Work Text:
Before his vacation to Sweden, Lukey decided to construct his very own office within the New Lab. He just slammed his head onto the polished wooden planks and went to sleep there, enjoying his last few hours on the Realm to earn some well-earned sleep.
☆***☆
“I’ll run.”
Those were the last words Lucas said to Newt, which now that he thought about it, was quite pathetic. He should have convinced Newt that his research was not important enough to risk lives, entering the Deep Dark like it was nothing just for some echo shards. Lucas should have played it safe, understanding all the repercussions of his actions of wanting a breakthrough in research.
Now, trapped within the grasps of the "Keepers", as they called themselves, Lucas passed time by thinking. His whole life ran by on an invisible track, and Lucas was sure that it passed at least 5 circles before Keepers decided to enter his cell to ask some questions. They pried on his once deemed “useless” research.
Questions soon followed his life on the track. Why were the Keepers interested? Why was he here in the first place?
When Lucas kept quiet, the Keepers decided to test their Prototype on him.
***
Lucas stared at a brown snail, shell a pale-peach color, slowly sniveling its way to his feet. It felt like the snail was just trying to make good conversation, perhaps even try to get Lucas out of whatever testing tube he was in. It made cute noises, a few squelches here and there, edging closer and closer to his corner of the tube.
When the snail had touched Lucas’ foot, everything went dark.
Then everything came back, like nothing happened. The snail seemed to be beaming.
***
The snail came and went. Each time it came, Lucas fell asleep for a second, and then came to. It was not until the fifth time when Lucas suddenly noticed something strange.
Who was his best friend?
Lucas dropped everything that he was thinking about at the time to try and search his memories for the name. It had to be in there somewhere, perhaps this was just a normal mind blank. A brain fart, yes, that was definitely what it was! Why would Lucas ever forget his childhood friend, thick and thin, helping him throughout his stellar research?
After 5 minutes of pondering, Lucas’ heart dropped.
He forgot.
Lucas forgot.
More days went by. Lucas sat in the same corner of the test tube, now fearful of more of his memories disappearing. However, they did, and Lucas was quick to associate his memories’ disappearances with each time the snail touched his foot. At first, it was a coincidence. Now, Lucas was genuinely terrified of the snail.
“Don’t come near me!” He shrieked, trying to move in the secluded area of his test tube. Lucas was tied down, or forced down by unknown magical properties that surrounded his arms and legs. Breathing was harder to achieve. Panic erupted in his system. He needed to leave.
The snail did not care.
***
Blank.
His name. What was it again?
He wakes up.
Why was he here?
Those beings with dark cloaks that blocked his vision from any sort of skin… were they human?
Where was he?
***
“Quickly, go through.”
The same hooded figure from before gestured towards a door, opened for L---- to go through. They seemed familiar, but LU--- just swatted the thought aside. He barely remembered anything anymore.
He hesitated. “Who are you?”
“Doesn’t matter. I want you to live… I want you to survive. I want you to live a normal life, and I only hope that the Outworlders accept you as one of their own. When the time is right, you will remember. Memories will come back to you soon enough, LUC--.”
***
“Lukey?”
Lukey gasped awake, casually sleeping with his netherite armor on, hunched over the table. His eyes were wet for whatever reason, tears that have dripped and etched into his sleeves hidden under armor. He must have been crying for a long time for that kind of effect…
“ Lukey! ”
Lukey snapped his gaze to whoever was talking. He immediately relaxed to see Pangi, although retained some tension to see the ever-growing purple on his shoulder. “Ah, um, sorry.” He responded dryly, sitting up, groaning as the sound of bones cracking at the sudden stretch brought significant pleasure to his waning posture. “What do you need?”
Pangi gave Lukey an expression that Lukey could only describe as ‘disappointment’. He sat down on the other side of the table, frowning. “I was just about to ask you about your vacation ,” said Pangi, his tone teasing. “Though I definitely came at a bad moment, huh?”
Bottles strewn about the table, all used to contain alcohol for Lukey to drink the night away worrying the shit about Pangi’s growing corruption. They were all empty now.
“No, no, I’m fine.” Lukey replied, dismissing the accusing tone. He hopped out of his seat, stretching properly. “Yep! Fine.”
No other words were exchanged that night other than each other’s company, which both of them enjoyed.