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In a dark room, Luca groans tiredly. Awakening from a deep sleep, Luca slowly lifts his pounding head. He moves his disheveled blonde hair out of his face, looking around groggily.
“Where am I?” Luca slurs, his eyes beginning to focus. He can barely make out party streamers hanging from the ceiling and flickering lights barely illuminating parts of the room. The only sounds that can be heard are a slowly rotating fan and a clock ticking away. Luca forces himself to a sitting position, causing some bottles to clatter against the ground. Taking deep breaths, he tries to will away his headache.
“That’s right... it’s my birthday. We were... partying...” Luca mumbles, lying limply against the wall. He strains to remember the previous night.
He remembers being led by Lucy, who could barely hide her grin. When they entered the room, he was surprised by all his Lucubs celebrating his birthday. Lucy had organized a party for him with his community the day before he went to a party with his friends on his actual birthday. He really went all out celebrating. Luca lost count on how many drinks he had downed so far. The sounds of his precious Lucubs’ cheers and Lucy’s encouragement filled his ears.
“Lucy… Where’s Lucy...?” Trying to stand up, Luca stumbles and cries out from a sharp pain in his hip. As he grips his injury, he makes out a fallen broken table in front of him and a memory hits him.
Drunk on the Lucubs’ cheers and alcohol, Luca decided to perform party tricks to impress everyone. He was going to do a trick standing on a table with a bottle of vodka. He figured he could do a twirl while throwing the bottle up into the air. The plan was, once he caught it, he would spin it and pour the drink in a spiral pattern, and everyone would cheer him on again. Well... he caught it... with his face. One moment, he was mid-twirl, the next he was on the floor in pain with a broken table and some bruises.
Lucy scolded him and told him to rest at the birthday table with her. Lucy sends off some Lucubs to go fetch some first aid for him as she helps him to the table.
“Table... she’s at the birthday table...” Luca gets up, teeth gritted in pain. He staggers forward, taking small steps across the room. He passes the bar counter where some Lucubs are slumped on top of it. One Lucub is sitting behind the counter, alcohol slowly dripping onto the top of his head. The reek of alcohol mixing with sweat and other scents was making Luca’s head spin.
Across the dance floor are Lucubs lying everywhere. Luca squints his eyes, trying to find a path across without stepping on anyone. He hears the slight crunch of glass and occasionally small splashes with each step he takes.
“Lucy’s going to kill whoever broke the crystal glasses… those were imported from her favorite brand.” Luca mutters. As he takes a step over two Lucubs holding each other, his foot slips in a puddle. Luca flails briefly, grabbing onto a corner of a nearby table. Unfortunately, the table cloth slides and he yanks it off, pulling several dishware with him. Luca lands onto something harshly, knocking the air out of him. His head rings painfully from the sound of shattering glass. His vision swims and he takes a moment to breathe. Another memory resurfaces as he recovers from his fall.
Luca sings something off-key, a Minecraft song he loved to listen to. Nearby Lucubs laugh and try singing other songs they knew. Lucy laughs softly at their antics when the door opens. A Lucub dressed in combat attire enters, bowing briefly to the room. They walk over to Lucy and whisper into her ear. Lucy locks eyes with the Lucub before gesturing her head to the door. The geared Lucub bows again and rushes out. Luca stares in confusion and taps Lucy’s shoulder.
“Everything alright, Lucy?” Luca slurs out and Lucy gives him a small smile.
“Yeah, it’s all good. Just a surprise, is all.” Lucy waves her hand and Luca grins brightly.
“Another surprise? Pog! You’re the best, Lucy.” Luca laughs, nearly falling out of his chair. Lucubs rush to his side and struggle to lift him back into it. Lucy shakes her hand and points to the other side of the room.
“You’re too wasted to sit here. How about you go sit in the back and rest? I’ll call you back once we’re ready to cut the cake and open presents.”
“POOOOGGG!!” Luca cheers, swinging his arms around in glee. Last thing Luca remembers is how he stumbles out of his chair and wobbles across the room.
Once he recovers, Luca pushes himself up. His gloved hand pushes against something soft and Luca realizes he’d fallen on top of a Lucub. Luca sits up, his eyes studying the Lucub. His gaze wanders, noting the disheveled clothes and the lion mask cracked on the side where the Lucub’s head landed on the ground. In their hand is a crushed party popper, the slight smell of smoke still hanging in the air. Luca sighs and scratches the back of his head.
“Sorry, buddy. Hope you’ll forgive me. Pat pat.” Luca mumbles, gently patting the Lucub’s head. Luca gets up, grunting again as his body aches more. Surveying the room, Luca’s eyes land on a small light at the end of the room.
“There it is...” Luca coughs roughly, his throat feeling dry. He continues forward, determined to get there. As Luca continues across the room, the floor becomes denser with trash and Lucubs. More were lying next to each other, some in piles and others across tables that were toppled over. Platters are scattered across the floor, food mushed together into a colorful streaks and footprints.
Luca’s eyes drift back to the birthday table, and he can make out someone sitting there. Luca rushes to the table end. He shoves a few presents out of the way and Lucy appears in his vision. He sees her slumped over in her seat, her head resting on the table. Her arm is in front of her, clutching onto a knife, and next to her is Luca’s birthday cake, the candles lit. The three-tiered cake was caving into itself, forming a goop of melted ice cream, fondant, and melted candle wax. Luca sighs deeply, walking over to Lucy’s side. Luca pulls a chair next to her and sits down.
“Y’know, mom always said to be careful with knives. Let me get that out of the way, Lucy.” Luca mutters, reaching over and pulling the knife out of her hand. He tosses it to the side, hearing it crash into some presents. Luca pets Lucy’s head, smiling to himself.
“This has to be painful to lie on, Lucy. Let your dear brother help you get comfortable.” Luca gently grabs onto Lucy, lifting her upper torso up. Resting her back into the chair, Luca leans her to the side, resting her head onto his shoulder. He wraps his arm around her waist, holding her small frame against his own. Luca rubs his head against hers, smelling her sweet perfume with a musty undertone. “Thanks for the party, Lucy. This one was a real banger, huh?”
Luca laughs loudly before going into a coughing fit. His coughs settle yet the room remains silent save for the soft ticking of the clock. His gaze goes across the room before he grabs a nearby champagne glass and raises it.
“I’d like to thank all of you Lucubs for attending my birthday party. I’m so proud of each of you and your dedication to our beloved mafia family. I’ll cherish each one of you in my heart and I’ll never forget this moment.” Luca throws back the drink, only to find it empty. He scoffs and slams it onto the table. Luca pouts briefly when he looks back to his cake. Quickly scanning it, he reaches over and digs his hand into the cake. He pulls a chunk of it out, parts of it already dripping past his fingers. Luca holds it to his face before taking a bite out of it. He barely chews it before spitting it out to the side.
“Ugh! Just my luck to grab the side with the most wax.” Luca drops the cake piece to the ground. Waving his hand around, he pauses briefly before looking towards Lucy. Luca lightly taps her nose, leaving a bit of cake on her.
“Oops. Got cake on your face.” Luca giggles before he reaches back towards the cake and grabs another chunk. He bites into it, a bittersweet smile on his face. “This tastes really good. You picked a good one, Luce. Shame I didn’t get yours in time.”
“I had a really nice custom one ordered. I was planning on bringing it home with me after I hung out with the guys. After all, it is your birthday, too. I didn’t expect you to beat me to it.” Luca sighs, closing his eyes. He tries to relax but the ticking clock makes his headache slowly throb in rhythm. He rolls his aching shoulders, ignoring the way his clothes cling onto Lucy’s head. As he reaches for more cake, he notices a flashing light hidden on Lucy’s side of the table. Careful not to drop Lucy, he lightly drags out Lucy’s phone. Despite the screen being cracked and covered with melted cake, it still worked and had some power. Luca unlocks the screen to see it filled with notifications of messages and calls. He scrolls through them all, seeing variations of reservations being made, business propositions, happy birthdays from friends and family, and spam. His eyes settle on a message from one of the Lucubs, urging Lucy to investigate a concern with the birthday plans. When mentions of the cake come up, Luca feels his head begin to throb painfully. Fighting back the tears building up, final memories of last night filter into his mind.
Everything happened so quickly after. Luca was swaying across the room, dancing with an occasional Lucub to delay taking a nap. The music was blasting loudly, some parts seeming to almost echo outside of the room. Lucy was on the phone, talking quickly. Luca couldn’t understand what was being said but it seemed like she was getting frustrated. Did something happen to the cake? Maybe she had another surprise, and it didn’t work out?
Luca stumbled mid-thought, leaning into a table. Laughter sounds out and Luca looks up to see the door to the room opening. Lucy tosses her phone to the side, rubbing her head and looking towards the door. A group of people walk in with his cake and set it onto the table in front of Lucy. As they bow to her, there is shouting outside the door. Lucy looks out and there’s a rush of movement quickly followed by a flash.
Luca opens his eyes as the phone in his hand starts flashing. He sees the name Shu Yamino appear onto the screen, showing several missed calls from him, Vox, Ike and Mysta. Grimacing at the brightness of the light, he swipes the answer button and tosses the phone onto the table.
“Lucy? Lucy, are you there?! Listen, something happened! Where are you and Luca right now?” Shu frantically asks. Shu’s never sounded like that before, not even during horror games. It didn’t really fit with how calm and cool-headed Shu tended to be.
“I’m sorry, Shu. Party got a lot wilder than we thought.” Luca chuckles and Shu’s questions quiet down.
“Luca! Are you okay? Where are you right now? We didn’t see you at Vox’s house like we planned and the caterers that Lucy hired from him said you cancelled on bringing the cake over.” Shu stops as other voices sound off in the background. Luca can hear Ike’s frantic voice asking Shu questions. He hears Mysta’s voice saying something before going silent. Luca can catch Vox’s voice as well, angrily demanding answers from others that he doesn’t recognize. Luca looks back towards his cake before he begins to claw at it.
“Mysta felt something was off, so we tried to call you. When you weren’t answering. We tried the number to your subordinates, and they didn’t answer either. Lucy was our last shot, and it took Mysta a while to find out what her number was from his sources… Luca, are you still there? Luca!!” Shu is almost shrieking at this point and Luca can’t tell if his head hurts more from his voice or the clock that is getting louder. Luca finally stops digging into the cake and cleans his hand onto his pants. Memories attack him as he struggles to talk.
“Shu… tell the others I’m not going to make it to the party. I don’t have the energy to get out now…” Luca sighs again and rubs at his face.
Luca remembers the shouting increasing. Pops go off into the room. People are running now. Luca struggles to get up only to fall back as a Lucub tackles him down. Crashes sound off and his vision gets blinded with red before falling into black.
“Luca, please… tell me where you’re at. We’re going to drive over there now. Mysta has the car ready.” There’s shuffling on the other end of the call, voices getting jumbled together in their rush. Luca can’t hold his tears back now, quickly falling onto Lucy’s head.
“I’m really sorry, Shu. I… I can’t.” Luca chokes back a sob as the call gets silent.
“No… no, no no… please, just tell me, Luca. I… I can use my magic. I can get to you right now. Just-just tell me where-”
“No, you can’t, Shu!!” Luca shouts, silencing Shu. Luca holds onto Lucy tighter, his arm beginning to shake.
“Why not, Luca?! I can be there in a second! Please!” Shu begs. Luca lets out a shaky breath and looks towards his birthday cake.
“Even if you did… there wouldn’t be enough time to leave. I’m sorry, Shu... but I guess it’s like they say… every good party…” As Luca’s eyes settle onto the clock counting down the last three seconds, Luca smiles brightly.
“… has to go out with a bang.”
As the surrounding buildings shook from the force of the bomb, a small group of soldiers trudged their way up a small mountain path. They’re armed with assault rifles and coated in blood and food remains. They reach the top of the path, finding an old oak tree overlooking the city in the distance. The men stop and line up to face a lone figure seated upon an old worn-down bench. The figure lights a cigar, humming the happy birthday melody. A soldier steps forward and they all salute.
“Sir, our mission is successful. The lion’s den has been completely cleared.” The male figure takes a deep breath before releasing a plume of smoke. Yellow eyes follow it into the air before snapping towards the soldiers. The soldiers fidget in place, the intensity of the man’s eyes unnerving them.
“Good work, gentlemen. Time to reap your rewards.” he mutters before whipping out a magnum. The soldiers barely have a moment to react before the gun fires in rapid succession. They all collapsed to the ground, a bullet piercing each of their heads. The man puts away his magnum, taking another drag of his cigar. He resumes humming again as he gets up and walks towards the edge of the viewpoint. As dawn breaks over the horizon, he chuckles lightly before throwing his head back and breaking into raucous laughter. The sunlight slowly illuminates him, revealing a young man dressed in a dark business suit. He begins to calm down, pushing his dark hair out of his face with a gloved hand.
“Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday, dear Luca…” He sings loudly as a wicked grin appears on his face.
“Happy birthday… To me~”