Chapter Text
That foggy day, Loosha appears without Arianna calling her, already bleating insistently and ignoring the Barde children’s frantic hushing sounds. She swims back and forth and tosses her head insistently, and, finally, Arianna exclaims, “Okay, okay! We’ll follow you! But quietly, Loosha!”
Triumphant, Loosha takes off down the shoreline, and the children shout and run to catch up.
Maybe they would have seen him on their own, had the mist lain a little thinner, but, as it is, Arianna’s foot catches on something hard and she pitches forward with a cry, catching herself just before she could land face-first in the mud. To her left, the edge of the water is mere inches from where her hands sink into the muck. And at her feet…
“Arianna! Are you okay? Is that a person?!”
“I tripped,” she replies slowly, staring blankly at what she tripped on.
The boy lies sprawled on his back, half-in, half-out of the water. He looks about her age, maybe younger, and his face is turned towards her. His lips look blue against the rest of his sickly pale skin, and—
“Oh my god.” She’s already up on her knees and grabbing his wrist, feeling desperately for a pulse and finding nothing. “He’s not breathing, oh my god!”
“What do we do?!” Tony gasps. Loosha wails and nudges at the feet of the drowned boy, and, this time, no one shushes her.
“I don’t know,” Arianna drops the boy’s hand like a brand and sits back on her heels, hand over mouth. “I don’t know, I don’t—he’s—”
The drowned boy’s eyes slide open and Arianna almost falls backwards in her haste to get away.
She feels…suddenly faint. Are the boy’s eyes really glowing, or is it her vision fuzzing over? “Override successful,” a soft voice says, though his still-blue lips aren’t moving. “Reset complete.”
And it must have been her imagination, because she blinks, and those sleepy eyes are definitely brown.
Slowly, so slowly, they focus, until she’s looking the boy in the eyes and he’s looking back.
“…Who…?”
It’s almost the same voice, but it’s missing some…ethereal quality. An echo, perhaps. His lips move this time, though, so it’s this time that’s real.
The thought (this is real; it is) helps her find her voice. “I’m Arianna, and this is Tony and Loosha. Loosha found you lying on the lakeshore… We thought…”
We thought you were dead.
You were dead.
She shakes her head. “Well, never mind that. How are you feeling? Who are you?”
The boy blinks at her hazily, and she can’t tell if he has understood a word she’s said. “…Who…?” he repeats, starting to sit up—or at least, to try. His arms shake under him.
“Yes, who are you?” Even with Tony bouncing distractingly next to her, she still catches the moment that the boy realizes something’s wrong. He breaks eye contact as he looks inward for the answer, and he’s only halfway sitting up when he freezes entirely.
“I…don’t know. I don’t…” He closes his eyes and his brow furrows deeply as he visibly searches harder for anything at all. “I can’t…remember…!”
And then Loosha is there, curling her neck around him just as his arms finally give out, catching him easily. She croons comfortingly and nuzzles closer, while he stares in shock, crisis apparently forgotten. “Wha…”
“This is Loosha,” Tony reminds him.
“I think she likes you,” Arianna offers with a smile.
“…Loosha…” The boy shifts, the better to see Loosha’s face, and carefully places one pale hand against her neck. “Thank you, Loosha.”
Loosha hums and cuddles closer, and, for the first time since he woke up, he smiles.
He’s weak as a kitten and uncoordinated besides, but, eventually, after bidding Loosha a reluctant farewell, Arianna and Tony are able to get the boy up to the mansion and into a warm bath. Finding something clean and warm for him to wear is a bit of a scavenger hunt, but, in the end, he stands before them in a slightly-too-large blue sweater and thick socks, rosy-cheeked and looking positively cozy.
“I think we’re ready to go back to the lake,” Arianna declares in satisfaction. She starts to back out of the playroom. “Now, remember, we have to be careful, because our father doesn’t know about Loo—”
She backs into a hard chest and whirls around with a gasp.
“Doesn’t know about what?” her father asks cheerily, eyebrow quirked.
“Oh!” Arianna can’t think quickly enough. “About! Looooo…”
“…Luke!” Tony swoops in with the save. “We were just realizing, we forgot to tell you about Luke coming over!” He grasps the boy’s hand and drags him forward a step. “Luke, this is our father! Father, this is Luke.”
“Ah, well then! It’s very nice to meet you, young man.” Barde gives Luke a regal nod.
“It’s…nice to meet you,” the boy agrees quietly.
“I say, no need to be shy! How about a puzzle to break this ice?”
“A puzzle?” The boy noticeably perks up; Arianna politely hides her smile behind her hand. “Okay!”
“Here it is: If my money box is three feet long and two feet wide, and a standard coin has a diameter of an inch and a half, roughly how many coins can I fit into the box before it is no longer empty?”
Arianna and Tony exchange looks behind the boy’s head as he considers the puzzle.
“Oh!” Finally, the boy lights up. “One coin, sir! Then, it won’t be empty any longer!”
“Right on the money!” Barde winks.
“Dad.”
“Alright, alright, I can see when I’m not wanted,” Barde chuckles good-naturedly. “It was nice to meet you, young man.”
“And you, sir!”
Once Barde has disappeared around the corner, Arianna turns to the boy. “Was that okay?” she asks anxiously. “Calling you Luke?”
To her relief, he smiles warmly at her and offers her his remaining hand. “I don’t see anything wrong with it,” he reassures her. “Everybody has nicknames, right? Until I remember my real name, I’ll be Luke!”
“Alright, then, Luke!” Arianna squeezes his hand gratefully. “Let’s go tell Loosha!”
“Yeah!”