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I’ll Love You For A Thousand More
Luxu wasn’t born with the memories of his last life.
Which was lucky, considering that over a thousand years of memories was way too much to cram into a newborn baby’s skull.
His first ten years or so of life were perfectly normal. He was a relatively happy kid, growing up in a well-adjusted home. His fluffy black hair was the pride of his mother, who always used to like to brush it just so, until he grew up enough to push her away and brush it for himself.
The day everything changed wasn’t remarkable. Today’s warm sun turned yesterday’s snow into ice. They all bundled up into the car to go to the store, needing too many necessities to postpone the trip any longer. But the car, whose tires were just a bit too worn, slipped, crashing into a tree and somehow flipping over, and everyone died.
Except Luxu.
As the car turned over, he felt his body float, and instinctively used the gravity magic that had been unique to him in his previous lifetime.
While his parents were being battered by the tossing of the car, he was perfectly safe, wrapped in the bubble of his magic, unable to comprehend what was happening or how he could save his parents.
He’d fainted from shock, and while he was unconscious, he slowly began to remember bits and pieces of the person he was before. And especially, that person.
At first, all he could remember was the sound of that person’s voice, not the words, just the shapes of the sounds as that person spoke to him. But over the next few months, he’d remember a little more here and there: the sound of an instrument being played; the sun lighting upon a strand of golden brown hair; mischievous ocean eyes; a nickname given—for the wrong name.
He seized on the memories, pushing the trauma of losing his parents and his survivor’s guilt away in favor of putting together the puzzle pieces of his broken former identity.
The night he woke up gasping, the nickname “Xiggy” resounding affectionately in his mind, the name of the other just trembling off of his lips, Luxu knew he needed to find him: to find Demyx.
But how?
What if Demyx hadn’t been reborn into this world? Even if he had, would he even have the same name? Luxu had had many names in his long, previous lifetime, possessing body after body as his mind lived on. Would Demyx even recognize him in this, the spitting image of his original form, rather than that of “Xigbar?”
He needed a plan, and he needed a way to escape from the care of his aunt and uncle, whose rules and expectations were stifling to his increasingly adult mind.
***
What it all came down to was money. He needed money if he was going to track Demyx down. But as a child, his relatives were holding the small amount of money he’d inherited in trust as a college plan.
Nor was there anyone who’d hire a child for legal work, beyond, say the entertainment industry. And while he was good at keeping his cards close to his chest and in playing the fool, the sort of acting required by the industry was beyond him. (Others might have disagreed, but no one was around to judge him.) Nor was he in the mood to try.
And so, after some covert research, putting the computer skills he’d learned under Asshole the Not-So-Wise last life to good use, he quickly found a target, and decided to run away.
***
For a building owned by the mafia, it was surprisingly normal. A high rise concrete office building among many. It didn’t stand out in any way from its peers, but Luxu supposed that was the point.
He entered with all the confidence and swagger he’d picked up over a millennia of living, hoping that no one would stop him if they saw how confident he was.
Unfortunately, he didn’t count on two things: there was a receptionist and he was a minor.
“Wait, little man,” was the patronizing greeting from the young man seated by the elevators, as Luxu made his way toward them. “You can’t go through unless you have an appointment and I.D.”
Luxu stopped, biting his lower lip, and looking worried. Surreptitiously, with his head lowered, he scanned the signboard listing the businesses as quickly as possible.
“Um… my dad’s up there. He wanted me to put something in the car and come in after.” His heart trembled with remembered pain at the lie. He pushed it down, focusing on his goal.
“And where was he going?” Came the kind response.
“The dentist! I don’t remember which one, but he was definitely going to Destiny Dental Partners.”
“All right, but without I.D., I can’t let you up. Just let me call security and they can escort you up there to find your dad.”
The moment the receptionist started dialing, Luxu scurried to the elevators, thankful that an elevator opened as soon as he pressed the button.
“Hey!” The receptionist called, but it was already too late. The door closed with Luxu pressing the button to floor fifty, where the innocuous seeming “Wayfinder Constructions, LTD” made its headquarters.
The trip up was quite quick, and Luxu peeked out, seeing nothing to the left, but on the right was the Wayfinder Construction company’s door.
It required a keycard.
Frowning, Luxu rattled the door, but it wouldn’t unlock. Desperate to get someone’s attention, he pounded on the door. He had to talk to someone before security could find him.
A large mountain of a man opened the door with a sneer on his face. Looking up into his eyes, Luxu knew he knew this man, but he didn’t know how or why. His memories still hadn’t fully come back to him, especially the ones stretching back toward the beginning of his life. Perhaps this man was someone he knew then…?
The man was visibly startled before he recovered.
“You.” He cut himself off with a frustrated growl. His free hand was flung out in an expressive gesture that was entirely too familiar.
Did the man remember him…?
Luxu took a gamble:
“I’d like to speak to your boss! I’m looking for someone, and I need money to find that person! Please! I’ll do any job you need!”
“You…” The man trailed off uncertainly. “If you’re looking for the Master, he isn’t here.”
The Master.
Why did those words evoke such a nostalgic feeling in him? Luxu flinched as his head filled with the peculiar pain he’d come to associate with trying to force his memories to return faster than they were meant to.
“All I know is that that person meant everything to me,” Luxu spoke slowly, sincere in a way he hadn’t felt since before the accident. “And I’ll do anything to find him. Please help me.”
The man sighed, and his shoulders sagged, looking defeated in a way that seemed uncharacteristic.
“Fine. I’ll help you. But only because I know how much the Master meant to you. I still haven’t forgiven you for being the favorite.”
The elevator behind Luxu dinged, and the man waved away whoever it was, presumably security.
“It’s all right.”
The man moved aside to allow Luxu to enter.
“Come in.”
“Thanks… Aced.” The name finally came to him. Aced smiled wryly.
“So you do remember.”
“Bits.”
“Not everyone does. I’ve met Gula, but he doesn’t remember a thing.” An image of a lithe boy popped into Luxu’s head.
“Oh,” he answered non-committedly.
“I’ll let you meet the Boss. Lucky for you, she’s not busy at the moment. You do know that we’re not actually a construction company, right?”
“Of course I know. It’s why I picked the place.”
“Yeah, that’s so you.” Aced groaned.
The two walked down an innocuous seeming hallway before Aced rapped on a plain white door.
“Boss, it’s Aced.”
“Enter.” A muffled, feminine voice responded.
Aced opened the door, and Luxu barely stifled the curse that started to leave him.
Seated behind a high end desk, light blue hair clearly dyed when in the previous lifetime it’d been natural, was Aqua. Luxu’s fists clenched as he remembered his humiliating, but necessary, defeat at her hands.
And if Aqua was here, Terra the lunkhead surely couldn’t be far behind. His closed his left eye, just to know that the right was still there.
He took a deep breath, reminding himself that even if Aqua remembered Xigbar, she had no way of knowing that he and Luxu were the same person.
“Boss,” Aced started, and Luxu jolted in shock. Goody-two-shoes Aqua was a mafia boss?!
“This kid figured us out and came looking for a job. I happen to know him, and I think he’ll actually be cut out for our lifestyle.”
Aqua leaned forward, scrutinizing Luxu with her disarmingly kind looking face.
“What sort of job are you looking for?”
Luxu cleared his throat. This was it.
“Personal assistant! I’m smart and can handle paperwork. I’m also good with guns and can handle myself in a fight.” Sure, he hadn’t picked up a gun or fought in this lifetime, but he still remembered his skills from before.
“Show me.” Aqua stood up, and with all the gracefulness of a dancer, walked around to Luxu’s side. “Let’s go to the training room, where you’ll show me what you can do.”
***
The walk further into the mafia headquarters was nerve racking. They reached the training room’s armory, and Aqua told him to pick a gun.
He picked them up one by one, testing their weight. None of them had the feel of his arrowguns, and so he settled for the gun with the closest weight. It felt foreign and complicated in his hand, in a way his weapons had never felt. He wondered if he’d be able to summon them in this world, just as he was able to use his gravity magic. Or whether summoning something from nothing would bend the rules of the world too much and he would break.
A bit clumsily he loaded the gun, his hands shaking with the anxiety he refused to show on his face, as his mind raced to figure out the proper way to load the gun.
But as he stood before the target, he forced himself to let everything go. He breathed out and shot.
It missed.
The next five didn’t.
“R for Reload,” he muttered, reaching out for the bullets. A hand stopped him.
“It’s fine.” Aqua gave him a smile. “Now I want you to show me how you fight against an attacker.”
It was only out of the corner of his eye that he saw the kick coming. He ducked, and her leg sailed over his head. Without even thinking about it, he went to punch her in the stomach. She caught his hand and he wrenched it out of her grasp, smacking the butt of the gun he still held to loosen her hand, and twisted away out of reach.
He eyed her warily, keeping an eye on Aced at the same time to make sure he didn’t retaliate for hurting his Boss.
“Not bad. Not bad at all,” Aqua smirked. “I think I have just the position for you. Just know, if you betray me, I’ll see to it that not only you, but everyone you’ve ever cared about will pay for it.” Her eyes seemed to flash yellow for the briefest of moments, and Luxu shivered. Aqua as mafia boss? Not so unimaginable after all.
“Aced, tell my secretary I’m canceling my appointments for the day and be sure to have him forward all my work to my tablet.”
“Yes, Boss.”
“Let’s go home.” Aqua smiled warmly to the baffled Luxu.
***
Aqua’s home was quite grand. Modern and large, it looked like the sort of place that had been built just within the past few decades.
Stepping inside, Aqua moved quickly, bringing Luxu to a changing room, beyond which he could hear the tell-tale splash of someone in a pool.
Luxu raised an eyebrow at the extravagance, but inwardly thought about how much Demyx would have loved an indoor pool.
But what were they doing there?
Aqua opened the door and the slight smell of chlorine stung his nostrils.
A small figure was swimming laps.
“Demyx!” Aqua called. “Come out for a moment!” Luxu’s heart lurched. Surely, surely not? Not his Demyx…?
The figure heard her, and with a “sure thing, Mom,” headed for the nearest ladder.
A boy of about nine shimmed out of the pool and headed for them. Water darkened dirty blond hair and a bright smile met Luxu’s astonished gaze.
“This is my son, Demyx,” Aqua introduced. “Demyx, this is… I never even got your name.”
“Luxu!” Demyx exclaimed with a laugh.
“You know each other? That makes things easier. I’m thinking of hiring Luxu here as your bodyguard.”
“Okay, Mom.”
How did he know? It was impossible for Demyx to know this name, this face.
“Well, I’ll leave you two to talk. I’ll be in the living room if you need me.”
Luxu felt himself mindlessly nod, as he continued to stare at Demyx.
When they were alone, he could only croak out:
“How? How did you know?”
“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten me, Luxu!” Demyx pouted. The water on his body slid off of him, returning to the pool. “I’m the one who gave you that name, after all.”
The final pieces of his memory clicked into place.
“Master?” He wasn’t sure whether he was more surprised or full of disbelief.
“Who else could I be?”
“But what about Demyx…?”
“What about him?”
“You didn’t, take him over… did you?” For a moment, he was overwhelmed with the pain at the thought that Demyx, bright, shining Demyx, might be gone forever. He felt himself fall to his knees, the concrete scraping his skin through his pants.
“Silly, Luxu. Silly, Xiggy,” the Master wrapped his short arms around him, cradling Luxu’s head. “We were always the same person. You just never figured it out.”
Luxu hugged him back and a sob rose up. He’d done it. He’d finally found his important person.
“Last time, you gave me a thousand years of your life helping me, loving me. Won’t you give me the next thousand too?”
“Yeah.” Luxu nodded against the blond’s chest, still sobbing. “But Master—,”
“Demyx,” the younger boy interrupted.
“Demyx, I don’t think we can body hop in this life.”
“It’s okay. We’ll figure something out. As long as we’re together.”
“Yes.”
**********************************************************************************
Key to name changes:
Luke=Luxu
David=Demyx
Bowie=Xiggy
Bowman=Xigbar
Kuma=Aced
Neko=Gula
River=Aqua
Adam=Terra