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The dark nothingness of the Null had been Lukey’s home for a long, long time. It had been his home before the Realm even existed and it was still his home now that the Realm had fallen victim to the Corruption. Through it all, the Null had remained untouched and unchanged, a constant in the whirlwind Lukey’s life had suddenly become.
But did that really make a home? The place he returned to when everything changed, the place he knew better than anyone else? Was that enough to make a place a home?
Because when Lukey thought of home, he didn’t think of the Null. He thought of the Realm. Of his lab. Of his office, the void floor, his minecarts outside of the floor to ceiling windows. The brewing area and the turtles. The secret and not so secret passageways and escape routes.
He thought, ironically, of colours. He, the person who was often described as deadly afraid of colour, found his comfort in the most colourful moments of his life.
The first memory that so often popped into Lukey’s mind was his very first memory on the Realm. The colour that was vividly burned in his mind was bright red. The kind of red that really could only be associated with blood. It had burst out of his stomach, had splashed all over his white hoodie so he had had no choice but to throw it away.
For most people, that probably wouldn’t have been a particularly happy memory. But, for Lukey, it represented the first feeling after years upon years of nothingness. Besides, that death had led him to the best friends he could had asked for, to the green team. He couldn’t imagine what might have happened if he had ended up joining the yellow kingdom like he had originally intended.
The next memory to pop into his mind was the first time meeting Pangi. He would never be able to see that shade of redish orange again without thinking of the pangolin hybrid. To this day, he carried one of his scales with him. It might just have been the most meaningful gift he had ever received, literally a part of Pangi to keep with him wherever he went.
While the first meeting was the most frequent memory of Pangi he revisited, it was far from the only one. There were so many conversations, jokes and hangouts to look back on, it was impossible to choose just the one.
If he had to choose though, his favourite memory might have been the ball that was hosted in yellow castle early on during his time on the Realm. It was the first time he saw Pangi fight without holding back. Perhaps, if he had to pinpoint it, that might have been the moment Lukey fell in love with his best friend. The yellow of the castle and the deep red of wine and blood were forever interwoven in his mind.
Or maybe his favourite was his first date with Pangi. Set in the Green Castle, their faces staring down onto them from the wall, Lukey had felt the happiest he ever had. The beautiful green dress his friend had worn, the lush green in the cave outside the wine cellar Pangi had built just for him were vividly present in his mind. Bad had been there, his mentor and father figure, and even though he had been a menace like usual, it was a fun memory and really representative of their dynamic. But what Lukey would never forget from that evening was the feeling of Pangi’s lips against his own, the moment burned into his memory even though Pangi ran away moments after.
There was another moment Lukey couldn’t forget. When Pangi finally trusted him enough to take off the sunglasses and revealed his eyes for the very first time. Their bright blue colour might just be Lukey’s favourite colour of all time – if you didn’t count white that was. Back then, he had been honoured and honestly filled with cuteness aggression. Nowadays, seeing that shade of blue just filled him with comfortable familiarity.
Just a couple shades darker were cornflowers. Pangi insisted his eyes had the same colour, but Lukey who had spent hours upon hours staring at both knew better. Cornflowers were Pangi’s favourite flower. And while that might not matter to some people, it seemed to come up constantly with Pangi. There were so many occasions where he gave a cornflower to Lukey or the other way around. To this day, a pressed cornflower sat safely in his pocket, right next to Pangi’s scale. And Lukey would lie if he said that it didn’t remind him of Pangi’s eyes.
Purple was the only colour that carried a truly negative connotation for Lukey. After all, how could it be any different, considering everything he had gone through with the Corruption. Watching his best friend slowly succumb to it, realising that this corrupted Pangi had no idea who he was, all while desperately trying to find a cure.
Only when he managed to find the cure, when all the purple was replaced by the usual orange and blue, did his happiness return. It had been such a relief, finally seeing Pangi back to his old self. Being told to put on his helmet, it had never given him this much joy.
And those memories were only the tip of the iceberg. There were so many more tiny moments of happiness that had seemed so insignificant at the time but meant so much put together. So much time spent just hanging out, joking around, grinding and yapping, accumulated into one giant web of happiness and colour.
Looking back on all these memories, Lukey couldn’t help but notice the common denominator. In none of his memories was he alone. He was always surrounded by his friends, his teammates. He was always right next to Pangi.
Maybe the Null truly wasn’t his home anymore. Maybe his home wasn’t a place at all. Maybe his home was the person who had brought colour into his life.