*Clack-Clack*

“Hmm…” Muttered a man in a lab coat as his hands ran through a keyboard. He glanced at the side, where a floating blue screen could be seen, displaying an image of the child with black hair and torn clothes resting on an operating table. The scientist’s eyes focused on the dark helmet on the child’s head and then glanced back at the computer screen in-front of him.

“So this is what happened…” He crossed his arms and issued a mental command to pause the video playing on the screen in-front of him.

It had been 10 months in the VR but only one month in the real world. And everytime Lazarus went to sleep, Rex would check his memories. At this point, he already had a clear picture of what happened with Lazarus as well as his circumstances.

“Which memories should I suppress?” Rex rubbed his chin.

-=”Doctor, this action is in violation of the Republic Act 20132–”=-

“Zip it.” Rex spat. “If I don’t do this, Lazarus’ trauma might flare up. If you haven’t noticed, he hasn’t been thinking back about his family ever since he came here. Which is a good thing, mind you.”

-=”Repressing memories is–”=-

“Don’t wanna hear it. And I’m not entirely suppressing his memories. I’m just calibrating how much emotion he feels from them and besides, HE asked for this.”

If Yuna would’ve been a person instead of an A.I. Rex could imagine her eyes widening at this revelation. He smiled and looked at the white ceiling.

“You see, after experiencing all that the earth has to offer. He said he wants to be an Earthling rather than a Valerian. It happened when I was just walking along the beach with him…”

It was as if it was yesterday.

Long golden sands with waves lapping on the shore. The sky was bathed in a faint orange hue from the setting sun. Sultry air was blowing from the east, and two pairs of footprints could be seen on the sand, one small and the other large.

“So how was it?” Rex grinned and looked at Lazarus who was staring at the ocean as they walked. The kid looked back, a childish smile of excitement on his face.

“It was sooo much fun! I’ve only read about the sea in books but I didn’t know you could play and swim around in it!”

“Well, what did your books say about the sea?” Rex asked curiously.

“Uhmm..” Lazarus furrowed his brows, trying to recall the memory. He clenched his fist. “I remember! One of the books said there was a giant leviathan creature that ate overboard passengers from ships!”

“What!?” Rex shouted with widened eyes.

“Like I said, the book–”

“No.No.No… I mean, isn’t that just like a fairy tale or something?”

Lazarus shook his head. “No, it was said that it happened when a ship was sailing from Assail to Kratos. Some people were thrown overboard because of how much the ship rocked, so the others saw a massive creature swallow everyone on the water with one big gulp!”

Rex's face twisted. “As expected of a fantasy world, I guess? Don’t worry, there’s nothing like that here. The ocean is safe most of the time.”

“Earth really is great!”

The two continued to talk as they walked along the shoreline. Most of the topics were about Lazarus' fun experience with the world. Rex was mostly happy to listen. Then silence descended on the two as Lazarus kept on staring at the sunset.

Rex clenched his fist beneath the pocket where he kept his hands. Took a deep breath, and asked.

“Ever plan on going back to your family?”

He felt his guts twist. He shouldn’t have asked this question. Maybe this kid will leave him now. After thousands of years being alone, the last thing he wanted was for Lazarus to leave and it had been eating at his mind every time they separated.

Lazarus looked back to him. Rex felt his guts getting punctured. The child stopped walking and lowered his gaze to the sand. The image of Emilia looking away as he looked at her from the balcony popped inside his mind.

-’They don’t want me there in the first place. They wanted me gone…’- Lazarus thought to himself as he clenched his fist.

“I-... I don’t want to go back... I hate that place…I hate magic…”

A wave of relief washed over Rex. But of course, he didn’t show it and simply turned his back on Lazarus, to prevent him from seeing his nasty grin. Instead he pretended to gaze at the sky. He should look cool from the child’s perspective, he thought.

“That’s fine. Honestly, I’ve had the best fun of my life coz of you kid.”

Lazarus’ eyes widened. Then he smiled. “Me too! Valeria is nothing like Earth! Everything here is so great! I just wished that–...”

Wanting to seal the deal. Rex cleared his throat and forced the Virtual reality to make a strong gust of wind hit him so his coat would flutter coolly.

“Then how about becoming a citizen here?” He glanced back with a head tilt, a subtle smile and slowly turned his body to face the child with widened eyes.

-’Damn I must look so cool to him!’- He mentally grinned.

Rex tensed-up when Lazarus just kept on staring at him. It felt like the longest minutes of the scientist's life before he noticed a tear in the corner of the child’s serene blue eyes.

“R-really? Do you mean it?”

“Urmm yeah, and I was hoping you’d accept.”

“Can I really stay here? I’m not an earthling.”

“Then we’ll make you one. We just need to make it official.” Rex smiled. He knew Lazarus was dealt a bad hand for his entire life in Valeria. Of course he’d make earth look like the best planet around. Actually, it was the best. For Lazarus at least, who was manaless. He was much closer to a human than anyone else in Valeria. And he already kinda liked the kid as is because all of his childish reactions infected him too.

When Lazarus got excited just from seeing a car for the first time, Rex too felt some excitement. And as Rex leafed through Lazarus’ memories he realized that Lazarus was a kind child. It made him furious how for all of his life, he was neglected and ostracized.

He had many reasons for wanting Lazarus to stay and he will make him stay.

Lazarus clenched his fist, tears streaming down his cheeks. Rex’ eyes widened.

“T-thank you… Thank you so much Mr. Rex…” Lazarus sobbed and tried to wipe the tears from his face. Yet it streamed endlessly. “You don’t know how much this *hic* thi-*hic*this means to me..hurkk..!”

Rex just kept on staring. At first he was confused, he knew Lazarus had a bad childhood and was exiled by his beloved mother too. But he never thought he’d cry from just being presented with citizenship for a barren planet.

Lazarus continued to sob. Rex wanted to pat his head, to tell him to stop crying. But the millenia year old scientist couldn’t. He felt like he needed to know why the child was crying, otherwise he had no right to, as strange as that sounded.

The humanity he’d already lost, crept up and told him he needed to understand. To see it through the eyes of the child.

“I-I.. never..huk..–” Lazarus clenched his teeth, it was useless. He couldn’t form any sentences. He buried his face in his arms, forcing the emotions down, just like he always did. Yet, it threatened to burst out.

The scientist’ eyes widened.

-’So that’s it…’-

All this time he wanted to impress Lazarus into staying. Rex realized now that he unknowingly gave him a place where he belonged to. The scientist now understood the weight of his word. He was just being selfish all this time but now he remembered what made humans human.

Rex placed a hand on Lazarus’ head, making the child's emotion burst out all at once.

“Waaaah!!”

“It’s alright… Still,” Rex muttered and knelt down. “In order to become a citizen of earth. You must give up your rights to be a citizen of Valeria.”

Rex's words made Lazarus wail even louder. It meant a lot to him. To give up being a Valerian, a world that didn’t want him in the first place just because he was manaless made it all the better.

Every emotion hit him like a truck and he couldn’t stop.

It took a while but eventually the child calmed down. And they were seated on the sand, just gazing at the sunset.

Lazarus wiped the last of tears and hugged his knees.

Rex was just silent. He realized he cared for this kid more than he thought. He wanted to help him grow, to teach him about science and..

-’Isn’t that like just being a parent?’- Rex scoffed in his mind. First thing was first, he promised Lazarus he’d teach him science but he also needed to socialize. Elementary school was the first step, he could just make a birth certificate and…

“Ohh right, before I make your government files. What would you like your last name to be?” Rex asked, glancing at Lazarus. He wanted to be sure first since Lazarus already mentioned he was Exiled so he was no longer allowed to use his former last name as a ‘Valheart’, at least Lazarus now had the cool chance to make his own up!

“My last name?” Lazarus repeated.

“Yeah, it’s kinda necessary and you could choose your own last name! Do you want something cool like Armstrong? Or the common Alexander? Or maybe you want something from a game like Hellbringer?” Rex grinned and waved his hand in the air as he said, “Lazarus…Hellbringer. Damn that sounds cool!”

Lazarus looked to the sand. Then he looked at Rex.

“What was your last name again?”

Rex was taken aback. “It’s Hargreave. Doctor Rex Hargreave, why?”

Lazarus said nothing and looked away.

“Don’t tell me… you want my last name? You could make even cooler ones, you know?”

“I can’t..? I think Hargreave sounds cool…” Lazarus mumbled. To him, the man who stood atop that battle cruiser as he watched a planet get destroyed was the coolest thing.

Rex was silent for a moment. What was this feeling? It felt like something warm was enveloping his heart. He smiled.

“Yeah, Hargreave is cool.” He agreed. Then he looked to the sky as Lazarus was now looking at him. “So from now on, you are Lazarus Hargreave.”

A gust of wind blew, making the scientist's hair flutter. As he kept his gaze on the fleeting sun, he said,

“Know what?”

“What?” Lazarus turned to look at the sunset, thinking there must’ve been something there.

“I didn’t think someone like me, a millenia old scientist, would believe in fate.”

After achieving everything he wanted to do as a scientist, and then inevitably regretting everything. Rex never thought a day would come when all he wanted to do was support someone and teach them about the world.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Up to now, the sky had been postcard-perfect, but it was changing. The beautiful cocktail-blue shade was beginning to darken into gravel-gray. Large pillows of cloud were forming, blotting out the old-gold color of the sun.

-’Why now..?’- The woman wearing a brown cloak thought to herself as she tore her gaze from the gloomy skies and focused in-front of her. She whipped the reins of her horse forward, and her stead answered her with a neigh and widened its stride.

A powerful gust of wind blew. The woman squinted her eyes as the force abruptly pulled back the hood that hid her face.

Her black unkempt hair fluttered in the wind, some, partially sticking to her face. The large dark circle beneath her eyes told of her lack of sleep, yet her heart pounded with anxiety.

Left and right, she looked and scanned the surroundings. She couldn’t find what she was looking for and felt a prickle in her chest. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy…

A patter on her cloak made her look at her shoulder. Her eyes widened and she looked up only to find small droplets of water were starting to fall and giving a cold liquid touch to her cheeks.

“N-no.. please, not now. I beg of you…” She pleaded.

Without a care for her pleas, the darkened clouds rumbled and blew. The pattering grew louder and faster. Emilia clenched her teeth and whipped the reins forward. She needed to find her beloved son no matter the cost.

The image of the pleading look her child gave her as he was taken away by the wagon surfaced in her mind.

Her chest tightened. It felt like knives were digging to her chest with every breath she took as she could see herself in the balcony looking away like a coward. Her child needed her, and yet she chose to turn her head.

“I’m sorry, Lazarus… please be safe…” Emilia muttered a wish from the bottom of her heart as she clenched the reins of her stead.

Was this her punishment for not choosing him? Was it wrong to choose her Reisha over Lazarus? She never meant for any of this to happen. She had wanted to visit him every week and let him know she loved him still, yet now, she’ll never be able to say those words to him. She’ll never see him grow up and become a man.

Oh how she would give up anything to see that childish smile of his once more. Yet, reality brought her back when she heard the hooves splash against the puddle.

It was cold, her body was heavy and sluggish and she could barely see properly from her blurry vision. Still, Emilia wanted to find him, to make sure he was alright. To hell with the exile. To hell with the disease. All that mattered to her was for Lazarus to be back in her arms.

-’If only I’d never agreed to his exile…’-

-‘This is my fault…’-

-’I’ll never see him again…’-

Dark thoughts swirled in her mind. The rain grew stronger and it turned to a downpour. Still, as stupid as it seemed, Emilia whipped the reins forward. No matter what, she had to find him. She had to see him.

What she didn’t know was that the child she sought after, would never choose to go back. And if given a choice, the child would’ve chosen to get eaten by the wolves again if it meant meeting the scientist.

Two hooded figures were watching Emilia from the top of a hill hidden behind some rocks.

“It looks like lady Emilia isn’t gonna stop anytime soon.” One of the figures muttered with a sigh.

“Well, it looks like we have no choice. I’m already wet from this damn rain.”

The two glanced at each other and nodded.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sounds of shoes scuffling, children whispering, papers crackling, books slamming, chairs scraping, and students laughing could be heard. As soon as a woman, looking to be in her late forties with square framed glasses, walked in, the students scurried and hurriedly went back to their seats.

The woman stood in-front of the black board, straightened her back and said,

“Good morning class.”

“Goood mooorning misses Elza” The students said in unison. Satisfied, the teacher smiled and cleared her throat.

“Today, we have a new transfer student.” Elza glanced at the door and said, “Please, come in.”

The door clicked open, and a child, around the age of nine walked-in. He had pitch black hair, sky blue eyes and was wearing small pants with a white polo shirt and a leather backpack on his back.

Elza walked over to the child and patted his back. “Please, introduce yourself to the class.”

The child looked warily at everyone of the students, gulped and opened his mouth.

“I-I’m Lazarus Hargeave. Son of doctor Rex Hargreave. N-nice to meet you all.”

The students began murmuring, making Lazarus gulp. Then one of the students raised a hand, Lazarus turned his eyes to a girl with silver white hair tied to a ponytail, her eyes a deep crimson red. Her rounded face and sharp cat-like eyes made for a very cute look. No doubt she’d grow up to be a beauty.

The silver haired girl stood up and smiled.

“I’m Sena! Nice to meet you.”

The teacher smiled and opened a palm to Sena who kept an even smile while focusing her gaze on Lazarus.

“Sena here is our class representative, please consult her if you have any questions.”

Lazarus felt an ache in his stomach for some reason.

-’This hurdle is too high for me…’- He thought to himself, gulping air as he forced a smile.

“O-okay.” Lazarus replied.

The silver haired girl's smile grew wider, seemingly finding his reaction a bit cute and amusing.

And thus, started the new life of the Former Prince in the only place that accepted him.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------