#lucites

There weren’t any forests in RSA, just some trees scattered here and there, which is fine, but honestly Agetes kinda just wanted to be in actual nature. He’s spent far too much time on the outside looking in, in his opinion, so what’s a rule broken here or there? It’d probably just be another lecture from the vice or some pitied head shakes from that buffoon known as his dorm leader. So, no harm no foul.

All this to say, he’s currently wandering the woods near the school. Night Raven seems to have actual forests on school grounds! Or at least on the mountain where the school is placed. Hm, point NRC. But then again, who’s to say when he’s done there and it’s probably harder to sneak down a mountain. Point RSA, if only by a little.

Agetes loved taking in the sights and sounds of the forest, seeing animals out in the wild and the light through the trees was amazing. Oh how he wished home had animals and forests…

Agetes was pulled out of his thoughts by a voice. A beautiful voice, the likes of which he’s never heard before. Sure, it could be his sheltered upbringing, but Agetes loved music and this? This was something else. He couldn’t help but be drawn to it like a siren draws in its victims.

Following the voice Agetes could barely feel himself moving until the it stopped. Just how long had he been listening? And noticing his surroundings, it looks like he’s not the only one drawn in by the singing. There were birds and squirrels and rabbits and more huddled around someone with blond curls and red lips who looked to be about his age. More than that, the other was wearing a Royal Sword uniform, meaning Agetes wasn’t the only one breaking the rules.

Hm.

The other RSA student blinked rapidly a bunch, before whipping his head around, a worried look on his face as the color drained out of his already pale skin.

“Oh no, oh no, no no no no…” The other boy muttered to himself. “I’ve done it again…” He rested his back on a tree and slid down it so that he was sitting, his head in his hands. “Oh, where am I now?”

Was he just as lost in his own song as Agetes and the animals were? Magic truly is a strange thing sometimes.

Though, the other boy didn’t seem to notice Agetes, being too lost in his own head to see him, so Agetes spoke up saying, “Um, hello?” The blond boy’s head shot up to look at Agetes, and because he couldn’t help himself he added, “You’re not wearing any shoes. Or socks for that matter!”

Agetes noted the wide grey eyes of the boy’s terrified expression. “Though, I’m sure you already know, I just felt like pointing it out.” Gods, Agetes knew that his appearance wasn’t anything normal, and he’s already spooked and confused kids with it, but this guy’s reaction takes the cake! “Anyway, your voice is really pretty! Beautiful, really.”

The other boy seemed content to continue to look at Agetes like a deer in headlights, but the comment about his voice made his lips quiver. Maybe he wanted to speak up? Gods, and Agetes thought Idia was bad.

Oh! Maybe it’s cause his voice puts people in a trance? Seems likely. “And I do mean that as a compliment by the way.” Agetes told him, making a move forward.

Immediately, the other boy’s eyes darted to the movement, hugging even further back against the tree.

Agetes pushed his weight further on his forward foot, and watched as the other boy pushed himself back somehow further.

Oh.

Oh. This can be fun.

Agetes played around with this frightened boy a bit more, playing with his weight and which way he stepped, making the blond boy squirm with fear. Agetes didn’t consider himself a bad person… But he’s also never claimed to be a rather good one either. And if he has, he’s lying. Heehee~

Agetes eventually stepped back, laughing at the display. Poor boy, he looked to be on the verge of tears.

“HAHAHA, I’m- Hah, I’m, honestly not that sorry, heehee, sorry for that. It’s just that- it’s just that, it was reeeaaallly funny watching you, haha, squirm like that!” Agetes bellowed. It was kinda funny, in a weird way, that he wasn’t sorry for making him squirm, but was sorry for not feeling bad.

Agetes took a deep breath in, and let it out to calm himself. Gods, he was terrible for that, huh? “Hey, I really am sorry for making you feel bad though, honest.”

Stupidly, he took a step forward to try and save his first impression with the, admittedly really beautiful, boy, as if he wasn’t just playing around with him like that.

Ah, here comes the guilt. “I am really sorry for scaring you like that. I promise I’m not that scary.”

The blond boy didn’t look to believe him. His eyes stayed laser focused on Agetes, though his body relaxed a little, but of course that could just be because he was so tensed before that it’s really easy to relax your body after that. He still looked like a deer in headlights though.

Agetes sat down on the ground to try to seem more casual. “My name’s Agetes, by the way. I like your hair clip.” The boy’s blond curls were tied up in a high ponytail, with a butterfly(?) hair clip. One wing was a translucent pink and the other wing was a translucent blue, held together with a green outline, each wing had a long tail that had the opposite color on the tip of it. It was a pretty cool clip.

The blond boy’s red lips quivered instead of answering. Par for the course at this point.

“So, what are you doing this far out in the woods off campus?” Agetes asked, trying to continue the small talk by himself, bringing a hand up to rub his bangs between his fingers.

Instead of paying attention to the question, though, the other RSA student’s eyes became transfixed on that motion. Oh, yeah, fire for hair. Agetes had barely registered the movement, but to this frightened boy, that motion was probably easy to lock onto. Fascinating, even.

“Hm? Oh, this?” Agetes pointed out. The boy with the loose curls made a surprised noise. What, like he’s the only one who can watch the other’s movements? “My hair’s not actually all that hot, at least, not all the time. Wanna touch it?”

The boy seemed a bit shocked at the suggestion, which seemed normal for him by now, but, oh yes Agetes liked that, the other RSA student’s eyes lit up in curiosity alongside his terror.

And so, as not to spook a wild animal, Agetes slowly and steadily made his way over to the grey eyed boy.

Agetes reached out and hovered his own hand over the other’s wrist, a silent ask if he could take it. He and the other boy made eye contact, and after a few seconds, Grey Eyes gave a small nod. And so, Agetes gently took the other’s wrist in his hand and brought it up to his own head, placing it there.

The blond boy let out a small yelp when his fingers touched the flame, which is fair, it’s still fire, and it’s still warm even if it’s not hot, but Agetes could feel the other relax, letting out a long breath of wonder as he started to pat Agetes’ head.

Agetes giggled a bit, which made the other seem to remember that he was patting another person and stopped, yanking his hand away. Agetes couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed, wanting to pull the other’s hand back, but he knew better than that.

“Ah, ah…” The other wanted to say something, his wide eyes fixated on Agetes still. It was getting a bit awkward, so Agetes scooched back a little. The other relaxed, slowly moved to look at his hand. Agetes could see the small whisper of curiosity in his eyes. He liked that look.

“Wh- what are you?” The blond asked. Agetes has to admit, he was a bit caught off guard, both by the question and the bluntness of it coming from this meek boy.

He recovered quickly though, and smiled, “I’m human!”

Now it was Blondie’s turn to be caught off guard. “Are you sure?”

Agetes could barely contain his laugh. “Perfectly!” He grinned.

“I don’t know if I believe that…” He muttered, looking intently at Agetes’ rows of sharp teeth, seemingly unconsciously reaching out a bit. In fact, Agetes doubts that he even meant to say that out loud.

“Well, I would, cause it’s true.” Agetes told him, his grin turning sly.

The other yelped, confirming Agetes’ guess. He started to stutter, trying to rectify his comment.

Agetes giggled to himself, shifting from kneeling to sitting casually. “Don’t worry ‘bout it too much.” He told the blond. “I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it yet, but I’m Agetes, you?” Agetes laid out a hand for the other to take.

He looked at Agetes’ hand for a moment, before taking it, saying. “I-I’m, Lucian.”

Agetes shook Lucian’s hand. “Nice to meet’cha!”

“Ah, yeah, um, you too.” Lucian agreed. He seemed a bit taken a back, which is fair, Agetes hasn’t shaken many hands before either.

“So, what brings you out here?” Agetes asked, letting Lucian’s hand go.

That shocked Lucian out of his calmness. “Oh, oh no! I forgot!” His head whipped around, taking in the surroundings. “No… no…” He brought a knee up, wrapping an arm around it. “Where am I now? Wait!” Lucian looked back to Agetes, dropping his knee and shifting his position. “You heard my voice right? Oh.. I’m so, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean too…”

“What? Your voice? Like I said, it was really beautiful! I don’t mind being charmed or anything. Not like you were hurting me.” Agetes told him.

“No… You heard me! I’m not, I can’t, I-” Lucian started to stutter.

“No, seriously, I’m not mad at all.” Agetes said, dropping his cheer.

“But!” Lucian started.

Agetes grabbed his shoulder, yellow eyes meeting grey. Agetes’ eyes were firm and Lucian’s were growing wet. “Lucian. Stop that. I’m not mad, you don’t have to apologize. You didn’t mean it, and you didn’t hurt me. Not too mention, I heard a beautiful voice, and got to meet someone new. That far outways being charmed or whatever. Okay?” Agetes tacked on, muttering, “And I thought Idy was bad…”

Agetes gingerly removed his hand from Lucian’s shoulder, with him taking deep breaths, calming down.

“I really am sorry.” Lucian said after he was sufficiently calmed down.

“So I’ve heard.” Agetes wouldn’t claim that he meant to say it so snarkily, but he also wouldn’t say he didn’t.

Seeing the way his face contorted at the jab did make Agetes feel a bit bad, so he gave a sheepish smile and said, “Sorry.”

Lucian gave a small shake of his head. “It’s fine…” He muttered quietly.

“Anyway, I don’t think you answered my question, what are you doing out here?” Agetes asked again. “You don’t seem the type to leave campus.”

“We’re off campus? Ough, I should’ve known that by now, but I didn’t want to…” Lucian trailed off.

“Want to admit it?” Agetes offered to finish the other’s sentence.

“Yeah.” Lucian agreed. He looked about ready to break. A few seconds passed before Lucian opened his mouth again. “I… I don’t know, I’m, basically, cursed.” Cursed? Now this is interesting. “Not just the singing, but, there are often times that I just start wandering without even realizing, I completely black out, I’m helpless to stop it.” Tears started to well in the boy’s eyes. He kept them wide open, as if he could force them back in through sheer willpower. “And… And sometimes I start to sing as well, and I don’t know why, but like you said, it charms people. They black out too, they follow me. I can’t stop it…!”

Agetes leaned back and crossed his arms. “And this time you wondered all the way off campus, now that does sound tough. Any idea where this curse came from?”

Lucian shook his head. “The voice was supposed to be a blessing.” He muttered quietly, so quiet that Agetes could barely hear it.

Agetes hummed and said. “I wish I could help you there.” Wondering without being to control it can be very dangerous, he himself knew that there were some places back home that he could never, ever wonder off to, lest he die or get brutally injured. And as for blessing and curses… perhaps he shouldn’t say. “Well, what do you usually do when you get lost?”

“Wait for someone to find me.” Lucian told him, wiping away his quelling tears.

“Wait, so you often draw in animals and stuff right, isn’t animal linguistics a thing? Can’t you just ask them for directions?” Agetes asked. “Or do you not live in an area with a lot of animals?”

A faint brush of pink swept over Lucians face… and his ears as well it looked like. “I’m… not good at it.” He admitted. “But, but my friend who goes to school here with me is! He always comes to find me.”

“I feel like there’s a time and a place for waiting for a rescue…” Agetes said. His eyes trailed up in thought, and, there’s an idea! Turning his attention to his classmate and giving his a grin he asked, “You wanna find the way back on your own?”

“H-Huh? How am I supposed to do that?” Lucian asked, a bit surprised.

Agetes stood up, brushing himself off. “You’re always walking around barefoot, right? Your feet must be really callused if that’s the case, always walking on things like tile or rocks in the ground.”

“U-Uh, I like it! Shoes and socks are stuffy! I’d take a cut or bruise over that anyday!” Lucian said, getting defensive.

“That’s fine!” Agetes told him, starting to stretch. Though that was mainly just for show, he was already pretty sufficiently stretched out. Made him feel better though. “Just wanted to check that you’d be fine with this.”

“With, with what?” Lucian asked. “What are you talking about?”

Agetes held out a hand. “I got turned around thanks to you, and you didn’t even realize you were off campus. It’s time for us to figure the way out on our own!”

Lucian looked between Agetes’ face and his hand, unsure if he wished to take it.

Agetes giggled as he reached out to take the other’s hand pulling him up as Lucian yelped. Agetes pulled Lucian over to one of the surrounding trees that had a few low enough hanging branches.

“The school’s really big, right? Seems like a pretty good landmark to me. Only problem is all these trees are blocking the view, but if we could see above them…” Agetes felt the grin on his face grow more as he left Lucian to finish his thought.

“Above them… You can’t mean?!” Lucian exclaimed, understanding leaking into his voice.

“Oh yes I do!” Agetes said, letting go of the other boy’s hand, rolling his sleeves up and reaching up to grab the branch.

Agetes has had years of reaching things he shouldn’t be able to reach, of getting into places he shouldn’t be able to. Blessings and curses, they’re the same thing really, and Agetes’ height felt like that sometimes. He couldn’t reach things his father and brother easily could, but he could also wiggle himself into tight spaces only his sister could follow.

Agetes pulled himself up, looping his leg up on the branch, finangling his way up into a sitting position on it.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Agetes said, now looking down at Lucian instead of looking up. “I don’t expect you to be able to do that, I’ll help pull you up.”

Lucian took a step back, completely shocked. C’mon, it wasn’t that weird, was it? He opened and closed his mouth a few times, making noises but not words before finally, “You… want me to climb that? Can’t you just do that yourself?”

“Oh please, I saw the way your eyes lit up at the idea of touching my hair! Live a little, would ya?” Agetes told him.

Lucian’s face went from one form of shock to another and he muttered, “No.. I didn’t… I mean…”

“Are you really going to let others take the reins for you like that?” Agetes asked him. His patience for this boy, a year older than him it seemed from the II on the collar of his uniform, was starting to run thin. “You can’t ask the animals for directions, and who the hell knows when your friend will find you, and you plan to just wait it out? Sure, I’m here, but that’s just a coincidence! Are you really saying you’d be willing to stay here for hours, days, if no one finds you? C’mon. Get up here.” He demanded.

Lucian looked like he wanted to say something, but he grit his mouth shut as Agetes climbed onto a higher branch to make room for him.

The other boy was weak, he reeked of rich kid who’s never had to lift a finger in his life. That’s his own problem, honestly, even if you could let others do the work for you, then what do have in this world other than the ability to bribe? But, at the very least, the other boy was trying.

Lucian was lucky that it was Agetes. He’s been pulling stunts like this and worse since he was eight years old, back when he was just stupid. Luckily, Agetes was sixteen now, and competent enough to back up his confidence. Agetes grabbed Lucian’s hand and helped pull him up the way the other’s upper body strength couldn’t.

Agetes could tell how nervous Lucian was. It was probably his first time doing something so daring, and he was already a scaredy cat. A bit sad that his first act was just simply climbing a tree, but everyone has to start somewhere and not everyone can skip the first… oh twenty steps or so before going back to the easier stuff. Good thing probably, now that he thinks about it. Agetes came really fucking close to dying back then.

“Good job. It should be easier now since you don’t have to rely solely on your upper body strength. Now it’s more like a ladder. A very old, very bad, definitely-against-safety-code ladder, but a ladder none the less. Come on, Lucian, let’s go!” Agetes told him.

Lucian was breathing heavily, but, buried deep underneath that terror, Agetes could see it, the faint glimmer of excitement. See? This is why letting others do everything for you is the worst. You can never do or find the things you like!

“O, okay.” Lucian stood up on the branch, steadying himself on the trunk, and started following Agetes up.

“There we go~!” Agetes said aloud to himself, watching the blond behind him making every move Agetes did.

“You okay?” Agetes asked.

“Mhm.” Lucian replied.

“Tell me if you need help.”

“Okay.”

After a little while, they reached the near top.

“Okay, I think this is as far as we can go, any higher and it wouldn’t be able to hold our weights.” Agetes told Lucian.

“Ah, okay.” Lucian responded. Agetes looked around, searching for the white and blue building of his and Lucian’s school.

“Can you see it?” Agetes asked after spotting it himself.

“Uhmm,” Lucian said blinking out of climbing mode and remembering what they came up here for in the first place. “Ah! Over there!”

“Yep! Good job, now all we have to do is climb back down and head in that direction, you think you’ll be good with that?” Agetes asked.

Getting no answer after a moment, Agetes looked over to the other boy and smiled upon seeing the stars glimmering in his eyes.

“Hey, Lucian.” Agetes said, lightly smacking his shoulder.

“Huh? What? Back down? Okay.” Lucian said, his brain rebooting.

“Lucian.”

“Yeah?”

“Good job.”

Lucian stared at Agetes for a bit before his face melted into a smile. “Thanks.”

“Okay, back down now.”

“Right.”

After a few minutes, Lucian shakily let himself down by dangling himself from his arms so that he had just a few inches to drop meanwhile Agetes just jumped down from the branch’s height.

“So, that way, right?” Lucian asked, pointing in the right direction.

“Yep! Let’s go.” It felt a bit weird to have to look up at Lucian again, but oh well.

“I… will say.” Lucian started, trailing behind Agetes.

“Yeah?” Agetes asked.

“I’m a bit worried, my friend is probably out hunting for me, what if he ends up lost in my place?” Lucian asked, literally twiddling his thumbs.

“Oh, good point. Hmm, hey, wait a second, don’t you have a phone? Why not just call him?” Agetes asked.

Lucian pulled out his phone and pressed the on button. “Dead. And even then, technology isn’t always my best friend and it’s not like it’s help in a forest like this.”

“All fair points.” Agetes agreed. “Hey, do you know his phone number? I don’t expect you too, but if you do, then I could call him for you.” He offered.

“I do actually.” Lucian told him. “It’s better to be safe then sorry you know?”

“Perfect! And yeah, I get why that’d be a concern for you.” Agetes said, pulling out his own device as Lucian put his away. “What’s it?”

“It is -” Lucian said, listing out a string of numbers that Agetes dutifully plugged into his phone.

He put the device up to his ear as it rung once… twice… there!

“Hello? Who is this?” Came the voice on the other side of the phone.

“Wassup! I’m Agetes, and I found your blond friend.” Agetes greeted casually.

“LUCIAN-WHO?!” The other confirmed, very non casually.

Agetes pulled the phone away from his ear for a moment in response to the noise. Bit weird to say ‘who’ there, but whatever. He looked over to Lucian and saw that the other boy’s face had dropped in “why would you phrase it like that?!”

“Yep.” Agetes told the other boy on the phone, flashing a toothy smile to the one in front of him. “His phone died so I volunteered to call you.”

Agetes heard a sigh from across the line and he said, “It’s always something with him.”

“I can tell.” Agetes laughed.

“Can you two stay wherever you are? I’ll come find who.” The other boy said. Did he mean I’ll come find ‘you’?

Well, Agetes supposed, no one is truly helpless like that unless the people around them teach them to be.

“Nope.” Agetes said, popping the p. “We’re on our way back right now. You can wait outside the school though, we ended up off campus.”

“Off- are you sure, who?”

“Mmhm! Don’t worry, I’m very trustworthy.” He grinned, he had mixed feelings about his appearance sometimes, but having sharp teeth was fun sometimes, even if the other couldn’t see from across the phone line.

The other was silent for a few moments before asking, “Can who pass the phone to Lucian?”

“Yeah sure.” Agetes said, casually handing it off to the blond. Quieter than before, so not to be heard by the one one the phone, “Who?” he asked.

“It’s a sort of vocal tick.” He responded just a quiet as Agetes’ mouth made an ‘o’ in understanding as Lucian talking to the other on the phone.

“Yes, I’m fine. Yes, we’re on our way back. He… heard my voice, but he said he was fine with it. I know. I know, me too. He was already out here before that though… I think.” Agetes nodded in agreement, he was in fact out here in the woods before hearing Lucian’s siren song. “Yeah, he was. Mhm. Mhm I think. Yeah, we’ll be fine. I’m fine. Yeah. See you soon.”

After the conversation was done Lucian passed Agetes’ phone back to him.

“Thanks.” Lucian said.

“No prob, really.” Agetes told him. A thought crossed his mind and he spent a moment debating on whether to ask or not.

Eh, what the hell, why not, no time to be getting cold feet now.

“Hey, Lucian.” Agetes started.

“Yeah?” Lucian responded.

“Do, you know what your phone number is? I’m pretty good with tech myself, I could help you sometime. Or if you want to something fun like climbing a tree or something again, it’s be nice to be able reach out easily like that.” Agetes said. Was he rambling? It felt a bit like it.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I do! It’s” Lucian rattled out another line of numbers that Agetes saved in his phone as Lucian.

“Cool, I’ll text you later to see if it goes through.” Agetes told him.

“Okay.” Lucian smiled.