Chapter Text
24 years ago
Jack Nox was just a simple little seven years old at the moment he was in what he could call his home looking attentively at his father who was working on that powerful magic he never fully understood. Jack just looked at him with shiny eyes and a smile as he imitated the movement, dreaming of one day being as powerful and cool as his father was. Hoping he would teach him to be like that, even if his dad was usually too busy to teach him anything, many times being absent from his life for long periods, he didn't know why but Jack treasured the moments he had with him anyway. Even when it was just observing his presence in awe.
As he was watching his father he heard the voice of his mother calling for him. She looked different, not just her clothes but something else in her that Jack didn't understand… she had opened a portal for him. He never had gone anywhere outside his home, even less through a portal, so he excitedly followed his mother without hesitation. Excited to finally explore some of the vast universe their parents told him all about, it was a little scary but if he was with his mother he was sure he could feel safe.
But when he crossed the portal he was left confused. Now he was in a strange, cold and dark place. So in contrast to the warm golden-like and well lit place that was his home. He hadn't been expecting the first place he would go to be this… dark
He looked around to see dimly lit streets and people with dark clothes and seriously scary faces, he winced, he didn’t get why the people looked so sad and serious but he guessed that couldn’t be something good. So he just kept following her mother who kept walking without even turning to see him, seemingly knowing where she was headed. Jack just followed her closely as he clung to leather pants, too scared to make eye contact with anyone.
As he walked suddenly something catches his eye, someone catches his eye. The only person who appears to not be wearing black in this place, a small child with long pink hair and glasses; for a moment Jack stopped clinging to his mother and stopped on his tracks to look at them, he was curious but also hopeful of having someone his age in this strange place. Maybe they could be a possible friend?
He kept looking at them in awe, maybe it was how they stood up with their bright colors but something made him want to approach them. Without realizing his mother had kept walking and now was now gone, out of his sight, and when he finally looked back to where his mom was going Jack felt a deep sense of panic when she was no longer on his field of vision
He never had been without her or his father, he was alone for the first time, in a place he knew nothing about. He froze in place as he started to tear up, scared to do so in a place that looked so uncaring to everyone he didn’t know what would happen to him now that he was alone. Trying to gain some sense of comfort he looked again at the child, seeing some bright colors in a way calmed him just a little, to know that maybe not everything was so dark in here, he had hopes of finding his mom again, but he couldn't calm himself down as he kept crying and and breathing heavily
He didn’t know he was staring so much until the child looked at him back, the child looked at him back.
Jack felt embarrassed, he didn’t know why but it felt like was caught doing something he shouldn’t have.
The child didn’t even seem to care as they remained mostly expressionless. But then they started to get closer, Jack panicked and cried harder in response, he wiped with the corner of his sleeve quickly as soon as the tears came out. So when they were finally face to face with them he was a sniffling mess as he tried not to cry more but he only ended up panicking more.
“Hey, are you okay?” The child said, their voice was soft and soothing but mostly expressionless like them
Jack’s lip trembled and he quickly shakes his head, still sobbing and sniffling
“I-I lost my mom and– and I don’t know where she is,” He mumbled with difficult through sobs, his hands trembled as he kept wiping tears and snot away with his sleeve.
The child eyes widen, Jack could finally see some type of emotion in them but even now it was hard to grasp if it was surprise or maybe panic
“Oh, your mom was the one with the ponytail?” they said, far too calm for Jack's liking, he felt like he was going to die alone without his parents and they just remained calm like nothing was happening.
He sniffled again and nodded. “Y-Yes.” He mumbled with a whiny voice, he looked down for a moment, if the floor didn't look so terrible he would be on the floor crying his eyes out even harder.
“I know where she went, The Cygnus Tower, I can take you there.” They gave him an awkward smile, were they trying for to be nice to him?
Before Jack could say yes again the child took his hand gently but awkwardly and started leading him somewhere. It was kind of impressive to see them get around like that, like they knew this dark place like the back of their hand. At least to him was impressive, he only knew the way around his father's observatory in the hotel… that was sort of his home.
“T-Thanks,” he mumbled, his sobs calming down a bit.
“It’s okay…” they mumble, “I saw your mom earlier, I loved how she danced, I wish I could be as good one day.” That's when he truly saw them smile, it was like their face lit up when mentioning dancing, that was something Jack could relate to very well.
“I bet you can! If you practice really hard like her you might as well be better, you just have to work really hard like she does!" He said now a little more enthusiastic, he was feeling a lot better now that he knew he would get back to his mother.
“Mmh, maybe ” They had a half smile, Jack liked them, he hoped they would stay friends after this, they could be his first friend.
"You should see my father! I always try to imitate his moves, I hope one day to be as good as him."
"You will, maybe we both will be as good in the future," they said, calm but also like it was so definitive.
"Thank you—" he realized he never heard their name "what's your name?"
"Mihaly."
"Thank you, Mihaly. I'm Jack." He had a wide smile now
"You're welcome, Jack." They smiled back at him.
Jack nodded, he felt happy to find someone his age that liked what he liked, maybe he would like this place. Now he didn't want it to be a one time visit anymore, he would lose his first friend! They just saved him, maybe that would convince mother to let him keep seeing them.
Without realizing it they were there, at the bottom of really, really long tower. They just stayed there, standing in front of an elevator door.
"Why did we stop?" He asked, he was a little genuinely concerned about it.
"It's the Cygnus tower, we can't just enter. It's really dangerous," they deadpanned but that made him even more nervous, was her mother in a dangerous place? And she wanted to bring him along too?
"W-what?" The child looked back at him, probably realizing what they just said.
"But don't worry, nothing will happen to you if your mother is with Cygnus." That didn't explain much, but at least that made him feel a little more at ease, whoever that Cygnus was must be powerful.
"Okay…" he said a little unsure "So what now?"
"We wait," they state, pressing a button on the wall
Eventually after some minutes standing outside doing nothing but looking at the tall buildings and dirty streets he saw the elevators move down, and when it was almost all the way down with his mother and some man with blue hair inside, he felt so relieved and scared. He didn't want his mother to be mad but he also just wanted to jump into her arms out of the pure fear he had when he thought he would never see her ever again.
Now in the present time you could say Jack was doing just the opposite from running towards his mother.
He had seen with his own two eyes that the fearsome Night Swan was defeated by a girl he hadn't seen in his entire life, sadly that wasn't the only shock today. The group that rebelled against his mother —the one that he is a part of now— included more than one familiar face.
The prince, Wanderlust, who was taught to hate from a very early stage of his life, his mother always emphasized that his existence was the reason why his father did not return to see him and would never return. A part of him resented him his whole life, even though the prince didn't know of his existence. Jack always felt like he was second best compared to him; he could never be him... he never could bring his father back because he left for a better option.
In reality the prince wasn't as bad as he thought he would be. He wasn't the spoiled and annoying image he had painted in his own head. He was rather naive and impulsive, and maybe it was wrong of him to say but he found that the prince was rather weak when it came to how easy he was trapped under his mother's spell… he felt guilty for letting it happy but maybe that made him feel a little better about himself too, no one is really perfect.
On the team there was Brezziana too. He didn't really know much about her; he knew her name because her account had popped up in his recommendations a few times. She was a well-known internet influencer on various aspects of leading a healthy life, both physically and mentally, something Jack had never paid much attention to but she was famous enough to make him recognize her
Without counting the girl that he had no clue who she was, or even what she did to be able to defeat his mother, he found himself the biggest surprise was seeing someone who he thought he never would see again.
Mihaly, his old childhood friend, someone who he never really forgot. Someone he had known since he was just a little stupid seven year old kid, a friendship that lasted more than ten years... until, well, things happened. And Mihaly left him.
…
Not really. Jack knew it was much more complicated than that. Mihaly had their reasons for leaving Eternyx—who wouldn't, really—but it was always easier to blame them. Perhaps it was more comforting than thinking that it was partly his fault that the shaman left, but no matter how many years had passed it still felt like an open wound.
And at that moment, what he felt was a profound sense of dread. The thought of even speaking to Mihaly filled him with a panic he refused to externalize, what even could he possibly say? He can already imagine how awkward that interaction will be.
But before he could overthink much more, he was dragged to an impromptu party with coaches from all over the danceverses to celebrate "the fall of the witch". The beginning was quite pleasant; they celebrated, sang, and danced so he didn't have to talk much to anyone. But the party started to die down when Sara was taken away (who turned out to be human? They never explained that to him), and people began to disperse and do their own thing.
As soon as the dancing stopped, he found herself talking to Brezziana. He was surprised to learn that this influencer was truly so concerned about others as she claimed on her videos, he could deduce that too back when she was trying to save as many coaches as possible and ensuring no one was left behind. He was a little taken aback in a good way, he was sure all Dancity influencers had to be fake.
"But anyways, how are you feeling?" She asks all of a sudden
"What do you mean?" He arched an eyebrow
"Well, we just took down your mother's regime, that must make you feel some sort of way."
"Ah, that. Being honest I feel a little relieved" He paused, he was doubting himself a little, he didn't want to overshare but Brezziana looked genuinely interested in his well-being so he felt bad lying to her face "You can guess that she wasn't the best mother…"
"Yeah… I had a feeling, but the good thing is you're free now!" She said cheerfully, flashing a big smile at him that was almost contagious
She was right, he was free, for the first time in a long time he found himself with the option of doing pretty much whatever he wanted now, yet… where was he going to stay now? He had nothing, literally nothing and no one to go to.
"I am." He said, less happy about it than he should "But I'm not sure what to do or where to go now… all my life I stayed at the tower, she made sure I didn't have anyone else" He laughed, but Brezziana didn't seem to find that funny
"Man… I would let you live in my house for a bit but I'm kind of someone that never really stays in one place, I'm all over the danceverses most of the time!" Brezziana put a hand to her chin, gesturing as if she were genuinely thinking of any solution to this problem that wasn't even hers to solve
"That's okay I can manage on my—" He explains before quickly being interrupted
"Wait, I know what you could do!" Jack felt a little stunned, her eyes lit up and she did a little happy jump. He didn't think it was this serious.
And in addition to that he was even more confused as she gestured with his hand to someone behind him, gesturing them to come, he turned around. And as if life was making fun of him he felt his stomach drop when seeing who she was calling over.
"Wander! Mihaly! Come here for a second." She shouted with a smile
He didn't want to look but he was sure Mihaly had to have a mirrored expression of dread on their face, oh Selios, this was coming and he couldn't do anything to stop it. It mortified him, but he had to face Mihaly sooner or later, he would have preferred it if it was later.
"Brezzi! What's going on?" The prince spoke, he had an arm around Mihaly's shoulder… funny how this wasn't the first time he was replaced by Wanderlust
"You know Jack here has a little problem…" She began explaining with a pretend-sad voice "He has nowhere to stay, but then I thought to myself 'Wanderlust's dad has a hotel, right?' So… would you mind having him?" She spoke so confidently as she rests a hand on his shoulder
But her words did the exact opposite of what she was trying to do, the mention of Wanderlust dad had him with a visible expression of concern, his eyes widened and he had to blink a few times to be sure he wasn't hearing things…
"Oh?" Wanderlust cocked his head "You know what? I don't think he would mind! Jack's part of our team now, right Jack?"
"Uh…" He was speechless for a second, there was no way he would stay in that hotel "Your dad is The Traveler? Isn't he?" He said a little unsure, the question may came out weird but he was far too busy being panicked to care about that
"Yeah! He is, why?"
Hearing that made him so that for the first time in the night Jack searches for Mihaly's eyes on purpose
Mihaly had a similar expression to him —they knew about his father, it was a secret that they thankfully kept to themselves— their eyes who were already staring at him in a discreet shock, a silent form of communication that said much more than the short words they exchanged just some moments ago. And in spite of all his better judgment and how his pride was screaming at him to not do it, he shot Mihaly a pleading look. It was up to them if they chose to help or not, until then Jack already was thinking of how to save himself.
"I—" He started without really knowing what to say, but thankfully he was quickly cut off, this time he was glad he was being interrupted
"That's really nice of you Wander but I think Jack would be better if he stayed with someone he is familiar with." Mihaly said, their voice sounded a little wrong, like a part of them was forcing the words out
The singer's eyes widens, he already had an idea of what the shaman was about to say; his heart suddenly began to beat faster while a chill ran through his body. Was this going to be an excuse to get them to stop talking about this or were they really serious? No… they couldn't be serious
"Like who?" The prince questions, ever so naive
"Like… me." They admit reluctantly, and by the confused looks on Wanderlust and Brezziana they didn't quite understand what was happening "Jack and I used to be childhood friends."
The both of them had a bewildered look on their faces, Jack felt a pang on his stomach thinking how Mihaly never deigned to tell them of his existence and the fact that they knew each other for over ten years. He thought he would be someone worth mentioning after being friends for such a long time, they were someone special to him even after things ended in a bit of a ugly way, maybe he was foolish to think they felt the same way.
"I didn't see that coming, how come you're just saying this?" The woman inquired, she didn't look that fazed thought, not as much as Wanderlust
"Yeah! Mihaly you never told me about this, a childhood friend that happens to be the son of Night Swan!? I should have know about this." He had a sudden disappointment on his eyes as he disconnected the arm from around their shoulder, it was hard to tell if he was actually sad or if he was just pouting. To Jack eyes he was being a bit dramatic, but what did he knew about their relationship anyway.
"It's just that-" their expression turned into full on discomfort "It's complicated, okay? I didn't want to talk about it." They confess reluctantly.
Their eyes quickly flicker to Jack with hurt in their gaze before they made eye contact with the floor, it pained him a little to see them being vulnerable, now that their confident smile had faded from their face they seemed smaller than usual.
"It wasn't a big deal." He came to their defense, even if lying about it made his heart clench "We went to the same school in Eternyx but we weren't that close for it to be a big deal." He lied, he lied about everything. He knew this lie could so easily come to bite him later but if Mihaly helped him with the matter of his dad, he had to return the favor it was only fair after everything
Instead of looking at the floor with a sense of dread Mihaly actually looked at Jack, their gazes connected and he could tell by the relieved smile that he did a good thing, after getting out of this mess he could talk about this properly with Mihaly. If they wanted to see him again that is
The pair that wasn't currently communicating with their eyes just looked at them
"Okay… that makes sense, I think" Brezziana was definitely suspicious, she could probably see that under the surface something about this was more deep than just being ex classmates
"Well, I still hope you would've told me. Maybe I could have made a better plan!" He insists, they just looked at him with an incredulous expression "What?" He protested
"Back on topic. I think Jack should stay with me, being alone wouldn't be good for him right now." They exclaim, now less unsure about this decision
"You're apartment is a bit small tough, isn't it?" Wanderlust spoke, Mihaly shot him an annoyed look in response
So he knows what their apartment looks like?
Mihaly's lips pressed into a line "We'll figure it out…" they dictate.
"If Jack is fine with it I see no harm." The woman contemplated, shrugging as she passed the attention to the mentioned making so everyone's eyes were on him
"It's not a bad idea, it'll be temporal." He said, Mihaly nodded alongside of his words as he stated, with no room for doubt about his choice even if he was doubting every choice that led him to this moment on the inside.
"Okay then, problem solved!" The prince exclaimed
"Great. So do you mind leaving me with Jack a little, to sort this whole thing…" Mihaly said, rather awkwardly
Brezziana was the first one to react, she placed her hand on his arm, nodding her head for them to leave.
So that left them alone, for the first time in about ten years…
It took a minute for any of them to speak up. As for Jack, he still had the knot in his stomach that seeing Mihaly again caused him.
"Were you serious about this?" He said, his voice coming more defensive that he wanted
"I know you probably don't want this, but yes, I was." They started, Jack remained silent "Do you really want to stay with me? I mean you must have a better option." Mihaly's eyes pleaded with him, he wasn't sure why
"Yeah, I really wish I did…" He added, trying not to let his emotions show, he failed. "But I don't."
Maybe a part of that came out kind of bitter. And maybe it was wrong but he was bitter, he was angry, and sad… But also happy to know Mihaly was doing great. Doing great without him. He just wishes he could be less salty about this, but in front of them after all this years is hard to pretend
He could sense what he said was a bit out of line, seeing Mihaly actually furrow their brows, their worried state falling into something more like an expression of disappointment
"Well, it's going to be just a temporary thing, you said it yourself," their words were cutting, suddenly matching his own bitterness, how nostalgic.
But once Mihaly actually talked to him like that he didn't felt that satisfaction he thought it would appear when he got the chance to show them that he was still hurt about the way they hurt him all those years ago. Now instead he just felt regret, Mihaly didn't deserve this, even if he still felt the wound that they caused when they left as fresh as the day it happened.
"Yeah…" He was to cowardly to say anything else
Mihaly sighed, rubbing a hand down their face "It doesn't have to be like this, Jack. If we're living together we're going to have to talk about this like adults." Their tone was stern on it's core but there was a exhausted tone underlying all this interaction
"I know that… it's just that I…" He looked down for a moment, a long moment, not really finding words suited for all he had to say.
Before he could say something Mihaly's hand gently settled on his arm, he was taken aback by how soft their touch was. He was kind of expecting Mihaly to punch him for being such an ass, but after such a long time they still were the sympathetic person he knew, even with someone who felt like he didn't deserve that sympathy
"Take you time, I have to go and check some things in my apartment. I'll come back soon, but if you want to go just tell Wanderlust to make you a portal or something." They said, and in just a second they turned away from him and got lost in the crowd of people
"Okay."
He was left alone now, seeing their form disappear in the distance was vaguely reminiscent that one moment that played on his mind so many times, but at least this time he knew they were going to come back for him
But he would be lying if he said that the possibility of them never coming back didn't cross his mind.