The Light Of Hope (L)

"Are you finally awake? Didn't I tell you that it was a bad idea to touch those things?" Bethany asked as Lukas got out of bed. He didn't respond... he was just thinking about what he had seen. Bethany calmed down before she realised that Lukas could have seen something that is haunting his mind. "What happened in that vision? I can't see what you're thinking." Bethany questioned Lukas as she was hoping to find out what had happened. "I don't know what these visions are anymore. There were those same two people that were in the last one... but there was a girl who they knew... she was killed by somebody. It was horrifying." Lukas explained in a dead tone. "You have seen people die before, right? What was so different about this one?" Beth inquired as she was genuinely curious by that point. "I don't know. She was just different... it felt worse than when I watched Chara die. I didn't think that it was possible for me to see anybody else die and say that I felt worse than when I watched Chara die... but here we are." Lukas admitted as his emotions seemed to be returning.

"It was that bad? It was seriously worse than Chara's death?" Bethany asked as she thought that Lukas wouldn't be able to experience anything worse. "We need to check on that Universe, right? So we should get going then." Lukas simply stated as he slowly walked towards the door to his room. "Wait! That's it? You don't need to talk about it or anything?" Beth questioned Lukas as she was really concerned for him. "Talking about it won't make it any better... so I'm going to do something about it." Lukas explained as he opened the door and stepped out of the room. "What exactly do you plan to do about this problem?" Bethany demanded an answer but Lukas just ignored her and started walking in a seemingly random direction.

Lukas continued walking in the same direction whilst ignoring all of Beth's attempts to communicate with him before he saw Signus watching him from down a hallway... Lukas approached Signus without a second thought. "What is it, Lukas? You do not seem to be acting like yourself today." Signus stated as Lukas looked up at him. "Be honest Signus, you do not care, you're just asking that so I feel safer around you so I'll eventually just do whatever you ask me to." Lukas replied without thinking too much about his words. "Fine. If being nice to you won't help, then I'll just say what I originally wanted to then. My kin are getting tired of you doing all of these meaningless tasks and if they get bored, you do not want to know what will become of this place." Signus explained as he was finished with being kind already. "I don't care Signus. I don't care whether Dark Matter will destroy everything in this Multiverse or not. I would try to kill you right here and now... but I have something to be doing... good day." Lukas answered back as he started walking away. "Fool." Signus stated as he watched Lukas leave.

"Lukas! You shouldn't talk to Signus like that! He could kill you whenever he feels like it!" Bethany exclaimed as she was worried. Lukas once again ignored Bethany as he looked down the halls to see practically nobody in sight... he did look over to his right a second time to see a man wearing all black clothes that looked like what a ninja would wear. "Bethany... who is that guy over there?" Lukas asked as he stared at the man with a mixture of confusion and rage upon his face. "You're going to listen now, are you? Fine... that would be the final assassin that I mentioned earlier. He's the guy that I wasn't allowed to tell you the name of." Bethany replied as she was getting tired of Lukas choosing when to listen to her. Lukas stared at the man as his anger built before the man looked back before putting a finger over his own mouth. "I'm gonna kill him." Lukas stated as he walked towards the man. "What was that?" Bethany inquired as Lukas started running. "I said that I'm going to fucking kill him!" Lukas yelled as he summoned his weapons and swung at the assassin before they blocked with the attack with their own blade.

"Why the hell are you here?" Lukas demanded as he stared the assassin in the eye. "I have my orders, Lukas. You are to be observed and if you are told anything that will interfere with my master's plans, then I will be forced to kill you." The assassin explained as Lukas' weapons started melting. Lukas jumped back as his weapons had almost completely melted before looking back at his opponent. "What the hell was that?" Lukas asked the assassin as he summoned his weapons again but they appeared fine. "Wulfrum is what that is. Wulfrum is an incredible metal that was created by Draedon. It has the ability to melt most other metals and it also drains beings of their powers so long as it is near an open wound." The assassin told Lukas as they sheathed their sword again. "Are you telling me... that killing Chara... that was all a part of your master's plan?" Lukas questioned the assassin as he was getting visibly angry. "Indeed it was... there is no need for violence, Lukas. I'm willing to answer any questions that you may have if that will help me atone for what I did to you and your loved ones." The assassin answered as they were clearly just trying to calm Lukas down so that he can get back on track with the mission that they need him for.

"I... don't have time to deal with you... but I do have one question that I would like you to answer." Lukas spoke as he made his weapons disappear. "What would this question be?" The assassin calmly asked. "Who is the one that you call "Master"? What is their identity?" Lukas questioned as he tried calming himself down. "I cannot say much about that without being executed... but there is one thing that I can say; Tyrant." The assassin answered to try and calm Lukas. "Tyrant? Do you mean... the Tyrant?" Lukas asked as he was shocked by the assassin's response. "I cannot confirm nor deny that." The assassin admitted before walking away. "If... he's not lying about this, then... I... the Tyrant... why does he want to do this to me? What possible interest could he have in me?" Lukas asked himself as he walked back to continue what he was doing. "What was that guy thinking? He's going to get himself killed!" Bethany thought to herself but thanks to Lukas having access to the Eye's powers, he was able to hear her.

Lukas ignored what Bethany had just said as he continued onto what he wanted to do. "What exactly is so important to the point where you would stop talking to somebody who would tell you anything?" Bethany asked as she couldn't understand Lukas' logic. "I'm going to do my job as a Protector. I need to check up on that Universe that Dream showed me." Lukas replied as he started floating up and over the wall around the Sanctuary. "What about Michael? What if he sees you?" Bethany questioned as her main priority was to keep Lukas' powers a secret. "You haven't told me the reason why we can't let Michael know about me. I'm not going to listen to you unless if I see a logical reason to do so." Lukas answered as he was preparing to head out. "I haven't told you anything because the assassins would kill me if I did!" Bethany explained as Lukas shot off towards the Universe.

"I'm sorry if I sound like I'm angry at you, Bethany. That vision that I saw is just really bothering me... the girl that I saw die... I don't remember her but I get the feeling that I know her and that really bothers me. I just need to get my mind off of it... because I can't exactly talk about it if I have no idea what is happening." Lukas explained to try and apologise to Beth. "Don't worry about me... I know that you just need time but I can't help it... I worry about you when I know that something is bothering you. It feels like I'm raising my own kid so I just can't help but worry about you." Bethany replied to reassure Lukas. "It's a bit creepy if you phrase it like that." Lukas admitted as he looked back at Bethany. "Well... I figured I shouldn't hide the truth from you... so there you go... that's how I feel. You can think of my opinion however you want... I don't mind." Bethany stated without thinking much about her response. Lukas slowed down as he approached the universe before he saw a familiar looking swordsman floating next to it.

"Oh my god. Please tell me that the guy that's over there isn't the same one that we saw in the library!" Lukas thought as he remembered the emotions that the swordsman's presence made him feel. "It definitely looks like the same guy, please don't talk to him... I really don't like feeling those emotions." Bethany begged as she tried her best to not look at the strange creature. "We have to go to him. If he's a Destroyer then we've got to protect that Universe!" Lukas spoke confidently as he rushed towards the swordsman. "Hey you there! What are you doing here?" Lukas yelled at the swordsman who didn't turn away from the Universe. When Lukas got close to the creature, he realised that he wasn't feeling any sort of negativity. "Hello? Did you hear me?" Lukas asked as he looked at the face of the strange swordsman. "Lukas. I didn't expect you to arrive for another hour." The being said as it was quite surprised. "You were waiting for me? You're speaking normally too." Lukas spoke in surprise.

"Indeed, I have managed to figure out how to speak your language with relative ease. I have also found a way to contain my negativity and prevent it from leaking onto others." The swordsman explained with it's hoarse voice having unchanged from the last time that Lukas had heard it. "You seem to learn incredibly fast, it has only been a few days since I last met you. Do you have a name?" Lukas asked as he seemed to be fine with talking to the creature now. "You may call me Zero. I trust that you'll remember that name." The swordsman replied. "Okay then, Zero. What are you doing here? Only Protectors are supposed to know about this Universe." Lukas stated as he stared at the Universe which had remained dark just like Dream said it would. "I sensed hope within this Universe. I was hoping that I could have kept some of it for myself." Zero explained itself as it continued to stare at the Universe. "What do you mean? How can you keep some hope for yourself?" Lukas questioned Zero as it did not break its line of site with the Universe.

You're so lucky, Lukas. You're lucky to be entrusted with a Universe that is so full of hope. So much hope that you can just keep to yourself and not share with anybody... like your kind always has." Zero stated as it seemed to be suddenly enraged. "What does that mean?" Lukas asked as he started slowly backing away from Zero. "Please forget about me, Lukas. Forget about me until I show up again. Do not dare to think about me or my kind nor my brother Signus. One day, we will arrive to destroy this Multiverse... but until then, forget about us." Zero demanded as it slowly floated away. "Your brother... Signus? So you're Dark Matter?" Lukas inquired only to get no response. As soon as Lukas blinked, Zero had disappeared from sight. "Okay... he may have contained his negative emotions so nobody else would feel them but that doesn't mean that I like him now. Now that I know what that thing is, it only makes me hate it more!" Bethany admitted as she tried her best to forget about Zero like they requested.

"You know what? I've learnt to just disregard anything that I don't understand. I'll ask Zero the next time I see them if they are Dark Matter and if they say yes, then I'm going to have to destroy them. The Dark Matter is too dangerous to be left alive." Lukas explained as he turned back to the Universe. "Good idea. So how about for now, we get the Messiah through this Universes troubles?" Bethany suggested as she seemed to already have forgotten about Zero. Lukas nodded as he reached out to touch the giant floating sphere in front of him as it suddenly lit up. "So what now? I've never done this before." Lukas asked as he was slightly excited. "Just walk into it, the Universe may be surrounded by Dark Matter but your powers should protect you from it." Bethany explained as Lukas started following her instructions. Suddenly, Lukas' vision was filled with a multitude of colours that disorientated him and amazed him at the same time.

After a few seconds of the colours passing through Lukas' mind, everything got dark. Suddenly, Lukas saw a light off in the distance and he decided to follow it as he saw nothing else around him. "There it is! That's the Messiah!" Bethany exclaimed as Lukas got closer. "Can we get there faster?" Lukas asked as he was already tired of travelling. "Yeah there is... I didn't tell you how to teleport did I?" Bethany questioned Lukas as she began thinking to herself. "No you didn't... would you mind telling me?" Lukas requested as he slowed down. "Okay... it's a bit complicated so pay attention! The first thing you want to do is-" Bethany was saying before Lukas cut her off. "I've done it." Lukas stated as he suddenly zapped to another location. "W-what? How did you do that?" Bethany asked in disbelief. "I just... tried to do it. It was rather easy actually." Lukas explained as he looked around to find himself in a dimly lit room with somebody sleeping in a bed.

"Is that the Messiah?" Lukas asked as he looked at them. "I believe so. Your job is to help them on this adventure of theirs... so I guess your first task would be to wake them up." Bethany suggested as Lukas walked over to the sleeping person. "Hey. Wake up. Hey!" Lukas yelled at the Messiah as their eyes opened up and light beamed out of them. After looking around a bit and yawning, the Messiah got out of bed and looked around the room with a fearful expression. "W-where am I? What is this place?" They asked as they looked around the room in confusion. Lukas got a good look at the Messiah; they were wearing a long brown shirt and blue trousers... however the shirt was so long that Lukas couldn't even see the top of the trousers. They were wearing a hat that seemed to have large cat ears on the sides of it... the Messiah had short blue hair, two blue scarfs and their eyes were big and yellow like those of a cat. Strangely enough, the Messiah looked at Lukas multiple times but they didn't seem to take any notice of him.

"Hey, calm down. I'm here to help you." Lukas spoke as the Messiah suddenly froze. "Huh? Who are you? Where are you?" The Messiah asked as they frantically looked around the room. "My name is Lukas, I don't think that you can see me but just know that I am here." Lukas explained to them. "Okay... Lukas... right. Why am I here?" The Messiah questioned Lukas as they started trying to calm down. "I don't know why you're here but I'm here to try and help you. Can you tell me your name first? That would really help me out." Lukas replied as he was just trying to gather as much information as possible. "Okay... my name is Niko." The Messiah answered as they just focused on the conversation that they were having with Lukas. "Okay then, Niko. I'm going to be honest when I say that I don't have much of an idea of what is going on here either... but I will help you with whatever I can." Lukas said as he thought that being honest would help Niko calm down.

"If you have any questions, I'm willing to answer them if I can." Lukas explained as Niko seemed to have almost completely calmed down. "Well... you don't know what's happening. I guess... I can only really ask one thing. Do you know where I am?" Niko asked as they started taking a calmer look around the room. "Well it looks like a house to me. Jokes aside... I don't know the answer to that question either. I guess you and I have about the same type of knowledge about this place." Lukas replied. "I guess so... shall I try and leave here? I don't know if it's safe outside." Niko explained as they walked towards the door. "I'll be here, experiencing alongside you. Just remember that you're not alone when you're experiencing this." Lukas reassured Niko as they reached for the door handle.

The door creaked as it slowly opened and Niko peaked outside of the room to find what seemed to be a living room. The living room was strange; some of the floorboards seemed intentionally broken, there was a TV with its monitor smashed, there was a sofa that seemed to be ripped by claws and even though all of this was strange... there was one thing that confused Lukas the most which was the fact that there was a bed in the corner of this room that seemed completely untouched. "It is kind of spooky out here." Niko stated as they slowly looked around the room. "I completely agree with you... this all seems so strange. Let's just try and find a way out of here." Lukas suggested as most of his curiosity was revolving around the untouched bed in the corner... it seemed so familiar to him but he could not remember where he had seen it from. "At least I can see perfectly fine. I've heard about people who can't see well in dark places." Niko spoke as they tried to focus on the positive side of what was happening. "Yeah... I was wondering about your eyes. They seem to produce their own light." Lukas thought out loud. "Wait... your eyes don't do that? That must be so weird... how can you navigate in the dark?" Niko questioned Lukas as they were just trying to distract themselves.

"Are you saying that it is completely natural for people to have glowing eyes where you're from?" Lukas asked as this sudden information was confusing him. "Yeah it's natural. I can't imagine having a life without these eyes. So how do you see in the dark if your eyes don't light the way for you?" Niko responded with another question. "Where I'm from, we normally use these tools where you just flick a switch and they emit light. I suppose that if you have glowing eyes then there would be no need for lamps or flashlights or anything like that." Lukas explained as he felt like he was slowly starting to understand Niko's world. "That sounds cool! You just flick a switch and it does stuff automatically for you? You could probably do anything with a tool like that!" Niko exclaimed enthusiastically. "You really could do pretty much anything with it though. If you just followed the steps and had the right materials and wires to build it with, you could make a simple switch do pretty much anything." Lukas replied as he was enjoying Niko's enthusiasm. "You're saying so many words that I don't even understand! You've got to explain this all to me at some point!" Niko requested with joy. "I'll try my best to explain it... some other time." Lukas agreed as he felt like all of his problems just melted away.

"This is probably what Zero meant when they were talking about the amount of hope that is contained within this Universe... this one kid is making me feel like I can do anything." Lukas thought just so that Bethany could understand what he was feeling. "You get to be around this kid for most of your time as a Protector. I wish I could talk to them so they could help me reduce some of my stress! You're so lucky!" Bethany jokingly replied. "Warning: possibly destructive signal approaching!" Lukas' watch yelled as it started flashing red. "What was that?" Niko asked as they jumped. "Sorry about that, Niko! Could you just give me a minute or two? I'll be back soon, I promise!" Lukas apologised and teleported away before he could even hear Niko's response. "Why the hell did this have to happen today?" Lukas rhetorically asked himself as he exited the Universe. He looked around for a bit before he spotted a strange looking figure that appeared to be twice his size... they were wearing purple clothes and they appeared to have multiple white lines across their body which formed the shape of an X multiple times on their back and on their chest. Their body also appeared to be melting.

"Hey! You there! State your name!" Lukas yelled as he summoned his weapons. "My name? Very well then. I believe that you people refer to beings like me as Gaster." The being spoke in a voice that surprisingly seemed fine despite the state of the body that spoke it. "What are you doing here, Gaster? I have my orders to eliminate anybody who tampers with a Universe without permission." Lukas explained as he approached Gaster. "I understand... but I don't care. My System is broken and I need more power to be able to fix it. I will not let anybody stand in my way." Gaster replied as he reached out towards the Universe. "If you get any closer to this Universe then I will be forced to resort to violence!" Lukas stated only to be ignored as Gaster continued to approach the Universe. Without a second thought, Lukas lashed out at Gaster and with a single slash, Gaster's body was split in two... interestingly, there was no blood that came from his body. "Your attempts to destroy me are both laughable and irritating." Gaster said with a sigh as the bottom half of his body that Lukas had cut off began to reform with his other half.

"Honestly, beings with powers like yours don't surprise me anymore. I've learnt that anything can happen out here and I just accept that fact now." Lukas explained as his shocked expression almost immediately faded. "Although I am not able to fight back, I will still attempt to reach that Universe. The power that is contained within may be able to preserve my life for a few days longer." Gaster stated as he ignored what Lukas had just said. "How am I going to be able to kill this thing?" Lukas asked himself in his head. "I've never seen anything like this guy before... I have no idea how we'll be able to kill him." Bethany replied as she seemed slightly worried. Suddenly, a sudden bright light covered Gaster before a human appeared in front of Lukas. Lukas looked at the man in confusion before he summoned what seemed to be an umbrella before pointing it at Gaster as he was bombarded with energy blasts... once everything was gone and Lukas could see again, Gaster was gone. "W-what just happened?" Lukas questioned everything that he had just witnessed. "I dealt with him... that's what happened." The man replied as he turned around and Lukas saw his face.

He looked incredibly average for a guy who had just obliterated a seemingly indestructible being. His eyes were glowing a light blue colour and he seemed to be wearing some sort of white jacket and black trousers. His hair was black whilst the tips of his hair were light blue, just like his eyes. "Who are you?" Lukas asked with a mix of confusion and fear on his face. "Eanaro. You do not need to introduce yourself, Lukas. My brother has been incredibly... how should I put this... obsessed with tracking you down." The man answered as he seemed to look around for any other possible threats. "What happened to Gaster?" Lukas questioned Eanaro as he was more focused on trying to comprehend what had just transpired. "He's still alive... sadly. I can't completely destroy him, all I can do is slow him down until his existence expires due to him lacking a System. I'll let you ask one more question." Eanaro explained relatively quickly. Lukas was processing all of this information that was being explained to him incredibly fast before he responded.

"What is this System that you're talking about? I heard Gaster mention it too but I have no idea what it means." Lukas asked for his final question. "I'll try and explain this quickly, the System is a thing that all living beings are connected to, it keeps their very existence alive. Normal beings all share one System that can contain all of their powers however beings like me and Gaster have too much power for this massive System to contain. Gaster and I were created with our own separate Systems so that we could wield all of this power and still survive just fine... there is a downside to this. Whilst our Systems are bigger than the average System, they are also incredibly fragile... Gaster didn't know this so he used a lot of his power and his System ended up breaking. Now Gaster's body is slowly melting as he no longer has a System that can give him a physical form and eventually, he will fade from reality." Eanaro explained incredibly quickly. "I... think I got all of that information... I just need some time to process it all." Lukas stated as he held his head. "Well I have something that I must be doing so I will have to bid you farewell for today." Eanaro said as he started floating off into the distance.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Lukas asked as he tried to catch up with Eanaro. "Fine, this is the last question that you will get an answer to for now. I'm in a bit of a hurry because I have a job to do and if I don't do it, the entire Multiverse will most likely collapse. You should also be heading back soon, Michael is about to start his missions for the day and you really need some rest. With that, I bid you farewell but do not worry, Lukas. We will meet again... hopefully when I'm not in a rush to keep the entire Multiverse intact." Eanaro casually mentioned as he quickly headed off into the distance. Lukas didn't really understand much of what Eanaro said... but he did end up heading back to The Sanctuary as he did hear that Michael was about to start his missions for the day soon. "Do you... understand what that guy was talking about, Bethany?" Lukas questioned Beth as he was still having trouble comprehending what had just happened. "I have no clue. I don't even know if this System thing that he mentioned even really exists because I certainly did not hear about it before this point in time." Bethany replied as she was as confused as Lukas. "Let's just get home, maybe it won't seem so complicated if we're only focusing on one thing at a time." Lukas suggested as he started heading back towards the Sanctuary.

"I noticed that you were looking at that bed in the corner of the room in that Universe back there. Is there any particular reason as to why you were looking at it?" Bethany asked as she recalled the events that happened with Niko. "Yeah, I was staring at it because it looked familiar... I can't remember where I've seen it before though. Maybe in those visions that I keep having? Each one of those visions does start with me sleeping on something in the living room just like how that room in that Universe seemed to be a living room." Lukas guessed as he was just trying to make sense out of anything that had happened to him on that day. He quickly arrived back at the Sanctuary and headed back to his room without anything interesting really happening. "I think I just need to sleep. I'm getting really stressed by all of these questions being left unanswered so I think I'll just think about them when I'm not absolutely exhausted." Lukas explained as he laid down in bed. "Alright then... I'll see you in the morning, Lukas." Bethany replied. "Yeah, see you." Lukas answered as he closed his eyes.

"Wait... why does that sound familiar?" Lukas asked himself shortly before he fell asleep. "Why am I... remembering these things differently than they happened? Is somebody trying to throw me off track?" A voice that sounded like Lukas questioned as his dream started again.

"Come on, Creo! Tell me which girl it is! Tell me who you like!" "N-no! I know what you're like! You'll just run off and tell her and that would be so embarrassing!" "Come on! You've got to tell me! I promise that I won't tell anybody... not even Nuos!" "You promise? Really?" "I haven't broken a promise in my life!" "I bet that's just because you've never made a promise in your life. Fine... it's Ori." "Ori? Really?" "Well... I don't know who I like more... Ori or Yana is who I'm stuck between right now." "Really? I thought that Sapphire would be on that list of names of people that you like." "Seriously, Lukas! Every guy likes Sapphire in that way but nobody goes for her because they all know that they're never gonna get her!" "Really? That's the reason why? I think I'm doing relatively well when I'm hanging out with Sapphire." "Sapphire's hanging out with you? I know you like jokes, Lukas... but even this one isn't funny." "Just you wait and see! She's definitely got those feelings for me too... even if they are really small to the point where they're almost insignificant." "Well... you have always been good with charming the girls with your cute face... maybe she's falling for it too." "I'm not cute!" "Alright... alright. Well, if you've actually gotten her to like you like that, then you're one lucky guy... don't let it go to waste." "I won't, Creo. I promise."