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Roughly seven years, huh?
Till was used to situations that weren't...ideal. Most of his life hadn't been ideal. His looks and temper didn't endear him to the aliens. His love of singing had gotten him into Alien Stage, which, despite the fame, glamour, and music, was still a death game. After Alien Stage came the rebellion, and if everything went perfectly on one of his missions, something was wrong.
Luka showing up at the museum with a kid counted as not ideal. Especially since Till had to take them back to HQ on a motorbike without helmets. This ride was not built for children the size that Luka carried around, but it would have to do.
Seven years.
Luka hadn't changed much, physically. He still had flawless pale skin, the same golden curls that spilled into his eyes, the same cold, blue-tipped fingers. He even had the same placid little smile. The same grace. The same blindingly white clothing that was worth more money than Till would ever see in one place again.
The absolute exhaustion in his golden eyes was new. So was the occasional tremor that ran through his body.
When Till had prepared for his final round of Alien Stage with Luka, the man still had light in his eyes. His smile had been placid, but there were hints of excitement in it. He had been quiet, but he had come over to Till with curiosity that fit a child better than the adult that Till logically knew that Luka was.
Cold fingers tapped Till's nose and he glared at their owner.
Ivan's laugh had been throaty and rough. A wild thing, just like Ivan. Mizi's laugh had been feverish giggling, uncontrollable and bouncy. Sua's was soft most of the time, but it became a cackle when she was caught off guard.
Luka's laugh sounded like bells. Perfect. Polite.
"You do have fight left in you. Good."
Till stared at the man that Mizi had repeatedly punched in the face and wondered if he was Ivan levels of insane.
Today, Luka choked on the ugliest laugh that Till had ever heard. He was pretty sure that it was because it had escaped Luka's mouth without permission. Today, Luka approached Till because Till prompted him to do so. He blinked in brief confusion when he saw that it was Till under the guard helmet, but he hadn't turned back.
He had hesitated at the bike. For good reason. It was still alarmingly easy to convince him to get on it with the kid.
The kid looked as bewildered as Till felt. Which was valid. The poor guy had probably never seen a motorcycle.
Now, cold fingers dug into Till's shoulders and tiny fingers dug into his back. Luka had buried his face in Till's back and was curled protectively around the kid, as per Till's instructions.
"Luaaaaaaa!" the kid yelled after a particularly sharp turn. It sounded like a complaint.
"We're going to be fine." Luka's words were barely audible over the wind. "Just hold on."
"We're gonna be fine," Till agreed.
"Fine," the kid repeated, frustration clear in his voice.
Luka's fingers dug into Till's shoulders a little more sharply and Till hissed. "Luka, please."
The fingers loosened by a tiny margin.
They kept zipping through alleyways until they came to the edge of the city. Then they were out of the streets, the wind howling around them.
The kid yelled something incomprehensible and Luka shushed him again. The older man's breathing was starting to grow ragged in a way that Till did not like.
"Give me like five more minutes, guys. Five more minutes."
Luka mumbled in response. His grip had tightened again. The kid's hands weren't on Till's back anymore. It felt like he had turned around.
The rest of the ride was quiet. Till zoomed down into the prepared tunnels and through the winding labyrinth he knew like the back of his hand.
He cut into the dead end he had discussed with Isaac and slowed to a stop.
Luka was wheezing into Till's back now, his whole body shaking. The kid was babbling "Lua, Lua," over and over. He sounded frantic.
"Crap." Till bit his lip. "Okay. You can get off, it's safe here. Kid, stay on for a sec. Let Luka get off first."
Luka's grip loosened, and then it was gone. He stumbled off of the motorcycle and slumped against the wall. He looked paler than usual, and his breathing was still ragged. He fumbled with the fancy pouch at his waist.
The kid jumped off and scampered over to Luka. "No fall! No!"
Luka took out a small...device? An inhaler. He put it to his mouth and took a deep breath in. He reached down to tousle the kid's hair at the same time.
That seemed to reassure the kid, at least. He stared up at Luka while the man's breathing began to even out.
Till removed his helmet and eyed the two of them. "You need anything else or do you have this handled, Luka?"
Luka blinked at Till, but was clearly distracted by the kid trying to climb him. He sat down and let the kid clamber into his lap. He closed his eyes and continued to breathe deeply.
The kid pressed his hands to Luka's chest. There were tears in his eyes now.
Till ran a hand through his hair. "...You're good?"
Luka nodded. His shaking had died down too, so Till believed him.
"Okay. Cool. Isaac will be here with the transport soon. He knows you've got a kid with you. We don't want to take him all the way back to HQ on the bike."
Luka glanced at the bike then back at Till. "...No," he agreed after a moment.
Till winced. He knew that tone. He had used it a lot while his throat was healing. Luka was trying to convince his vocal cords that they worked.
"Isaac." Luka stared off into space for a moment, and then blinked and looked down at the kid. "You're going to ride with Isaac, little love. It will be new."
"No new!" the kid cried.
Luka pressed a finger to the kid's lips. "The segyein do not like it when children wail," he murmured.
"Isaac isn't a segyein," Till told them. "But, yeah. I know this is a lot, but..." He looked up at Luka. "What's his name?"
Luka and the kid both stared at him. They looked at each other. Then back at him.
Till squinted at them. "What?"
"Justice," Luka replied. "His name is Justice." He looked at the kid. "Your name is Justice, little love."
"Why do you sound like you came up with that on the spot?"
Indignation flickered across Luka's face. "I've been thinking about it. It wasn't on the spot."
"He's...five?"
Luka looked down at the kid, who just looked confused now. He wiped the tears off of Justice's cheeks. "He was supposed to have my name. He's not me anymore, though. He will never be me. He is Justice now."
Something in Till's stomach clenched. He stared at the kid and it suddenly hit him how alike Justice and Luka looked. "...Oh."
The rumble of an engine caught all of their attention. Justice hid his face in Luka's chest, and Till moved in between them and the entrance.
He took his hand off of his gun when he saw Dewey wave at him from the passenger seat. Good. He hated using the damn weapon and the two behind him had gone through enough stress today. The ride back was still probably going to be stressful for them.
Isaac parked the car a few feet away from them, and Till moved so that they could see Luka and Justice.
Dewey whistled when he got out. "That guy is tiny. Damn, Till. How many impossible things are ya gonna do in your life?"
"We'll find out when I actually run into something impossible, Dewey," Till replied. He glanced at the back of the car and saw all five of the kids huddled together there. The one with Mizi's hair and Ivan's eyes perked up upon seeing him, and he gave her a small nod and smile. "Glad you got 'em all."
"Wasn't hard," Isaac commented. "You saw how effective a distraction Luka was."
Till glanced back at Luka. The older man's face was neutral. He carefully pulled himself to his feet, keeping Justice in his arms.
An awkward silence fell. Till gestured for Luka to come closer. "C'mon. This is Dewey and Isaac. They're the ones who saved me, uh...back then. They're good at getting people out of bad situations."
"Hyuna's friends." Luka gave a small, curt nod as he approached the car. "I remember."
Till's eyes widened. The former rebellion leader's name fell out of Luka's mouth like he'd had it on his tongue for years.
Isaac looked at the kid in Luka's arms and gave a small nod in return. "I'm sure Till told you, but I'll go over it again. We're gonna have to split. You and Till will ride back to base on the motorcycle. We'll take the kid. He'll be safer in the backseat with the others."
"He's fragile," Luka warned in a stiff tone.
One of the kids stood up. The Sua look-alike. She stared at Justice and Luka with big golden eyes.
Luka's expression softened and he crossed the rest of the distance to the car. Dewey opened the door for him.
"No," Justice whined. He clung to Luka's expensive white shirt. "No, Lua. No. No new!"
"I know." A hint of stress entered Luka's voice. He took a deep breath before he took a step back from the car and adjusted his hold on Justice. "I know today has been a lot, little love, but they will not hurt us if we do not make things difficult for them."
"Nooo!" Justice wailed. He began to sob.
"Justice, bud." Till came over. "You'll see Luka once we're back to base, okay? It's not safe out here."
"Can I hold him?"
The soft voice startled everyone present. Luka's eyes went wide as saucers as he stared at the boy who had squirmed to the front of the group of kids. He was the tallest of the group, the one with dark brown hair. He held his hands out, his teal eyes hopeful. "I'll be careful, I promise."
Justice looked at the kid, and then at the hopeful looking kid right behind him that had Luka's hair. He clung to Luka a little tighter.
"It will be okay," Luka murmured again. His expression was completely blank. "You'll see me once the ride is over. It won't even be days. It will be tonight."
Justice continued to cry, but he let go of Luka's shirt. Luka handed him to the dark-haired boy who had asked for him, and the children all piled back into the car.
"Alright. We'll see you back at base, Till," Isaac told him. "Stay safe out there."
"We will," Till promised. He fist-bumped Dewey when the guy offered it, then stepped out of the way so that they could get themselves situated.
He and Luka watched the car drive away. Till turned towards Luka when they were gone.
This place couldn't be more different than the dressing room underneath the stage. Luka had looked like a part of the environment there, surrounded by fabric and mirrors. He had swayed through the room to a beat Till couldn't hear.
Luka looked like a ghost in the dust and grime of the underground tunnels. The only glow came from the fact that he was so pale. He looked like a flickering flashlight rather than a beacon.
Till reached out and clasped his shoulder. Luka looked down at his hand. This close, Till could see the dark circles under his eyes that his makeup and bangs were trying to hide.
"...You look kinda awful, dude."
Luka arched an eyebrow. "Do you always open conversations this way?"
"When I'm worried, yeah." Till huffed and took his hand back. "It's been a long time, Luka."
"I thought you were dead." Luka raised a hand and touched Till's neck. Till flinched away from his cold fingers--they had found the scars despite the fact that his neck was completely covered. Luka drew his hand back. "...Mizi thought you were dead."
"Yeah, uh, she...knows I'm not dead. I was unconscious for everything after the performance."
Luka tilted his head. "Is Mizi with Hyuna's friends again?"
Till winced. "No. We haven't been able to find her yet."
Luka closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He sighed it back out. "...I suppose this is...more of a plan than I had when I first left the house with Justice."
Till blinked. There was a lot going on with that sentence. He went with his first theory, the best one. "You weren't planning on going back?"
"No. I wasn't. My..." Luka paused, his brow furrowing. He still hadn't opened his eyes. "There was an accident. The segyein get violent when they discover that one of their own is dead."
Oh, they most certainly did.
"You don't want to be found by the segyein, then."
"No." Luka opened his eyes. "Will that be a problem?"
"No, honestly, that's perfect. We can take care of you and Justice. It's gonna be a different sort of lifestyle than you're used to, but if you've got no reason to go back to the segyein, I..." Till fumbled. He couldn't make specific promises until he talked to Isaac. "This'll work," is what he settled on.
Luka looked up at him again. He glanced at the motorcycle. "...I am in your hands, then."
Till's breath caught for a second. He quickly put his helmet back on. "Hold on tight, but...not too tightly? Please?"
Luka's eyes narrowed. "No promises."
Till sighed but didn't try to argue further. Luka did not seem like the sort of person who had any experience with a motorbike. His nerves were understandable.
They rode back to HQ in silence. Luka's grip, despite his noncommittal answer to Till's request, wasn't painful this time.
That conscious decision to not hurt Till smoothed away the last of his reservations with bringing Luka back to base. He had been right. This would work. It wasn't ideal, but it would work.