Chapter Text
Ike reads the address on the small note he has in hand, brows furrowed in slight frustration. He accidentally wiped a good portion of it when he put it in his pocket earlier, and now, the last part of the address is a big blob of ink. Thankfully the first part is still readable, so all Ike has to do is figure out the building’s number.
“This is building B, number seven…” He mutters to himself, eyes keep scanning the scenery all around him. “And that’s building number ten…”
The more he walks, the less people he meets on the street, and before he knows it, Ike is all alone, wandering like a lost kitten. He was so absorbed in his plight he failed to notice someone walking up to him, madness painted all over his face.
Ike sees something at the corner of his eyes and he turns around, seeing the pair of greedy hands reaching out to him—
A resounding bang breaks through the silence.
The stranger grunts, clutching his bleeding hand to his chest and runs away, saving his ass before anything worse happens. Ike’s legs give up and he falls to the ground, trembling in fear. He turns to the side as unfamiliar footsteps approach him.
“You okay?” A blonde man helps him up, a worried smile etched to his features. In his hand is a revolver, fresh smoke puffing out of its nozzle.
“...Thank you.” Ike lowers his head. “I got caught up in my own thinking and didn’t notice someone coming up behind me. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, it’s fine! This area is a little dangerous, so don’t let your guard down, yeah?” The blonde tilts his head to the side. “Are you looking for something here?”
“Uh, yeah, actually.” Ike shows him the note he has in hand. “I’m looking for this place. Do you know a place called Luxiem?”
At the mentioning of that name, the blonde visibly perks up, violet eyes sparkling and mouth pulled into a wide smile—his expression rivals the sun itself. Even his face seems to glow too; a warm golden haze like a halo. “Of course! I work there!”
000
At first glance, it’s hard to discern which buildings in this area are still occupied or not. This particular area is a dying land after all, and those who seek much better fortune are off to move somewhere more packed and lively in the center of the city.
Not for Luxiem though.
“Any request is fair game!” Is their motto. This particular odd-jobs agency chose this place as their homebase, and from the looks of it, they’re not planning on moving out any time soon. Their office seems to blend in with the bleak background from the outside, but once Ike walks inside, the difference is as stark as day and night.
The office is small, with only a couple of sofas and a coffee table to welcome guests, but the atmosphere is warm and welcoming. The slightly tilted books on the shelf, unremovable stains on the wooden floor, a slightly off-colored plastic plant by the windowsill; these little imperfections is what makes it so comfortable, Ike notices.
“Sit there, I’ll go call the others.” The blonde says before he scampers off to the back, his voice booming like the roar of a lion.
Ike sits on one of the sofas, hands folded on his lap obediently. A horde of footsteps approach from the other side of the room and Ike lifts his head, seeing a heap of young men smiling at him warmly. Ike gives them a warm smile too. They all look to be around his age.
“Ah, you must be the one Luca talked about.” A brunet strides forward. He’s easily the tallest one in the room, with an air of authority and a certain alluring charm to his face. He must be the leader of this ragtag group. “May I know your name, good sir?”
“I-I’m Ike Eveland, and you don’t have to use any honorifics or anything!” Ike waves his hand in the air. “I don’t feel comfortable with it.”
“Of course. My name is Vox, and this dashing young man right here,” Vox wrangles the blonde that saved Ike earlier. “Is Luca.”
“Yup, and that’s Mysta and Shu.” Luca points his thumb at the two remaining young men behind him. At first glance, their faces look oddly similar, but one has orange-blue eyes and the other a sparkling purple. There’s also the hair; Mysta’s hair is brown, and Shu is a mix of black and neon highlights.
“Is there anything we can help you with?” Shu sits on the sofa opposite of Ike. Mysta follows suit, nodding along.
Ike glances at their faces, his fingers digging into the meat of his palm before he lets out a deep, painful sigh. “I’ve been experiencing… problems for the past few months. Not the kind I can solve on my own, I assure you, or else I won’t be here today.”
“And what problem are you speaking of?” Vox leans forward, curious.
“For some reason, a lot of strangers seem to be attacking me. They stalked me everywhere I went, tried to break into my house, and left the same weird symbols in places I frequented.” He turns to Luca. “But they’re pretty aggressive today—if Luca hadn’t saved me earlier, well, I don’t even want to think of what’ll happen to me.”
“What the fuck?” Mysta’s eyes are blown wide, mouth agape. “And you haven’t reported this to the police yet?”
“That’s the thing!” Ike suddenly raises his voice. “Since they didn’t really do anything significant enough, the police couldn’t do anything! The only evidence of their crime is the broken lock in my home, but other than that, there’s nothing we can use to find who the culprit is!” He’s suddenly aware of his sudden outburst and relaxes his pose, curling in on himself. “I…I honestly don’t know where else to go.”
“Then you’ve come to the right place.” Vox nods. “From the looks of it, we seem to be dealing with a particularly careful bunch of evil minions.”
“Or goblins.” Mysta adds.
“Or spirits?” Shu adds another one with a smile.
“Either way, it’s not safe to stay at your home. They already know your address and the place you frequented.” Vox says. “Do you have another place to use as a hiding spot?”
Ike shakes his head solemnly. “No, that house is the only home I have.”
“Just stay here then!” Luca pipes up. Ike can almost see invisible dog ears on top of his head, perking up excitedly. “We have a spare bed upstairs, right?”
“Yes, but are you willing to stay here for a while, Ike? At least, until the case is done.” Vox turns to the man in question.
It’s unsafe to trust strangers, but at this moment, Ike would rather trust this ragtag bunch of quirky young men rather than his home. At the very least, they seem serious enough about wanting to help him. “Of course, I should get a few things back home before I can stay here.”
“Then we’re all set to go.” Vox nods, turning to Luca. “You should accompany him.”
Luca, the ever excitable golden retriever and certified good boy, agrees with a nod. They leave after Ike bids his goodbye, and with their absence, the office feels a little less packed now. Vox leans back, sighing to himself and looking like he needs a few packs of beer.
Shu snorts, a knowing look to his face. He turns to Mysta. “Go find information about Ike, anything will do.”
“Aye aye captain!” Mysta takes off with a jog, humming a familiar song under his breath as he opens his busted up laptop. The rapid clattering of his fingers as he abuses the keyboard for the umpteenth time fills the silence.
Vox massages his temple, feeling a headache coming. “Been a while since we received escort missions.”
“I have a feeling this won’t just be an escort mission though.” Shu notes, his ever present smile melting off into a frown for once. “With all the mystery surrounding who or what our enemies are, it’s going to turn into another investigation case again.”
Vox nods. “Let’s just hope this won’t end too badly.”
The last time they got this kind of mission, their client was a rich, spoiled child barely capable of handling herself. They almost failed to protect her because she would run off and do everything without the consent of her hired bodyguards, thus making it really hard for them to keep an eye out on her. Though the pay is good, they resigned from the position after a tough, soul-draining week.
Ike is different though—he’s an adult, and most importantly, he’s just some guy who got his life turned upside down. It’s a pain in the ass to take this mission, but they can’t help but pity him—especially seeing the bags under his eyes, exhaustion painted so clearly all over his features. The man needs some semblance of peace, and they’ll gladly give it to him.
A faint ding catches their attention and both look up, seeing Mysta frowning behind his laptop. He seems to be reading something, his expression growing more and more concerned each passing second.
“Uh, you guys might want to see this.”
000
Sitting on top of a hill is a large mansion, withering away and forgotten by time. The garden is spoiled, plants taking over a large part of the building, paint scraped away to reveal old, brittle bricks. This place feels like it belongs to the beginning of a very bad (and scary) horror movie, but this is the place where Ike currently lives, and Luca couldn’t really say anything mean now, can he?
“Sorry, I haven’t cleaned anything up.” Ike takes his shoes off and puts them on the rack. The poor thing creaks and leans to the side, unable to support the weight of the shoes. “Make yourself at home. I’ll be back in a jiffy!”
With that promise, Ike dashes straight into the second floor and disappears. Luca just stands there, a little overwhelmed by the amount of dust floating around him. He looks up, seeing a huge net of cobwebs and a very friendly spider looking at him, and he scrunches his face.
He’s not a very clean person, but at least he keeps the office free of cobwebs.
Luca keeps his shoes on and walks around, admiring the seemingly odd decorations littered around the house. He sees stone effigies here and there, an old parchment littered with symbols sealed behind a glass case, there’s even books with languages he doesn’t understand. This entire place feels like an old, abandoned museum in Luca’s eyes.
He strides towards the living room, gaze immediately settling on the giant painting on one side of the wall.
For some odd reason, the entire painting is nothing but a sea of black, traces of fervent brushwork visible upon the surface. Luca studies the painting closer, feeling like there’s something more to it than it looks. He squints, scanning the entire painting from top to bottom—
And he swears he sees tentacles slithering further into the black abyss.
Someone taps him on the shoulder and Luca jumps with a yelp, turning around and seeing Ike behind him, eyes blown wide in surprise too. Luca turns back to the painting, but the tentacle-like mirage is no longer there.
“Are you okay?” Ike knits his brows, lips pulled into a thin frown.
Luca shakes his head and gives Ike the widest smile he can muster. He can almost feel ghostly tentacles slipping under his clothes, slimy limbs ravaging his skin, pulsing and alive . “I-It’s fine! You just surprised me.”
Ike doesn’t seem to buy his excuse, but makes no attempt to pry deeper. He grabs his bags and nods. “Let’s go back, I’m sure everyone’s waiting for us.”
Ike is surprisingly fast for someone carrying so many bags, and Luca quickly follows along, tracing his footsteps with familiarity. He looks behind his shoulder, giving the odd painting one last glance before he closes the door behind him.
000
“Have you been living there for long?” Luca asks out of curiosity on the way back, half-hoping Ike would answer.
Ike lets out a faint hum, eyes scrunching as he jogs his memory. “Not really, I’ve only been there for the past month. That house used to be my grandparent’s, though I can’t really confirm it since they’re no longer here.”
“I see,” Luca skips a few steps ahead, eyes scanning all the crooks and corners he can see. His gut is telling him to keep an eye out. “Must be hard living on your own.”
“Kind of, but I’m used to it.” The smile on Ike’s face melts away into one tinted in sadness, his pace slowing down. “I’ve been alone for a big portion of my life. I don’t really have anyone to call a family after all.”
At that, Luca’s face falls. He doesn’t really have a home to go back to, but he has friends by his side, and they made their own “home” in Luxiem. Ike on the other hand, isn’t so lucky. The fact that he’s able to survive (and endure) everything on his own up to this point is enough proof of his strength.
“You’re amazing, Ike.” Luca smiles, slowing down to match his pace with Ike’s own.
The out-of-nowhere compliment sends Ike through the clouds. He tries to say something in return, mouth sputtering out broken sentences before he settles for a quiet mumble instead, face bright red as he shifts his attention to the ground. “I don’t deserve the praise, really.”
“But you do.” Luca insists, brown knit together. “I mean, if I were in your situation, I wouldn’t be able to live on. Being lonely is…painful.” The uneasiness in his eyes melts away into warmth. “But you have us now, and we’ll do our best to help you from here on out!”
Luca could’ve said that for lip-service, but Ike sees nothing but honesty in his eyes—Luca isn’t someone to lie about what he’s feeling, Ike came to realize after a fleeting moment. This man wears his emotions on his sleeve, and right now, he’s speaking nothing but the truth to Ike. He will help him, and by extension, the rest of Luxiem too.
Somehow, just knowing he’s no longer alone in this situation makes his steps feel a lot lighter.
“Thank you, Luca.” Ike smiles, now free of any worry. He can safely entrust himself to Luxiem, he knows this now. “I’ll be sure to repay you all handsomely after this is done.”
Luca waves his hand. “That’s for later, all we need to think about now is—”
A bullet flies straight through the air and cuts into Luca’s ear.
He instinctively pulls Ike into the nearest alleyway, eyes scanning the vicinity for their secret shooter. Though faint, he sees the glint of metal from a nearby building—it seems they’re dealing with snipers. Luca clicks his tongue and pulls out his revolver. It can’t do anything as of now, but it eases him knowing he has something to fight with.
“Stay behind me, I’ll take care of this.” Luca pushes Ike to the wall, keeping him safe behind him.
He takes another peek at the corner, calculating his aim before taking a quick shot at the sniper. His aim hits the sniper right at the muzzle of his gun and it breaks. Seeing a chance, Luca takes Ike’s hand and drags him away.
They speed up their pace, taking sharp turns at the corner of the street and almost crashing into a light pole on the way back. Luca looks behind his shoulder, seeing a crowd of people following after them.
“Shit, they’re fast!” Luca amps up his pace, but he forgets he has Ike in tow and the smaller man is unable to keep up with him. He ends up crashing to the ground, bags scattered all around him.
Luca skids to a stop, eyes going back and forth between Ike and the mob. He weighs the options he has in his head and clicks his tongue. He doesn’t want to pull out his trump card this early, but he has no choice.
Ike yelps when Luca suddenly grabs and lifts him up like a bride, his pupils turning into slits before he jumps —
And lands straight on the rooftop of the nearest building.
The mob stops for a moment, amazed by the amazing display, and Luca uses the chance to run away, jumping from one rooftop to the other with great ease. Ike can only close his eyes and clung tighter, wrapping his arms around Luca’s neck.
In the blink of an eye, they arrive back at Luxiem’s office, safe and sound. Luca jumps down, his pupils turning back to normal. He puts Ike’s down to the ground, the smile on his face shaky and tired.
“I haven’t exerted myself like that in a while, POG.” Luca leans to the wall, panting.
Though they left his things back there, Ike couldn’t be bothered to think about them now. He clutches the hem of his clothes and backs away, a single question haunting his mind. “A-Are you…not human?”
Luca stares straight into Ike’s soul, the pupils of his eyes thinning once more. “What if I’m not? ” He tilts his head to the side, a challenge.
Ike couldn’t say anything back. He shakes his head and walks past Luca, ignoring the way the blonde keeps burning a hole to the back of his head. “I can’t trust you then, you bunch are—”
“I could say the same thing to you, Ike.” Vox appears out of nowhere, stopping Ike in his tracks. His usual calm facade is now tinted in disappointment. “Or should I say, the High Priest of R’lyeh?”
Ike stumbles back, his expression growing more and more distraught. “H-How did you…”
“The symbols those people tried to show you belong to a long lost civilization that worshiped the Elder Gods.” Mysta appears from inside of the office, Shu right behind him. “I found it weird that those people tried to spam you with something so obscure; which leads me to believe that you have a special connection to it in the first place.”
“And it seems like we’re on the right track,” Shu puts his hand on Luca’s back, sinking his hand inside as if it was nothing. He ignores Luca’s pained grunt and pulls a tentacle out, immediately burning the slimy appendage with a burst of hellish fire. “Can’t keep your tentacles to yourself, huh?”
Trapped in between four assailants, Ike couldn’t do anything but stay put, cold beads of sweat running down his temple. He looks at Vox, expression going through all five stages of grief before he slumps with a sigh.
“Fine, perhaps it’s time to tell you the whole truth in this situation.”