People from the outskirts were cruel, vile, even.
It's said that the evil within the human heart is revealed when things are truly desperate, and in a place where everyone lived and breathed desperation, it was easy to lose yourself. He's seen people steal, cheat, and kill all for this reason.
The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked.
But Lec didn't want to be like that. He couldn't and wouldn't end up like that. No matter how hard things got, or how desperate his situation was. He'd never be like them; he had to keep smiling. It's what she would've wanted after all.
It's what Lyra would have wanted...
It's what Lyra would have wanted...
It's what Lyra would have wanted...
It's what Lyra would have wanted...
It's what...
'Lyra...' His mouth had suddenly become very dry, his once loud and confident voice reduced to a mutter. His heart was beating so fast that he almost thought that he was having a heart attack.
Calming his racing heart, Lec tried to focus his eyes on the person in front of him. But no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't, so he just settled for looking at the floor instead.
'Calm down...calm down. It isn't her, it can't be her. Lyra is dead after all.' That thought process helped give him the courage to look up, finding the face of the confused girl. Even then, the resemblance was uncanny...yet there was one difference, their eyes were different.
While the faker's eyes were like a bright and sunny sky, his sister's eyes had a slightly different shade of blue, akin to the skies before a storm.
Armed with that information, Lec knew exactly what he had to do. 'Fake it till you make it, I guess.'
Staring at the girl's confused face with all the confidence he could muster, he'd manage to sputter a sentence. "H-hey, you."
'"Hey, you???"' What kind of response is that?!' Cursing himself, Lec watched the slightly older girl's expression, trying to figure out a way to escape if anything went wrong. Unfortunately, he had been given no time to explore the spaceship before this encounter had been forced to happen.
Luckily for him, it seemed like his foolish response hadn't aroused any suspicion. Instead of her immediately transforming into a monster and eating him like he thought she would, she tilted her head with a look of confusion before giggling.
'Shit, she even sounds like her.'
After a few moments of non-stop giggling, it would slowly stop as she wiped stray tears from her eyes. Lec stared at her in bewilderment as she laughed. It was a sound so foreign to him, especially considering it was someone wearing her face.
"Are you alright, Lec. You usually aren't the type for joking." She giggled a bit more as she spoke, her eyes softly gazing at him. It was clear that he and she were supposed to be close.
'Yeah, yeah. Don't get used to it.'
Trying to cover up his bitterness, Lec tried to put one of his usual smiles on his face, only for it to result in this combination of something between a grin and a scowl. "Well, I'm trying something new..."
Smiling at him, she began walking up to him and grabbed his hand. "Cmon, grandfather is waiting for you."
Completely thrown off by the action, Lec almost tripped as the teen girl practically dragged him across the hallway.
He stared intently at the girl's face, a bright smile on her face. A smile brighter than any he had ever seen on the real deal.
***
It had been just a few months before he was infected by the damn spell that he saw her. She was pale, even paler than most kids from the outskirts, her blond hair clinging carefully onto her emaciated face, and her smile was hollow.
"Lec..." She spoke, her voice was a small thing, akin to that of a pin dropping, yet in the mostly empty room, that didn't matter much. They were in a small room with a single mattress lying in the middle of it, which was where the young girl was seated.
He simply couldn't reply, his eyes stuck on the concrete floor. Seemingly mesmerized by something very important.
"Lec." Her voice returned, this time sharper. Sharp enough to finally make him look up, his eyes full of the beginning formation of tears, but he couldn't let her see that. Closing his eyes, he'd blink the tears away, a grin forming on his face as he stared at his big sister.
He couldn't allow her to see him cry. He needed her to know that he was strong enough to survive on his own. He needed to give her the most amazing goodbye ever!
He ran up to the bedside and gave her the biggest hug ever, restraining himself from crushing her frail body. It was so hard not to cry, it was so...so hard. Pulling away, he stared at her face, her eyes becoming glossy as tears ran down her cheek.
She hugged him back, her especially skinny arms trying their best to hold him.
'P-please survive.' Although Lec's wish had been for naught. His sister had died during the First Nightmare, which resulted in her becoming a miniature gate that was swiftly taken care of by the Awakened by her side.
But seeing this random girl who looked exactly like his sister, smiling without a care in the world, gave him hope. Hope was a bad thing for someone like him, but he couldn't get enough of it.
***
The duo eventually arrived at their destination, and Lec suddenly felt a little nervous about the current situation. No matter how he currently felt, a Nightmare was still a Nightmare. He'd subtly glance at his older sister's lookalike before thinking, 'Not like there's anything I could do to escape, plus I have no clue what the goal of this Nightmare is...'
Suddenly feeling the weight of his decision to follow along, Lec cursed himself. 'Hopefully her grandfather isn't some alien-looking thing.'
'And thankfully I haven't been probed,' He glanced at the girl guiding him as she scanned a large metal door with her hand, causing it to open.
'Yet...'