couldn't be calmer.
Lucian felt indescribable guilt the longer he lingered on indecision. Should he tell them? His mind kept coming up with reasons for both action and inaction in equal measure. But, in the end...
When he met Adelaine's eyes directly for the first time, she gave a strong impression that she knew what he knew. And then, even without so much as a word or gesture from him, she shook her head and mouthed "No."
He nodded grimly, saying nothing.
Eventually, Bailey and Brodie left to get food for four. Adelaine needed to subsist on hospital food for the time being at her doctor's insistence. After catching up with her youngest, she eventually asked for some space to talk with Lucian, one-on-one. Maxie was hesitant, but eventually relented and went to sit out in the nearest lobby.
"Lucian, right?" Adelaine opened.
"Yes, ma'am," he replied, sounding stiff.
She laughed silently. "Oh, so polite," she beamed. "That man didn't exaggerate..."
"Ma'am...?"
She smiled knowingly. "I met the Headmaster in my dreams. He wanted to talk to me before I passed on."
"Wait... so that's why you woke up?" he realized. "The Headmaster forced your body awake?"
She nodded. "I... if he didn't, I would have died in a comatose state," she admitted. "Oh, don't look so sad. It's alright. All I asked was a chance to say goodbye to my kids, but he even promised me a good afterlife in his domain. I think I'll pass on happy."
Lucian went melancholy. "That sounds like something he'd do, yeah," he said. "How long did you have left? If you didn't wake up, I mean."
"One week... maybe two, if I was lucky. In the end, I just wanted one last day with my family."
"Are you sure you don't want to hold on to life a while longer...? I can share some of my lifeforce with you, we can—"
Adelaine shook her head. "No. This... this has been a long time coming," she explained wistfully. "It's my fault we got into this mess."
From there, she told him her tale.
The reason she blamed herself squarely for her family's situation was because... Connor wasn't really her husband. They never even got married. He was a rebound of sorts, and for some 'stupid reason' in her own words, she felt obligated to stay by him.
Her actual husband was a detective in Gotham's police force. He was a good man, especially for someone born and raised in their city. He gave his everything to his work, and gave even more to his family. Their life was—for Gotham's standards—happy.
Everything went well for the first decade of their marriage. Adelaine had a loving husband with a profitable and respectable career. They had kids five years into this period. Bailey and Brodie were their first, born just hours apart. Maxie came a year later while they were still in their lengthy honeymoon phase.
When their kids reached ages five and four, her husband was killed in action. It was a setup. He had put many people behind bars, and a few of them banded together to settle the score. They managed to get him on their case, and when the opportunity came, they ambushed and killed him.
His funeral was closed-casket.
Shortly after, Adelaine received a tremendous payout for his passing. She touched none of it for a long time as she grieved, long even after the dust settled.
Some time after that, she met Connor. He was different back then, though that did not mean he was a good person. What he was, was suave. Charming. A veritable 'bad boy,' a younger man than her late husband. It felt borderline immoral getting into an affair with him, and that was with Adelaine ignoring his red flags.
When Connor 'proposed' to her, he claimed that he just 'couldn't stand to let such a pretty face tackle life alone.' Blinded by her grief and desperation for affection, Adelaine was smitten.
They shacked up together, with Connor reluctantly taking in her kids. He wasn't financially well-off, but he wasn't in terrible shape either. Still, with excuse after excuse, he kept on spending and spending whatever money Adelaine had received in compensation for her husband's passing. Once it all went dry, he couldn't stop his momentum and went into debt.
As a desperate gambit to get back on his feet, Connor decided to try his luck with a gang. One thing led to another, then another, and another... and Adelaine's family ended up under David's thumb. Connor, terrible as he was, blamed Adelaine and her kids for his misfortune.
"So... that's why. I don't want any extensions. I do want to stay for my babies, but I wasted too much... I even brought them into a life they didn't deserve. I couldn't fix this monumental screw-up if I tried. The ship's already sailed and sank."
Lucian felt for her—he really did. He had a vague feeling that he'd done something similar in his first life, though he couldn't recall any such circumstances.
"There's only one thing I have the heart to ask of you," she continued. As Lucian was sitting on her bed, she clasped her hands around his and pleaded. "Please... no matter what, keep my babies safe... Especially Maxine. I don't want them to stay as they are now."
"Consider it done," he promised. Earnest.
A single tear rolled down her cheek, and she released the breath that she'd been holding. "Thank you," she whispered.
Someone knocked at the door.
"Mom?" It was Bailey's voice. "You done interrogating Lucy or what?" One could feel the grin on her face as she teased through the door.
"Let's let them in now," said Adelaine.
She would share one last meal with her family that day, and that included Lucian. They caught up on all sorts of things. She had mixed feelings about Connor being imprisoned, but ultimately, relief won out. She was also pleasantly surprised to learn that Lucian himself handled the gang that brought her family low.
As it happened, another article was posted at the same time as the one about the purple streak. It was just brushed aside as everyone figured it was the same old gang business in Gotham.
There was a firefight in David's territory the night prior, which erupted so suddenly that they were wiped out completely with zero casualties besides their own, and with minimal civilian injury to boot. Some people even reported gouts of flame sprouting from inside the building, claiming it to have been haunted by the tenant who died in the fire.
Adelaine had a laugh about that part.
Everyone in the room knew that Lucian was responsible for it. He wove together a story about calling in favors from members of other gangs that owed him, and other small-time vigilantes. All of that was in order to bring down David and his posse. The news had nothing as far as specifics on the incident went, so he was free to hide as many details as he wished.
Later, Adelaine would dismiss everyone from the hospital, claiming that she was fine. She told Bailey not to let her be a distraction from work. She encouraged Brodie to follow the path he'd just chosen, told him how proud she was for his decisions, and to stay his course no matter what. As for Maxine...
"Now, sweetie... why haven't you put a label on him yet?" asked Adelaine, when she was finally alone with her youngest and her not-quite-boyfriend.
"U-uh... mom, I'm not sure what you're—"
Adelaine gave her the look of "Really? Right now?"
Then, she rolled her eyes and turned them to her daughter's hand, which was joined with Lucian's between them. When she stared Maxie in the face again, she quirked a brow with a challenging look.
Max could only avert her gaze, looking away from both her mother and Lucian. However, she made no effort to pull away from his hand, flushing all the while. As the silence grew uncomfortable, she realized she had no choice but to 'face the music,' as it were. Hiding the lower half of her face behind her free hand, she slowly turned to Lucian beside her.
As she did, Adelaine chimed in. "I believe my little princess has something to say to you, dear..."
"Mom...!"
"Hush, you. Now, Lucian... please listen."
Maxie stammered as she spoke. "So, uh... are we...? Y'know..."
Seeing that she desperately needed help, Lucian met her halfway. He pivoted in his spot and lifted her hand, holding it close to his face. "Yes," he said, then kissed her ring finger's knuckle.
In her bed, Adelaine smiled, now fully contented. "Hmm... good, good. Kids these days. If I didn't push you, you'd be dancing around each other for years without progress."
Maxie whined, but didn't deny it. It was clear from the start that a catalyst was needed for an actual relationship to form between them, and she was happy that it was her mom.
"Now..." Adelaine's voice called everyone back to the present. "Your mom's tired. Yes, I'm your mom now too, 'prince charming'," she said, addressing the latter part to Lucian. "You two should be on your way. I'm fine now, but I need rest and space. Go out there and be happy."
"O-okay," said Maxie.
Lucian responded, "I'll take good care of her."
Adelaine smiled, exchanged I-love-yous with her daughter one last time, and watched them leave.
She would pass away later that night, while everyone was away and too busy to hear the doctors' news. Instead of a grim reaper, it was an educator that met her at the crossroads. It whisked her away, to a far-off realm of infinite and mutable dreams.
...
[ Notice. ]
[ Quest: "Love is in the Air" has been completed. ]
[ Rewards: ]
[ 1,000 EXP has been granted. ]
[ EXP to next level: 3,280 ]
[ Randomizing item... ]
[ ... ]
[ Item selected. ]
[ You have been given: Blossom Locket [B] ]
[ ... ]
[ Message from the Headmaster: ]
[ "Adelaine has decided to become a caretaker at the Academy. Whenever the opportunity arises, you are free to invite Maxine to visit her. As for the rest... they will have to wait for the end of their own lives. ]
◎ ◉ ◎
Orwell hissed as the engineers welded the last metal plate into place.
The initial surgery was standard. They cut open his back, grafted cybernetics to his spine, and closed it back up. Unfortunately, the process had him dosed on such quantities of anesthetic that any more would have been... unhealthy. Thus, for the last, unintrusive stretch of his operation, the surgeons and engineers elected to forego any anesthetics and just had him bear the pain.
Well, at least it let them scan the neural feedback through the damn thing... worked perfectly, they said. That was productive.
When it was done, he flexed and stretched his back, finally getting to sit up after spending hours on his belly. His spine felt swollen, like there was a long, narrow lump that crawled along the surface. And this was true—in order to fit all of the implant's mechanisms, much of it needed to protrude for the sake of space.
Once Orwell was settled, a drone flew out from one of the stations and hovered in front of him. Aleck's voice came from the little speaker, the drone's camera lens peering at him as if it were his boss' own eye.
"How are we feeling, Mr. Orwell?"
"Not that weird," he replied. "My back hurts like hell, but I don't really feel the... metal parts. Not until I move, anyway."
"Good, good..." The sound of slurping could be heard on the other side. It was either coffee or tea. "That means the engineers did their job perfectly. Test the intake chambers."
With a flex of his mind, Orwell 'felt' the upper parts of his spine shift and move. Two small plates of metal and opened up like flaps, revealing tiny mechanical arms behind them. They were presently empty.
A pair of engineers approached from behind. One of them carried a tray of vials filled with light-blue liquid, with green particulates glittering from within. The other picked up those vials in pairs and loaded them up into Orwell's spinal augment.
"Oh, that feels weird," he remarked as soon as the internal mechanisms got to work.
Two. Four. Six. Eight. In total, sixteen individual vials were loaded into his back, each one two inches long and one wide. Once full, the open metal plates went shut with a whirr and a click.
"Everything seems to be in order," said the loader engineer. "Screens don't show any weird readings... everything's green. Or, uh... blue in this case."
The drone tilted forward and back, and forward and back again in the facsimile of an approving nod.
"Perfect. Now, we only need to test the dosing mechanism and Mr. Orwell's performance with the implant. After that, everyone can take the rest of the day off. We'll have more cutting and grafting to do tomorrow."
—=—=—=—=—=—=—=—
[A/N]: I bacc! Anyway, casually dropping two chapters on y'all today, because why not? I managed to do two because... I don't know, actually. It kinda just happened. I was tempted to post only one, but I actually do better without a backlog, so I've elected not to build one.
Also, I had to rewrite this bitch three times. The next chapter, too. I did so many things, and all of them, I hated. They all led to Luce and Max finally officially becoming a thing, but I abhorred my methods in the earlier iterations.
No, you will not learn how I went about it the first few times. These are secrets that I will carry with me to the grave.
Anyway, I present another realization! Lucian's Phantom outfit + equipment are as follows:
• White mask
• Black clothes
• Sword
• Gloves + Boots that let him stick to walls
• Maybe a cape, eventually
Even when limited by him avoiding any use of One for All, he still has access to his ki techniques, and can absorb lifeforce from living creatures. Sound familiar?
💀🪲🗡️
Lastly, I've got full concrete plans for the Manticore now. It's finna be something.
Here's some hints:
The Changeling class I've been teasing
WarCraft III; "Undead" hero [my fav one <3]
Assistive quote: "The night beckons."
V a m p i r e - c o d i n g [imagine Maxine as a vampire princess and Lucian as a demon lord 👀]