Lucanis Week | Day Six: Past
The Joyous Wyvern
There's a party at Dellamorte manor, but Lucanis can't attend. At least there's a consolation prize.
Rated Teen
1,700 words
Warnings under the cut
content warning: minor character death, parent loss, child loss, kids in danger "Please, Nonna?" Lucanis leaned on his grandmother's shoulder, big brown eyes pleading. Her dress smelled like the old flowers, but Lucanis never minded, just like she didn't mind that he sat in her lap even when she was fancy. Illario, thumb in his mouth, nodded along encouragingly from the other side of her.Â
"Lucanis," she said, the syllables pulled out slow and sweet like honey, a smile in her voice as she tried not to let it show on her face. "I've read it twice already. Surely you'd like another?"
"But it's my favorite!" he insisted. When she didn't immediately open the book again, he played his last card. "Please? I already didn't get to go to the partyâŚ"
She chuckled finally, and Lucanis knew he had won. He started to open the book again, and she held it shut between her hands with a tsk. Both children stared up at her, betrayed and ready to protest, when she held up one finger.Â
"I shall read it one last time, but first you must do something for me." She waited to make sure she had their attention, and once they were still and silent, she continued. "I shall read it one last time, but first you must get in bed, and once I'm finished, you must go to sleep."Â
"But we're not even ti-" Illario protested, thumb pulled from his mouth with indignation, only to be cut off with a yawn. Caterina's eyebrow just raised, and Lucanis' mouth pulled into a grim line of defeat. There would be no luck to push back on it, now that Illario had undercut their argument.Â
Still, he was never one to give in easy, even when there was no hope. Mama always said he was the stubborn one, so even as he pulled the sheets up and helped tuck Illario in beside him - just for tonight - he continued, beyond hope.
"But MĂłnica and Lorenzo get to stay up and go to the party. And Claudia! She's the same age as me, it's not fair."Â
"Mm, life is not fair, little crow," she hummed, holding up the blanket for him as he dutifully climbed in. "But in this case, you know the answer. Claudia has started her training, you have not. When you begin your training, you may attend the parties."Â
Lucanis huffed, even as he raised his arms to let the blanket to wrapped around him. Illario leaned his head into his arm, but Lucanis stayed frozen. He wanted to argue, to dig in his heels, to insist that he should be allowed to finally start his training, no matter what mama and papa said, but he could hear his father's voice. If you begin your training, who will be left for Illario?
Illario whined as he nudged his shoulder again, and after a final moment of resistance, Lucanis finally sighed and tucked his arm around his cousin's shoulders. As Illario curled into his chest, his grandmother graced him with a rare, indulgent smile, and caressed his cheek.Â
"There you are. Now, as per our contract-"
An excited smile broke apart his serious expression as she held up the book, taking a moment to smooth her skirts so that both of the boys could see.
"This was your mother's favorite too," she mused, carefully flipping open the worn cover, and past the first few decorated pages. "She would beg me to read it over and over. I never managed to resist her - she learned early how use her eyes like a weapon. Just like you, my dear boy."Â
He knew this, of course. She'd told him a dozen times, but even as he wiggled his feet impatiently, he knew not to interrupt - she was about to finally read it, after all.Â
"The joyous wyvern awoke one morn," she began, her voice taking on the same familiar tone as she read the verse. Lucanis let himself drift on it, letting his eyes close; he didn't need to look at the pages to see them, not after so many times. He might not have been tired, but the warm bed and the slow breaths of his cousin, already asleep, lulled him as much as the flow of the rhyme. Faintly, in the pause between her words, he could hear laughing and music as the party continued below, and the patter of rain on his window.Â
"And so the joyous wyvern ran," she said, her voice just above a whisper as she flipped to the final page. She was reciting it by memory now, he thought from the edge of sleep; she'd said the line before the page had turned. "Over field and through the wood, until she reached her long-missed cave, and thought, 'yes, this-"
Suddenly, a clatter, a series of screams, the sudden stop of instruments. Lucanis bolted straight up, rubbing the sleep roughly from eyes wide with fear as Illario rolled over and whined. "Nonna?" he said, a wobble in his voice, but his grandmother was already moving, shoving the book and sheets away in one swift movement and dragging the boys out of bed in her arms.Â
"Hush, Lucanis," she whispered, her voice sharp as she thrust them to the corner, pulling a notch in the paneling that he'd never noticed before. A small passageway opened, as the sounds grew louder, more frantic. Somewhere, distantly but not far enough for the ballroom, his mother screamed. Caterina's breath shuddered, and all her muscles went tense, just for a moment, before she was moving again.Â
"Take Illario," she hissed, wrapping one of his hands tight over the small, whimpering boy's mouth, even as she shoved a dagger into his other. "Hide, and do not answer for anyone but me, no matter what you hear. Quiet, like we practiced."Â
The sounds grew louder - they were on this floor. She shoved them into the opening, and then closed it behind them. He half crawled, half dragged Illario to the back of the space and held him there, crouched. He tried to keep his hand over Illario's mouth, but it slipped as the tears on the boy's cheeks worked between his fingers.Â
"You have to be quiet," he hissed into the boy's ear, even softer than a whisper. He held him tighter as the sounds of fighting got closer. His own eyes teared up as he desperately tried to silence his cousin, as fear bubbled up like bile in his throat, his mind full of images of what would happen if anyone heard Illario's whimpers. He had to do something.
"The joyous wyvern awoke one morn," he whispered, fighting the words up his throat, even as it seemed too tight for them to fit through, "and saw the glistening dew-"Â
The whimpers stopped, and Illario let out a shuddering breath of relief. Outside, in the room, the door creaked open, and footsteps crept in. A familiar floorboard creaked; they didn't know the room, they didn't belong here, they didn't know to step over it-
A surprised shout that ended with a choking bubble, a drop like the bags of sand when he watched papa train, and then the sounds of a struggle outside the door. Lucanis shook, the dagger gripped so tight in his hand that his knuckles hurt, and he swallowed down the lump in his throat as he continued. "She looked out from her cave and thought, today I shall find somewhere new."
-
The house was silent as Lucanis walked through the halls to his Grandmother's study, book clutched tight to his chest. It wasn't because it was late - it was always quieter now than it had ever been before. He liked it that way. He knew he could hear the floorboards creak from almost anywhere in the house now. He listened for them every night, ever since it happened, ready to pull Illario into the hiding spot if they came to try again. It didn't matter that he didn't sleep in that room anymore; he knew lots of hiding spots now.
Caterina looked up before he even spoke, even though he had been silent. Her eyes were hard, like they always were now, her brow furrowed. Her eyes glanced from the book to his face, before going back to writing. "You should be asleep."
Lucanis swallowed and rocked on the balls of his feet; he considered just leaving. But Nonna liked this book too. He missed hearing her read it. Maybe she missed reading it to them, too.
"I tried, but I couldn't," he said, quietly. His voice always sounded so loud in the house now. "Do you think you can read me the story?"
He looked up at her, his thumb rubbing the corner as he waited, trying not to fidget. She looked in his eyes for a long moment, and her face was strange, like he'd never seen it before. A muscle in her cheek twitched, before she looked away, into the fire.Â
Her quill was placed on the desk, and for a moment, his heart lept as she stood, took the book from his arms. It didn't last, though, as she turned and clicked open the drawer of her desk, tucking it in carefully for closing it. It locked with a neat click.
"You're too old for storybooks now, Lucanis" she said, still turned away from him. Her shoulders made a tight line, drawn up towards her neck, and she gripped the edge of her desk so tight that he could see her knuckles turn white. "Now, back to bed. It's not good to leave your cousin alone."
Lucanis hesitated, but he knew not to argue now. She was right, anyway; he would begin his training soon, now that they were the only ones left. Shame coiled in his gut, mixing with his sadness; he knew shouldn't have left Illario. Even if they didn't come back, he'd be scared if he woke up alone.Â
"Goodnight," he said softly as he turned away, and he grit his jaw tight to stop his lip from trembling as he left the study. No reply came, and he was down the hall before he heard the sound of her sitting once more, her quill scratching against the parchment.Â
author's note: it might be past midnight for me, but it's still Lucanis week somewhere! Thank you to the @datvcompanionweeks Lucanis mods for the fabulous work they've done, you both have done a wonderful job. Also, this is the first thing I've written in months! It feels good to be back. (Sorry about the bad formatting, tumblr is fighting me.)
