the _______'s a curse

“It’s raining…” Lucian pouted, retreating into the cavern as the rainfall blasted through leaves and smashed against rocks into an endless cacophony. They’d been lucky the one night they found a cave and not just a nice tree bad weather decided to strike, but Zane wasn’t one who enjoyed getting wet under most or any circumstances, thank you very much. He shivered under his cloak and stayed nice and inside while Lucian kept pacing back and forth like it’d change mother nature’s mind.

Shay groaned, pulling on his beard. “Seriously!? Two days from Orie, and—whatever god’s out there decides to leave a hot dung in our path as our housewarming gift! I demand a refund!”

Zane coughed. “From nature?”

“Yeah! It’s got plenty to go around! And the little guys are hungry, and I’m running out of ore—sheesh, being a single father isn’t easy. I dunno how my dad did it.”

The sparks still followed. Because of course they did.

Zane sat down, crossing his arms. “Guess today’s our break day. Let’s just rest and try to make up for this when the rain stops.”

“Looks like it’ll go for hours.” Shay clutched his head, slumping to the floor. Lucian sat last, cross-legged.

“Surely we can make the most of this,” Lucian said, then clapped his hands together. “We can… play games!”

Zane laughed. “Okay. Name a game.”

“Ah—um… Sit and Listen?”

“Never heard of it. Hit us.”

“It’s a game where you sit and listen! The leader will give speeches to the followers, the players, and… well, now that I think of it, it’s not much of a game…”

Sounds more like a funny way of getting your kid to sit down and shut up. Zane sighed, hitting the back of his head against the wall. “Okay, next idea.”

“Sorry…”

“Eh, it’s okay. So, Shay, what kinda games did they play in Udrefaust?”

Shay shook his head. “Nothing like that, but we got up to some real specific stuff. Playing around in caverns, chasing bats, counting bugs. Unless Truth or Dare’s on the menu.” … “Bleugh, nevermind. Let’s get a couple girls in the party ‘fore we get around to that. And then you two can leave the room for a while and let us bond.”

“I regret asking you, actually.”

“Hey!”

“Bet you’ve never even kissed anyone, either.”

Shay hit Zane on the arm. “Shut it! Don’t you dare destroy my dreams unless you got something better to put on the table!”

Zane leaned back. “You really think Vitam’s Rage never got any action? I didn’t even need to use my status to get anywhere—that was someone else’s job.”

“…Huh. Yeah, you knew all the Vitam Guardian guys, didn’t you?”

“They’re not all guys. We had, uhhhh… one girl. Equality.”

“Sure, whatever. But that means you two should be giving me the juicy info on ‘em so I don’t get my ass kicked like with the old guy.”

“Hmmmm.” Zane pointed to Lucian. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen them all, so this guy might know more.”

Lucian frowned, wringing his hands in his lap. “If I’m being quite honest with you, the position of Vitam’s Avatar doesn’t afford much social time with Vitam’s Guardians. I spoke to Pearce sometimes, but the others usually a—they uh, focused on protecting me.”

“Protecting the last guy was a damn hassle,” Zane said. “Pretty much on his deathbed. But if Pearce and Leon’re hanging around, then Addy’s still there, right?”

“…Addison?” Lucian pursed his lips.

“Yeah, her. Center of attention and all. Complete opposite of Sadness, but watch out, she pulls out those waterworks at the drop of a hat. Pearce is more about subduing, she’s not afraid to fight head on.”

“And this Happiness guy?” Shay asked.

Zane fell silent.

What to say about Leon? About the guy who changed the trajectory of Zane’s life? Not for the better—maybe never for the better, with all he was. But they were friends at a point. Friends who fought and disagreed on everything under the sun, but friends nevertheless.

Things didn’t fall apart all at once. But step by step, Zane approached a ledge, and Leon pushed him off the second he tried to pull back.

“He’s a dick,” Zane said.

Lucian wrapped his thumbs around one another. “He’s awfully serious. I don’t think he likes me at all.”

“He doesn’t like a lot of things, but he’s good at pretending he does. He’s speedy—keep your distance all you want, but he’ll be on you the second he sees you. If you wanna deal with him then just stay out of his way.”

One of the Sparks began to chew on Shay’s beard, but the man was so lost in thought he seemed not to notice. “You really think we’ll avoid a member of the team sent to kill us?”

“Absolutely not, call it wistful thinking.”

Though, Zane knew for a fact that they next time they met, he planned to kill Leon.

But no one needed to know that.

“…We’ll do our best,” Lucian said. “We have to. You know—I… whenever there’s a problem that seems insurmountable, and there’s not much you can do about it other than… sitting somewhere and thinking, there’s something I’ve liked to imagine. To fill the time.”

Shay sighed. “I don’t wanna know your fantasies, kid.”

“Not that! Besides, I don’t—nevermind. Um. It’s more like… a field. A wide, open meadow with beautiful butterflies and cute rabbits. Creatures so small and adorable and harmless. Something nice and calming that’s only mine. Of course… it can never be home, but it makes times feel a little less hopeless. That little calm field where nothing can hurt you. A place of Happiness that Happiness can’t touch.”

A silence hung in the air. Zane didn’t know what to say, and based off of Shay’s scrunched face, he probably didn’t know either. “You must’ve lived a sad life, kid,” Shay said. “Yeesh. I’m gonna lie down and try to take a nap.”

And as promised, Shay lied down. Zane yawned, before patting Lucian on the shoulder. “Hey, I get the sentiment. Don’t really think that’ll help everyone, but the thought’s nice.”

“Thank you… I’m sure you won’t need it, though,” Lucian said, and Zane laughed.

“Eh. We’ll see. Let’s just get some rest and head out once the rain clears.”

With nothing else to talk about, the two turned over for a midday nap. The pangs and clicks outside eventually softened to something like a gentle song, a horrible wound scabbing over and leaving peaceful relief.

Whatever came next, they’d have no choice but to persevere.