I See Emeralds

Chapter Thirty (Mathias' POV)

(Ooh, here's a backstory overload chapter! Lukas and Emil really do have sad lives in this AU.)

The bathroom door opens and I turn away from the mirror. "Hello Mathias. We need to talk," Lukas gets straight to the point as he always does. It's the morning of the day before the awaited Valentine's Day dance.

"Oh, uh, hey," I respond. This is unusual. He sounds sort of nervous. "What's up?"

"You know how Emil and Leon are so close? I figure we need to be more like that," he suggests quietly. He quickly hardens his voice. "You know, for the sake of the mission."

"I'm doing really well by the way. Tino has convinced some of his friends to go to the dance together with their soulmates. If we're lucky we might even have every color we need by the end of tomorrow," I tell him excitedly.

"Good. Speaking of the dance..." He pauses and fidgets with his hair clip. "Emil and I figured it would be beneficial for us to attend and watch over everyone from a distance. Leon asked Emil to come with him already, but..."

"Are you asking me out?" I ask for him because he seems unable to finish. He stares, blue eyes worried, and nods awkwardly. I grin. "Of course I'll go with you!" He breathes out in relief.

"Thank you. But no funny business! This is a serious job and we need to watch everyone carefully," he tells me strictly.

"Then what was the point of asking me?" I say.

"You can identify them better. They trust you more." He pauses. "And I also wanted to prove a point to Emil."

"Ha, like what?" Now I'm curious. Those brothers aren't that competitive. They mostly just have frequent disagreements.

"I wanted to prove that I could ask you before you asked me," he mumbles. "Because we both know you were planning to."

"Was it that obvious?" I ask with an embarrassed chuckle.

"Yes. Everybody knows you like me," he says and crosses his arms. "Ever since we met in this very room."

"But the positions were reversed. You were at the mirror and I was at the door," I note. He actually smirks.

"Yeah."

"And I saw you in the halls before I really knew who you were. In fact-" I stop myself and shake my head. "Nothing."

"Something."

"Well I just remembered something that I don't understand. I swear I've seen you even before that," I say. He approaches me. "And Emil too."

"Did you?" He doesn't sound confused. Instead, he sounds intrigued.

"Yeah. Yeah I did. On the news. But it was so long ago, it's kind of fuzzy," I say and rub my temples, trying to bring the memory forward. "You were...you were little kids. And on the news you were in a story about firefighters finding two kids buried underground. Why was that?"

"Oh, that. Emil and I lived underground most of our lives until then. We weren't buried. Just sheltered," he says as if that's the most normal thing in the world.

"Sheltered from what?" Now I'm curious.

"Emil already let it spill that we can still see every color. So I guess it wouldn't matter if I revealed a little more," he thinks out loud. "We were hidden from the government by our parents."

"Are you joking? I'm not as gullible as I look," I scoff. He looks hurt for a brief moment before his expression returns to its usual calmness.

"No. We really were. In fact...how much do you remember prior to that news story?" he asks. Lukas sits down on the bathroom floor so I figure I might as well do it too. I ignore how unhygienic this probably is.

I think for a moment. I'm surprised to realize I've come up blank. "Nothing, actually. But we were so young. That's normal," I say. I try to assure myself that that's the case.

"How many photos do you have of your family that were taken prior to that news story?"

"None." Now he's scaring me. What's he going to tell me?

"That's right. Nobody knows anything about before! Nobody remembers or can see! They all have altered memories! Only Emil and I have seen the truth! We're the only real people in this fake world!" he suddenly shouts. I've never seen him shout before.

"Before? What are you worked up about?" I ask gently. I'm confused by his unusual actions.

"Mathias, didn't you figure it out yet? You've been manipulated. Changed. Everyone has. Emil and I are the only ones who weren't because we were hidden. Our parents knew what was going to happen," he tells me. I notice his eyes are watering a little. I don't understand this, but it must mean a lot to Lukas.

He continues. "Magic has always been in our family. They always knew this was going to happen. They knew every last detail of the future and they wanted to protect us. They wanted to prevent us from turning into zombies like you."

"But it didn't work!" he wails. "We failed and had to reset the timeline, again and again. We could never save any of you. You would all die or shun us until we started December yet again. I've known so many versions of all of you! I've seen all of you be killed at the hands of one another or even yourselves!"

"I'm so lost, sorry Lukas. What are you talking about? Zombies? Murder?" I ask. I can't quite comprehend all of this yet.

"It wasn't always like this. It wasn't always black and white and gray. There used to be color. Every color. But then the new leaders came and..." He begins to sob and I do the only thing I can think of. I hug him.

"Mathias, everyone could see color until those otherworldly beings came and took over. They were jealous because they couldn't see it. They were far more advanced than us. So they were able to snatch it away. They stole color from every human and tried to make it seem normal by altering your brains. But there was one thing they didn't account for," he says.

"What was it?" This is a lot to take in and I still don't quite get all of it.

"Soulmates are fueled by the power of love." And then for his most unusual action of the day, Lukas kisses me.

(Ayyy, it's about time that there's some DenNor! You're probably just as confused about the past as Mathias is, I know that I wasn't very clear about it. I wrote a short story about the original timeline, which occurs long before the one that I See Emeralds takes place in. I'll likely publish it later. Or maybe I'll just find a way to work it into the companion story? I haven't written much of that yet, so I'll see. This is where the plot begins to pick up the pace, by the way. It was kind of unnecessarily drawn out until this point.)