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He has no idea why this had happened, but it did.
Upon coming to that Manor, Luca had witnessed many new things, some of them he could never begin to theorize about. With so many things happening at once - leaving prison, coming here, being introduced to the game and new people - it was more than he bargained for. Thankfully, there were many nice people around him that were willing to help if anything went wrong, including survivors that arrived not too much before or after him. Those empty corridors didn’t have to be scary, he learnt soon enough.
But as it is true in life, there are others he should be wary about. While he was imprisoned, he slowly began to discern these types of personalities. Subtler hints were harder to make out, but there was a goosebump on the back of his neck that was clear as day. He reminds himself to not make those people angry or upset.
Which is hard.
The matches are incredibly tiring and frustrating. Needing the aid of someone on the other side to decode should be an easy task, but he finds more restraints than shortcuts in every cipher he connects. Without that help, there is only so much he can do. Not to mention when he’s the first to be found by the hunter.
(It’s scary. He’s just glad it’s over when he’s either sent back or out of the exit gate.)
But, slowly as it comes and goes, he begins to get to know a little bit of each and every survivor that is paired with him. Not all information obtained is kept, though, but he always writes down the most important things. His mind likes to keep the smallest of little data. Andrew likes garlic. Eli is married. Tracy doesn’t like being told her repairs aren’t inventions. Not the most important of info, but nonetheless the one he’s stuck with. This, he realizes, is better than nothing.
Today, he notes, he’s sitting across the table with the prospector. There’s barely any info about him in his notes, and all he can remember are a few pieces of weird table manners he had noticed when they ate dinner together. Opening his little notebook, he stares at the name “Norton Campbell”. Under it, a single drop of ink reveals that he was about to begin writing something, but didn’t. Frowning to himself, he wonders what could have been. Maybe the memory will be back sooner than he thinks. Carefully, he closes the book and fits it on the little leather bag to keep it safe during the match, as the countdown reaches zero.
From the corner of his eye, he notices the prospector tucking something inside his shirt.
-----
Violetta always finds him first.
He has never been particularly fond of spiders, but he can’t deny that he has always been interested in the way the hunter’s body is constructed. He never has a chance to ask or look properly without being rude. Or while gasping for air inside a cocoon. No matter, he sees her approaching, connects a cipher away from there and begins to run.
Now, he is no athlete. His entire body is in constant pain, and his legs… Well. But he is way faster than other decoders, so he has to earn his pay when he kites. He just wishes the webs didn’t get stuck on his leg braces so easily, as the entire world begins to slow down in front of him, even though he knows his brain is sending all the right signals for his body to move, move, move.
The first swipe hurts him enough for his mind to snap out of it, and he dashes again, yelping. A cipher pops where he had connected it, but the red glare behind him is getting closer and closer. In a panic, he sends out a pulse of electricity that stuns the hunter. Violetta groans, her mechanical body whirring in agony before settling back in place. This gives him enough time to vault and get a boost in speed as the hunter goes back to her creepy crawling. Now, he has no more spare electricity in him, and the webs tangled around his neck begin to choke.
He will be on the ground in no time.
A second cipher pops and he lets out a noise in relief. Must be the one he had connected to earlier. So he runs that way.
Since the ciphers are done, no one will be on that side of the map, right? His legs already hurt, and his knees are buckling but the adrenaline pumps his blood faster than usual and he feels like he can actually do it.
(He’s scared, but he can do it!)
He pales when he recognizes the outline of a person on a cipher, whose panel was still blinking yellow.
Wait. That wasn’t the cipher they had popped?
Norton Campbell lifts his face from the machine and stares straight through Luca’s soul. He’s definitely mad. He doesn’t seem to show it, but that always cranky face is enough for the inventor to know. His neck cools down with goosebumps.
He walks face first into a tree, legs tangled on themselves and he trips, being welcomed by a downing blow from Violetta. Raising his head from the ground, his blurred vision makes out what seems to be Norton getting away from the cipher and preparing a magnet. He has to get up. Pulling out the tangled webs from his braces and his neck, he starts to patch himself up so he can try and run away.
A bell rings. Norton has been hit, and he’s so, so slow at healing. It feels like forever to patch up these legs. Why’d he have to mess up his legs, of all things? He needs to run. A cipher pops. The doctor is coming his way. It’s okay. It’s okay. Just do the best you can right now and she will get you up.
A familiar noise finds his ears as the bell rings once again. Excitement. The yellowish glow around Violetta shows her triumph over a stunner. He’s almost there, he can get up, Norton bought him enough time--
The gigantic body of the spider hunter covers him as she ties him to the balloons and calmly walks towards a chair. A cipher pops in the distance and she doesn’t seem to care, shoving Luca into the seat and rubbing her claws together like an evil fly of a lady. Her giggles are infantile and scary. Hunter might be as nice as they come outside matches, but when it comes to their thrill for the pursuit, even that gentle lady who knits sweaters to her patroller can be terrifying. Luca stares at the little screen on his portable device. Norton is up. Emily probably found him first.
It’s fine.
“Don’t rescue me!” He pings, feeling the dreadful sight of the spider burn through him as she camps his chair.
Almost immediately after he sends the message, the last cipher pops. His head bumps back against the seat and he sighs in relief. If everyone else can escape, it’s fine. She won’t teleport to the gate, anyway. It’s been too little time since she last used her trait.
The countdown to his return is almost up, but he humbly accepts it. There’s only so much he can do with a hunter whose detention-filled eyes are piercing your soul, ready to bring you down with them to the manor.
A subtle click makes him turn his head, but it’s so fast that his brain can’t process it. Violetta is thrown against the wall, stunned, and Norton dashes in, pulling Luca out of the chair. His expression must be priceless, because the prospector looks at him as if to ask “what are you, stupid?”
(He just might be a little stupid.)
Luca limps towards the nearest exit, while Norton guards his back, throwing his magnets with ease, keeping the spider away from them. They arrive at the open gate. It’s not the same as Emily and Freddy, he notes. They haven’t left yet, but are nowhere to be seen. But he’s so close, he just might make it. A hit straight to his leg makes him cry out, but he has enough willpower to keep going for a few more seconds. Norton mutters something he can’t hear.
Another magnet is thrown. He remembers the color codes to it, and realizes he has one stuck to his chest, and Violetta is approaching with a blue glow on her back. As soon as the magnetic fields come in contact, they’re pushed away in opposite directions. Luca flies towards the gate just as his body gives in and he falls to the floor. The irritating noise screams again and he raises his head, watching the yellow outline on Violetta with horror. Before he can accept his own demise, Norton gets between him and the hunter and turns his head to him.
“Just go!”
He obeys, crawling further into the exit gate. As he finally leaves, he hears the sound of two bells, and his heart sinks.
It’s a win. And Norton doesn’t follow behind at the exit gate.
--
The inventor tries not to whimper as he’s patched up from his injuries during that match. It’s fairly easy to ignore the pain, since his mind is so kindly replaying the voice of the prospector, telling him to go. He looked so angry when Luca led the Hunter to his cipher, and yet he just went ahead and sacrificed himself for the guy. It’s illogical, really. The only thing that can make sense out of this situation is that Norton thought Luca was too useless, and had to step in to protect him.
Crossing his arm over his chest and putting a hand to his chin, the inventor becomes pensive. Of course, he doesn’t claim to be an expert on Norton Campbell, but none of the notes he had taken about the man would indicate--
“Keep your arm still, Mr. Balsa.” Emily says, a polite smile hiding her demanding tone, frustration built up from having to deal with patients that didn’t want to keep still.
“Oh, apologies.” Luca says, returning to his previous position. As he snapped out of his trance, he let out a little sound of pain, remembering why he was there in the first place.
As his mind is in the right plane of existence, he can notice the marching sound that’s approaching the infirmary. He tilts his head towards the exit, trying to get a little peek. He needn’t to, because Norton barges in, with Ada following behind, an annoyed look on her face.
“Balsa, what were you thinking?” The prospector asks, voice firm but volume low enough as to avoid having Emily kick him out of there.
“Mr. Campbell, you will sit down at the infirmary!” The doctor orders.
Looking back at her, his eyes measure the woman, before frowning a bit and sitting down in the nearest bed. Ada exhales, nodding a little “thank you” towards Emily, before she can go back to treating Norton’s wounds. The bigger man still stares at Luca from the corner of his eye, waiting for an answer. The inventor has no idea what to say. ‘Sorry I led her to your cipher?’ just doesn’t cut it. He understands the prospector’s frustration, he has been pretty pissed off when the same scenario happened to him during other matches.
He has never been good at reading people. Always expects the best out of others, even when they show nothing but the most ill intentions. This had been his downfall. And it still stalks him even inside this cursed manor. But even with that huge man staring holes through him, Luca can’t help but think that he’s the only one at fault. Anxiety makes the poor inventor feel his heartbeats echo inside his head, instead of his chest.
“I thought that cipher had popped.” He murmurs, unable to look Norton in the eyes. “The… The connection--” As he raises his voice, Emily pulls tighter at the bandage, making him whimper. “--Ow, ow. The connection… I’m sure I had connected the ciphers there, and they popped, so…”
Norton’s brow furrowed for a few seconds, before he sighed.
“You connected the carrousel to the Haunted House. I was at the Rollercoaster’s pitstop.”
“...Oh.”
He wants to complete the sentence with ‘sorry, I forgot’, but it’s better unsaid. They just sit in dreadful silence as the girls finish patching them up. Once they’re finally staying still, it’s fairly quick to do so. The infirmary settles for a friendly chatter between Emily and Ada, just casual check-ins of some of their previous patients, and the schedule of the next matches. They’re not the most attached to each other, and still Luca wishes he could hold a relationship like that with Norton, but he keeps messing it up, huh?
He’s dismissed first, and for some ungodly reason, his body leads him to believe he should stay outside, waiting until Norton comes out. The match was tiring, and now he feels even more exhausted after realizing he was the one who made a mistake - not in kiting, but in decoding, of all things! Maybe he’d be better off in his room, trying to tinker some little, simple gadget he knows he won’t fail at, to gain his confidence again. Tracy taught him this trick, and it has been doing wonders to his sanity. But was it enough? How long can he hide behind machinery and inventions, paper stacks of a dream he once had, if he knows it will never lead to anything in this cursed manor?
Yes, that’s right…
In this manor, his past wishes are in shambles. Here, he learnt to live every single day individually. He’s stuck, unable to dream of a future, and scared of drowning in the past. Every day is a new day, in the same way that every new day is the same, over and over. Isn’t that why he decided to stop locking himself in his room? Isn’t that why he thought to keep the journal, taking notes of his companion’s little individualities, so he can get to know them better? Ever since the accident, this has been the closest to a home he has ever had. Isn’t it just logical to treasure the now, when the future is so uncertain?
“...”
The infirmary door opens and creaks, and Luca is spooked out of his train of thought, as he raises his head to stare at Norton. His breathing is more stable now, compared to when he had just come back from Violetta’s cocoon, and there are just a few bandages around his arms. He’s always so tough, Luca wouldn’t think he’d need much medical care to get him back to his feet. Or does it? The prospector looks at him for no more than a few seconds, before dodging his eyes, and turning around.
He can’t let him go like that!
“Mr. Campbell,” Luca takes a step towards him.
“Norton.” The big frame of the miner moves as he inhales. “Just Norton, remember?”
“Yes.” He doesn’t, but he’ll add that to his notes later. “Norton. I’m sorry for messing up the match.”
That wall of a man turns around in his heels to face the inventor, and Luca gulps, looking up to meet the other’s eyes, but he’s too tall and too close for the shorter one to keep a coherent line of thought. Big.... And strong. And Luca is short, and squishable.
“Is that really what’cha wanna say?” Norton asks. Although he seems intimidating, Luca doesn’t catch anything in his expression, except neutrality.
That’s good. He’s not angry. But that doesn’t mean Luca knows how to reply.
“...” The prospector sighs, and shakes his head slightly. “It’s fine. Forget about it.”
He turns around but Luca holds his arm. “I’d rather not, if possible.”
He’s caught off guard by Luca’s firm tone, and so is the inventor, but still, he persists. “Apologies. What I mean is that, if I made any mistakes, I’d like you to let me know. I don’t want to cost us the match.”
“I don’t like it when you talk pompous like that.”
“Sorry.”
“You didn’t cost the match, Balsa.” Norton replies. “But you need to start using your head for a lil’ something called self-preservation. You even know what that is?”
“I’m… Familiar with the concept, yes.” Luca looks away, embarrassed. “I think I can manage jus--”
“--No, ya can’t.” As he’s more assertive, Norton’s accent starts to slip. “I had to scream at the exit for you to leave. What were you thinking?”
“I just thought, I could--”
“Save me?” He finishes. Luca nods, feeling a little stupid now that Norton puts it so bluntly. “Don’t be stupid. Why don’t ya try being a little selfish for a change? It’s how the world works.”
As if he doesn’t know. As if he doesn’t pretend to not know. The static ruffles and sizzles his hair with his frustration, but as usual, he can’t take note of it. Norton, however, furrows his brow, but doesn’t shake off Luca’s hand on his wrist. The inventor bites his lip, trying to take a deep breath.
“Just don’t do it again.”
“I don’t want to.”
Norton blinks.
“Huh?”
“I don’t want to be like that.” Luca raises his head. “I want to save you if I can. I’m a decoder, and I’ll decode the whole match if I can, but if there’s no one else coming for you, then I’ll go.”
The prospector lip twitches, but his eyes keep staring at Luca like he’s speaking backwards.
“I… I can’t move that fast, and my stun is very short, but if I don’t try… Then what’s the point?” He adds, leaning forward to be more at height with Norton, as if this would make his argument less insane to the other man. “I wanna be able to save you, just like you keep saving me. So…” His eyes finally find something else to focus onto. “...Let’s get out of here. Together. Okay?”
Silence.
He feels a hand on his face, and for a second his stomach drops, wondering if he was getting a good shove on the head, but Norton’s glove is firm on his chin, gently turning his head so they can face each other.
Norton Campbell doesn’t think he will ever leave this manor. To him, there is no such thing as today, tomorrow or yesterday. Time no longer makes sense, and he has long ago stopped trying to keep count. Instead, he focuses on little things.
(Like polishing his battered magnets after every match like a ritual to keep him calm, or saying a small prayer against his rosary before tucking it inside his shirt, so he has the feeling that maybe this match will be the last one.)
This time, he focused on the feelings of Luca’s lips against his, as he pulled the inventor for a kiss.
The little things: The small current that comes from their meeting. The phantom sizzling that fuzzies his curly hair under his hat. The gentle brush of Luca’s fang against his bottom lip, and the way the inventor’s hand on his wrist tenses, and relaxes, and shyly travels up, linking their fingers together.
Someone who wants to protect him from the harshness of the world, for the first time in his life.
When they part, it’s slow. Like the whole world around them had stopped to watch, but kept their privacy to that little corner of the manor, outside the closed door of the infirmary, in a deserted hall. Luca’s eyes are shining, curious, searching for something on Norton’s face that he can’t quite place or understand.
“Luca.”
As soon as his rough voice, infiltrated by a thick accent and unspoken feelings, leaves his mouth, the inventor flushes red like he had never seen before.
(It’s what he wants to think, but he knows the truth.)
“Sorry,” Luca says, stiff in embarrassment. “This was my first kiss, so,”
The prospector laughs at the reaction, a warmth in his chest that he can never quite get over.
He knows this isn’t Luca’s first kiss.
But he will give him ‘his first kiss’ as many times as it takes. One day, he will get it right enough to be memorable. After all, they’re not going anywhere in this manor. But maybe, just maybe, if they make it out, Norton has a little seed inside his chest that promises to bloom, because they will do it together.
As they walk back to the survivor’s side, for a well deserved nap, Luca can’t start to think about what he should write in his journal. No words or descriptions, scientific or not, seem to capture just what he feels right now. It’s full, and warm, and gentle, and… Nostalgic. There just aren’t combinations of letters, sentences ever thought about this sentiment that could faithfully portray it.
It can only be understood once felt.
He decides to leave the journal blank. Maybe next time he will come up with the right definitions. After all, they’re getting out of here together. But he’s got plenty of time for that.
His newest invention.