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That night, it wasn’t very good sleeping weather. Typically, having a day of rain made most people just want to jump in bed and take a nap, but even the most steeled brawlers were a bit edgy with the lightning and thunder that seemed to linger right outside the mansion. Even Pikachu was feeling irritated by the hanging clouds- throughout the day he had gotten pestered by several smashers about whether or not he was causing the storm. Personally, Ness wasn’t all too bothered by the crashing thunder nor the flashes of lightning that accompanied it. Well, at least until the afternoon came around and the forecast still looked like the apocalypse may or may not be starting. He liked a good storm as much as the next freak of nature, yet he wasn’t a deep sleeper by any means. Around dinner he had a discussion with Pit while the angry clouds stubbornly remained hanging in the sky.
“Hey, do you think this will last much longer? I mean, it’s been going all day.” He rested with his elbow on the tabletop, head leaned onto his hand. Pit glanced up from his plate, casting his gaze towards one of the many large windows at the end of the dining hall.
“We were overdue for rain, don’t you think?” he pointed out, shrugging and twirling his fork around in the air. “I have a feeling it’ll be like this for the night.”
Ness gave him a cross look. “Yeah? Well, your face will be like this for the night.”
Pit laughed, rolling his eyes. “If by ‘this’ you mean stuffed with food, then you’re right! Angel metabolism is a gift and a curse.”
And thus, the discussion ended. Pit did end up being right, though. The storm insisted on sticking around throughout sundown and then into the night.
Ness was able to get some sleep here and there, but with the general loudness of the thunder it was hard to stay under. For a reason no one had been able to figure out, the thunder would not move from Smash Mansion. That, or the storm was just incredibly large. The sky was filled with dark clouds from horizon to horizon, so the idea was plausible, especially since no one was particularly knowledgeable about this world’s weather patterns save for Master and Crazy Hand.
Waking up for the fourth time that night, Ness found himself increasingly irritated. He meant to roll over and go back to sleep again, yet his ears caught a sound that, for a change, wasn’t thunder. Someone, in the unholy hours of the night, was knocking on his door. Staring at the door for a moment, he wondered whether he was hearing things or he would hear the sound again. When the knocking came the second time, he got up a bit sourly.
“‘M coming, stop knocking.” He approached the door, resting his hand on the door’s sensor and sliding it open. The doors there really were quite convenient, although Ness was really not in any mood to appreciate that. The raven-haired boy was momentarily blinded by the lights in the hall as the door opened, but after a few tentative blinks and a rub of the eyelids he was surprised to find a rather nervous Lucas standing opposite to him.
“Hi,” the blond boy greeted shortly. His eyes darted to the floor, and he quickly added, “Sorry.”
“Lucas?” Ness asked, in confusion rather than confirmation. He paused slightly. “What’s up?”
For a moment the boy’s face was that of blank surprise, as if he had decided to come to Ness’s door, yet hadn’t fully considered what he would do if Ness did, in fact, answer. “N-Nothing,” Lucas replied quickly, overcoming the initial scramble to find something to say, and grasped the bottom of his pajama shirt. “Nothing is up,” he repeated in a more definite voice, nodding slightly. The fact that his gaze remained on the floor said otherwise.
“Dude… It’s like three A.M.” Ness pressed his lips together, leaning on the doorframe tiredly. Maybe if he had gotten enough sleep he would have been more patient with this kind of behavior, but his fuse was running a little short. “Why’d you come and knock if ‘nothing is up’?”
“Well,” Lucas said, glancing up at Ness to get a look at his facial expression. Apparently he didn’t like what he saw, because he looked back at the ground again. Trailing off, he glanced down the hall and then back to Ness before taking a small breath. “I’m sorry; you’re angry with me, aren’t you? I understand why you would be. I’ll go back to my room now.”
Knowing Lucas, he was probably about to make a break for it, and Ness didn’t get out of bed for nothing. The blond boy turned rapidly, but Ness was faster, taking hold of the back of Lucas’s shirt. “Hey, hold on,” he called out quickly, attempting to redeem himself. “I’m not mad at you. I’m just kinda tired.”
Lucas stopped mid-step and stumbled slightly, kept in place by Ness’s hold on him. Glancing over his shoulder, he looked slightly frustrated with the fact that Ness had grabbed him, although Lucas still refused to make eye contact. “Really, it’s not important. Please let go of my shirt.”
Ness gave him an equally frustrated look. “If I let go, you’re just going to leave!”
For a moment, the two of them stood in stubborn silence.
“I said it wasn’t important…,” the quieter boy finally murmured in response. Ness didn’t seem to buy it, unfortunately for him.
This time, Ness was more careful with his tone and lowered his voice. “Why did you come all the way over here, then?” Lucas stayed silent and instead stopped watching Ness from the corner of his eye, looking down the hall again. Ness continued, a bit of concern finding its way into his voice. “Look, I’m not lying, okay? I’m not mad, I’m just confused about what’s going on.”
Lucas shifted his posture, still unsure. He peaked back over his shoulder with nervous eyes. “... Really?”
“Yes,” Ness affirmed.
After a moment of mulling this over, Lucas replied. “...Okay.” He paused for a moment before speaking again. “Um… You can let go of my shirt now, please.”
“S-Sorry,” Ness replied, giving Lucas an embarrassed smile as he let go. Thunder rumbled outside the window, and Lucas looked down again as he muttered an ‘it’s fine.’ Stepping out of the doorframe, Ness nodded towards his room. “Want to come in?”
“...Y-Yeah, okay..” Lucas stepped in after Ness, who flipped the light switch on before closing the door again. Ness jumped back onto his bed, turning around towards Lucas and sitting pretzel style on the rumpled sheets. He rested his head on his hand, giving Lucas, who was standing stiffly near the door, a quizzical look. His guest didn’t seem sure of what to do with himself.
“So,” Ness prompted after a small silence, “what’s up?” Lightning flashed outside the window, and Lucas’s eyes flicked over to look at it before bringing his gaze back to Ness. The blond haired boy took a short breath before responding cautiously.
“I’m… Not very fond of this weather.” Ness nodded in understanding, and as Lucas noticed this positive behavior from Ness his posture relaxed somewhat. Despite this, his blue eyes still held a hollowness that Ness couldn’t place. He decided to dive a little deeper.
“Are you scared of storms?” Ness tilted his head slightly, giving Lucas a look of false wonder. It was clear that Lucas was not scared, at least not very scared, but he felt that this was the first step to figuring out why his friend could not seem to take his eyes off the window’s blackened glass.
“N-No… It’s not that.” Lucas frowned sadly, shaking his head. Ness nodded— that’s what he had suspected.
“Oh, so it must be the loudness of the thunder. I’ve barely gotten a few hours of sleep tonight.” Of course, it wouldn’t be something like that either; however, at this point Ness had a feeling that if Lucas didn’t explicitly say what was bothering him by himself, Ness had no chance of guessing correctly. At Ness’s most recent comment, Lucas shifted his weight to his other foot, his frown deepening somewhat. Ness patted his bed, beckoning Lucas to come and sit, and Lucas was quick to do so.
“Not exactly…” Lucas glanced at Ness as he was about to open his mouth to make another comment, abruptly cutting him off. Apparently, Lucas had gotten tired of the guessing game. The boy pulled his knees to his chest, looking ahead at the wall. “It’s that this weather brings back… Well, bad memories for me.”
“Bad memories…” Ness repeated. He grimaced. “I’m sorry.”
To Ness’s surprise, his comment caused Lucas to laugh slightly. “It’s okay.” He smiled sadly. “I’m pretty used to it by now… It’s nothing you should worry about, really.”
Ness stared at Lucas for a moment, trying to choose his words carefully. Finally he shook his head, frowning empathetically. “...You say that about too many things.”
“Sorry.” The smile, as sad as it was, disappeared from Lucas’s face, and Lucas broke of eye contact. Instead he focused his attention on picking at one of the blanket’s loose threads.
Ness felt like adding ‘you say that too much, too,’ but thought that would just end up souring the conversation even more.
“So… Uh. Have you gotten any sleep yet?”
He shook his head. “I’ve been up all night.”
“That sucks.”
“...Yeah.”
The room was enveloped in an odd silence. Ness glanced to Lucas, who was now pretending to focus on smoothing out a wrinkle in the bed sheet... Ness could tell that Lucas was watching him out of his peripheral vision cautiously. Well, alrighty then. Time to bring out the big guns.
Ness took in a big breath, stretching out his arms and legs, and then pushed himself off the side of the bed closest to the window. By now Lucas was giving Ness a look of mild curiosity, no longer concerned with the state of the blanket. The blond haired boy watched as his friend jumped off the bed and pulled both of the curtains closed, flashing Lucas a kind smile. “Alright, then. Since we’re going to be dead tired tomorrow anyway, let’s have a sleepover!” Ness did a half-flip onto the bed, landing on his back. The mattress bounced a bit in recoil. “Well, sometimes you fall asleep at sleepovers, so maybe we won’t end up too tired. There’s only two of us, so it’s not like it’s gonna get too crazy.” Ness let out a barking laugh. Lucas was at least looking at him now, but he still seemed a bit reluctant.
“Well, o-okay.” Lucas mimicked how Ness was laying down, head hanging slightly off the bedside and looking up.
“Have you ever been to a sleepover before?”
“Not… Not really…”
“Don’t worry then. I’ve been to a few, so I know how they go. Actually, sometimes people throw sleepovers in Smash Mansion.”
Lucas glanced over with a surprised look. “You’re allowed to do that?”
“Well, yeah! Master Hand doesn’t really interfere with what we do on our own time. It’s sorta like benefit of the doubt. He trusts that we’ll be ‘responsible.’” Ness gave the word air quotes, and this got a small smile out of Lucas. Thunder crashed outside, but Ness ignored it, continuing to talk instead. “By the end of the tournament you'll pretty much be a sleepover expert. Well, I mean, if you wanna go to sleepovers.” He crossed his arms behind his head. “Ya know, I think the majority of the parties I’ve ever been to have been held here.”
Lucas stuck his tongue out at his chatty friend. “Maybe you’re just too popular.”
The raven haired boy waved his hand in dismissal. “Psh… Nah, everyone gets along pretty well here. It’s just that there are way too many extroverts, so once people start celebrating something it just doesn’t stop. So… Many… Parties…,” Ness gasped, as if he were a fish out of water, “Send… Help…” Ness pretended to try and get up, and then went limp, (allegedly) dead. This got another small laugh out of Lucas, and after a moment he started poking Ness for any signs of life. Ness squirmed out of Lucas’s reach, rolling over onto his side and propping up his head by cupping his cheek in his hand. After a moment, Ness wrapped up his thoughts with a nostalgic sigh. “...Yeah, it’s a lot of fun though.” Lucas nodded quietly, seemingly happy to listen to all that Ness had to say from the small smile that he sported.
“Tazmily Village didn’t really have many parties, but when there was a holiday, the whole town would show up.” Lucas turned over onto his side as well, although as he spoke he picked once again at the blanket’s strings. Despite this shift, his face kept the smile that had found its way to his face. “It was really nice to see everyone interacting together and having fun and stuff... Our town was small enough for everyone to know each other and have pretty close relationships.” As Lucas spoke, Ness tilted his head to look at his friend. A small smile was spread over his lips as he spoke about his home and the people there— That is, for the first half of Lucas’s thoughts. The blond boy blinked, a blank stare coming to his face for a moment, deep in thought. “I expected that to be how people were everywhere, so it made me… Kind of sad when I realized things were changing; not only in Tazmily, but the whole world started being so different than what it used to be...” He sighed, running a hand through his wild bedhead. “Especially after the village got to be a bigger place. People didn’t really care as much to know everyone after that. People were more concerned with not wasting time and doing what they needed to do for themselves... I guess it didn’t really matter, because by then I was kind of…” Lucas trailed off, looking down. “Well, a lot of stuff can change in three years, I guess.”
Ness nodded. “Yeah, I get that. Some people in Onett are like that.” He paused. “Onett’s the town I live in, by the way. I think I just told you that I was from Eagleland during introductions, which is kinda general.”
“Onett,” Lucas repeated softly. After a moment, Lucas hummed with contentment. “That’s a good name.”
“So’s Tazmilly. It’s a fun name to say. Tazmilly. Tazmiiiiiilly… I dunno. It just has a nice sound to it.” The raven haired boy laughed shortly. “Maybe that sounds weird.”
“No,” Lucas responded simply, “I think the same thing.”
A silence spread out between the two, thunder rumbling in the distance. Despite the noise still being relatively loud, Ness felt strangely alright with this fact. The sounds seemed far away and insignificant. Of course, the storm was still very much there, but talking to Lucas had a way of focusing his usually spontaneous attention span. Maybe it was because of the way that Lucas listened actively, nodding and giving a vibe that he was interested in what you had to say, or maybe it was that whenever Lucas spoke of his homeworld he had a way of making you more curious the more information he disclosed. Or maybe it was that Lucas was careful with what he decided to disclose to anyone, and that gave Ness a feeling of significance; sort of like whenever he got the tiniest tidbit of knowledge, he was gaining some sort of secret that only he and Lucas knew of. After pondering these things for a small amount of time, the rumble of thunder brought him back to reality. He glanced to Lucas after what could have ranged from half a minute to several minutes, finding that the blond boy’s eyes were closed in a peaceful rest. Ness pushed himself carefully into a sitting position, leaning in over his friend slightly. He was never very good at telling when people were awake or asleep.
“Lucas?” Ness whispered, not trying to rouse him, but trying to figure out if he was awake. Lucas’s eyes opened, squinting a bit both at the light above and the general fatigue of staying up the majority of the night.
“Yeah?”
“Sorry, I was seeing if you fell asleep. You’re kinda hanging off the bed, so…”
Lucas took a slow breath, rubbing his face with a hand. Ness had enough experience with ‘I-just-woke-up’ Lucas to tell that this was an obvious symptom of being tired for him. “...Yeah.”
“You know, if you’re tired we can just go to sleep. There’ll be other opportunities for allnighters, trust me.”
Lucas pushed himself into a sitting position as well, frowning bashfully. “S-Sorry. I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep at all.” This got a smirk out of Ness, who slid off the bed to turn the lights back off.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. I really don’t mind, so don’t worry.” The room was pitched into blackness, the only light coming from the odd flash of lightning that refused to be stifled by the curtains. In the darkness the sense of sound seemed more present— The thunder, the rain hitting the mansion, and Ness’s footsteps back to the bed alike.
Ness padded over to the bed softly, feeling in front of himself for the bed, When he found it, he realized that the covers were already pulled back for him, Lucas already curled up under the covers. For a second he hesitated,feeling the cloth between his fingers. The only people he had ever shared a bed with the were immediate family. Even on his journey,during the nights everyone would find their own area to sleep— Not far away, of course, but no one really bunked together unless a sleeping bag was lost and they had too.
...It wasn’t weird, was it? He was a bit concerned considering that Lucas was slightly touchy about his space, yet… It was probably fine, considering that Lucas didn’t seem bothered by sharing a bed— He had left the covers back, after all. He hopped onto the mattress, pulling up the covers. Although Lucas seemed fine, he still was generous with how much space he left between them. Despite the fact that Ness could see very little but a faint outline of his friend, he still looked over when Lucas shifted.
"Ness?”
Aforementioned boy hummed in affirmation.
“Sorry, but,” Lucas paused, mumbling the rest, “Um… I’m sorry if I push you off the bed or something.” Ness couldn’t help but smile at that after the initial mull over what Lucas had said, stifling a laugh. “Claus always complained about having to sleep in the same bed as me; maybe it’s my fault he started waking up so early. I must have pushed him out of the bed one too many times.” Ness could hear the smile in Lucas’ voice as he spoke. For someone he seemed to like so much, Ness was surprised that Lucas had never mentioned them.
“That’s pretty funny, actually,” Ness commented, smiling fondly in the safety of darkness. “Well, no hard feelings if I do end up on the floor. Thanks for telling me ahead of time.”
“I figured I should,” he mused. “It’s not exactly an uncommon thing to happen.” Lucas’ voice hitched suddenly. “I-If you want me to sleep somewhere else, I can! I’m sorry, I wasn’t even thinking.”
“Nah. Really, it’s fine. My sister Tracy is like that too.” Ness shifted to his side, facing Lucas. From what he could tell, Lucas was on his back. He tried to lead as casually into his question as possible. “...By the way, who’s Claus?”
The room suddenly became very quiet. swallowed up by the sound of rain hitting glass. “Oh.” Lucas’ small voice resounded through the room, and Ness had a sudden realization that perhaps mentioning that person had been a slip-up for Lucas.
“I’m sorry,” Ness blurted out, deciding that it would be better to end the discussion there, despite his curiosity. “I didn’t realize…” He licked his lips nervously. “You seemed like you were fine talking about them, so I…”
After a moment, Lucas took a shaky breath. “No, it’s… That’s not your fault. Please don’t feel bad about it.” He went silent for a good amount of time, before sighing. “I… I’ll tell you if you want to know.”
Ness propped himself up, staring at Lucas. “N-No. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable. It’s okay.”
“I know,” he replied softly. “I think that I should, though.” He turned onto his side to face Ness, even though there was only the sight of darkness to see. “...I trust you. And… You’re such an honest person… It makes me want to be that honest too, in a way. But… Please don’t tell anyone. I don’t want people’s pity.” He said the last part firmly, and Ness nodded.
“I won’t,” was all the usually talkative boy could say, his voice quieted by the seriousness and awe he felt of the situation.
Lucas let the rain fill the silence for a moment before speaking. “I guess I shouldn’t draw it out… Claus was my twin brother. He… He’s dead.” Lucas swallowed, continuing. “I… We did everything together. I was always the more coddled one, while Claus liked being adventurous. Even though we had really different personalities, it balanced out for the most part. I’m not very proud to say it, but… When we had just met, the reason I was kind of nasty to you was because you sort of act like him.” Ness frowned. So that was the cause. Nasty was a bit of a strong word for the cold shoulder that Lucas had given him for a short time, but the blond had come around eventually and apologised for it, of course. “A lot of my life doesn’t really have relevance to the lightning thing… I think… That I’ll leave the rest for some other time. All you really need to know is that Cl… Claus went missing years ago after he tried to attack a rampaging Drago outside of Tazmily. W- We didn’t know what happened to him until three years l… later.” Lucas collected himself for a moment. As he continued to talk, the boy tried desperately to keep his speech regular. “Claus was a PSI user too, and he had the potential to use PK Love, like me. An army wanted to use that to destroy the world. That puts it shortly, but it’s no... not relevant right now. They did s-something to him t-t-though. He… He didn’t recognize me until it was too late. And I didn’t know it was him e-either.” Lightning flashed again, and Ness was surprised to see a glimmer of silver trails running down Lucas’ face. The only hint was the slight stammerings— No sobs, no choking; nothing to truly point to it. Suddenly, Lucas began to weep, his voice becoming think with the hurt he had tried to hide. “It was my fault… Oh my Gods, it was my fault! I saw him going to kill the Drago. I saw him. I knew he would never be able to kill it! Idiot! Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot!”
“Lucas…” Ness’ face contorted with worry and sympathy, and the boy scooted closer to his sobbing friend. Lucas was covering his face with his hands, but he continued to wail.
“I even tried to lie about knowing where he went! I deserve to rot in his place! And I c-couldn’t— I couldn’t even stop him in the end! I couldn’t save him! I killed him! The badge reflected the lightning, and he died!”
Ness took Lucas’ hands gently, pulling them away from his face. The boy let out another weak wail, his hands going limp as Ness held them. “Don’t say that, Lucas. Please don’t.” The boy shuddered with every sob, choking on his sorrow, and Ness squeezed his hands slightly. “Everyone makes mistakes. I did to. I… I made horrible mistakes. You’re not the one solely responsible for it.”
“N-N-No…” Lucas tried to protest, before gasping with another cry.
“You’re not a bad person, Lucas! I know that. You’re caring and kind, and I know that Claus thought so too. Would he want you to feel so horrible about it? If you love him so much, I’m sure he did too; he wouldn’t want you to feel guilt for somethin’ that wasn’t your fault.” Lucas sniveled but said nothing. “When you respect someone, you let them make their own choices. You might not like the choices they make, but you gotta let them do what they need to do. Sometimes it’s not pretty, and sometimes it doesn’t go as planned, but that’s what life is. He doesn’t blame you, Lucas, and you shouldn’t blame yourself.”
Lucas whimpered, letting out a good few sobs. As the moments passed, however, the crying started to subside. Ness dropped Lucas’ hands, and to his surprise, those hands quickly pulled him into a hug. For a moment, the black-haired boy didn’t know what to do; he settled for petting Lucas’ hair with one hand, letting the other use his pajama shirt to soak up his tears.
“N- Ness… I’m sorry, I... I th- thought this… w… wouldn’t happen… I ju- just ended up crying a... a lot anyway, th- though...”
“It’s okay. You don't gotta feel bad about it,” Ness said, his voice sounding quiet after the loud sobbing. “We’re friends, okay? Helping each other is what friends are there for.” Lucas didn’t reply, but the embrace tightened. Lucas’ sobs gradually subsided until there was only quiet breathing and an occasional hiccup. “Hey, um... I’m really sorry, Lucas. It- It’s not pity, just so you know. ...I think that you’re the strongest person I’ve ever met. I’m just… I’m so sorry about what happened.”
It seemed like hours, how long the silence lasted after that. Ness had started to become convinced that Lucas had fallen asleep, but out of the silence came a small, yet heartfelt, murmur.
He replied so quietly that it was almost drowned out in the rain. “...Thank you Ness. Thank you so much.”