Chapter Text
All he could hear was screaming.
They had already taken well off into space, but as Kluya stood frozen in the middle of the Lunar Whale -- a child no older than 5 -- surrounded by his wounded companions with missing limbs and charred flesh wounds, he wondered if the escape was even worth it at all.
"Kluya!" He heard his older brother Fusoya -- no older than 15 himself -- hiss as he was whisked into his arms. "I told you to stay with me!"
A man nearby them let a screech as he writhed along the tiles, his cloudy eyes locking with Fusoya's. Half of his body was burned away, and the smell was overwhelming.
"Sir PLEASE!" He begged through tears. "Please take away my pain!"
Fusoya immediately hid Kluya's face into his robes. "I am sorry," was all his brother could say. "There is no cure for 3rd-Degree burns."
The man let out a shrill scream, but by then Fusoya had turned and quickly walked away from the sight for his brother's sake. It was too late however; the sound was already permanently stuck in the depths of his mind.
"Oroya!!" Fusoya boomed as Kluya tightly shut his eyes. "I need you to watch over my brother while I search for more survivors to aid!"
A few moments later, he felt a new pair of arms grab hold of him. He tried to wiggle himself back towards his brother in protest- but it was no use. He let out a small sob as he reopened his eyes and watched Fusoya race back into the center control room of the Lunar Whale, his footsteps lost to the sound of cries for help.
"I've got you, buddy," Oroya assured him as he was tightly squeezed. "Keep your eyes closed. I'll take you somewhere quieter."
Kluya vaguely remembered Oroya as being one of Fusoya's friends on the original planet- though he was so young his identity never fully stuck.
A few buttons and whirrs later, and Kluya felt Oroya place him down gently into a pod. He opened his eyes again before the glass closed above his head, seeing Oroya's tight-lipped smile and sad eyes boring into him. The screams became muffled.
"I want my mother," he moaned, tears filling up his eyes.
The grief in Oroya's eyes grew deeper, and he slowly shook his head. "I'm so incredibly sorry," Kluya watched him mouth before Oroya turned away and disappeared into the chaos.
Kluya felt like he had been put in that pod for a lifetime. Whether it was days or hours, he didn't know. Eventually his brother came back with Oroya and another shorter, scrawny Lunarian that seemed just a little older than them both.
A few beeps sounded, and suddenly the glass shell reopened. Kluya just about jumped into his brother's arms.
"I want to go home," he cried into his robes. Fusoya rocked him back and forth softly.
"We'll find a new one, Kluya," he assured him, though his voice shook too. Kluya momentarily lifted his head to look behind him and peered at his brother's friends.
Oroya cleared his throat. "Me and Luruya are going to the control panel to help scout out new viable planets to inhabit," he said as he gestured to the short Lunarian beside him. "I advise you rest with Kluya for now, you've done a lot for everybody here already."
Fusoya gave a silent nod, and Kluya flopped back down onto the pod as the two lunarians trotted off.
"Fu," he asked nervously. "Is everything going to be okay?"
His brother looked down at him contently and ruffled his hair with an incredibly forced smile. "Of course..! Of course we will. Our species has survived for millions.. we are equipped for anything."
Doing his best to trust his brother, Kluya relaxed and drifted off to sleep in the pod.
Finding a new home wasn't an easy task.
Initially, they discovered a new blue planet almost entirely identical to their previous one. However, they encountered a much less evolved species of themselves. Neither race merged well together, and to avoid conflict altogether, the Lunarians left in search of a new place.
"Why not just dominate the planet!? We're far more advanced, anyway!" Oroya had snapped when they reboarded the Lunar Whale.
"It's not right of us," Fusoya responded calmly yet firmly.
"Psh!" Luruya snorted in response. "What a load of nonsense!!! I oughta... Well, Nevermind." He ended with after a stern look from him.
Fortunately, not long after their defeat with the blue planet, they soon detected life forms on Earth's second moon -- the Red Moon -- and discovered it held an atmosphere and core warm enough to sustain them.
Together, they descended upon the Red Moon- fighting primitive life forms and making friends with a race already native to the moon known as The Hummingways. The longer they stayed, the more their cheery tune burned its way into Kluya's mind.
Despite the core of the moon providing heat as well as being blanketed by his thick robes, he still found himself heavily shaking. Due to the freezing cold temperatures, the Lunarians wasted no time in building a palace out of the quartz they mined from within the moon's deep caverns.
They even discovered that the Hummingways weren't the only intelligent life form coexisting with them.
It had been years, perhaps a little over a decade if Kluya's math was correct. The construction of the Lunarians' palace was nearly complete, and he had joined Fusoya and Oroya in gathering the last amount of moon and bone quartz to solidify the integrity of the palace.
"How much deeper do we even need to venture?" Oroya huffed, makeshift pickaxe in hand.
Fusoya held the torch out a little further as Kluya scrambled by his side -- already carrying a half-full crate. "Just a little farther I'd imagine," he responded in his usual-calm manner. "We've ran these caverns dry."
A sudden deep rumble sounded, and Kluya let out a shriek, nearly dropping what was in his hands as he froze in shock.
Oroya whipped his head around. "What in the hells was that!"
"It's gonna collapse!" Kluya cried out as he finally dropped his crate-- another deep, bone rattling rumble shaking his entire body. It felt so disturbingly similar to the screams of their old planet before it imploded on itself.
"Hey!" Fusoya half-snapped as he grabbed Kluya by the shoulder and yanked him back through his long robes. "We'll be all right," he immediately tried to soothe, the anger in his voice dissipating. "It's likely one of those frighteningly large red worms. They're powerful, however it's nothing we haven't encountered or fought before." He rubbed Kluya's arm gently.
Kluya tried to calm his racing heart, swallowing thickly as his vision blurred slightly. "Yea... yea..." he whispered softly as his legs trembled. "Just a worm..."
Oroya suddenly froze in horror as his gaze diverted from the frightened-Kluya to whatever was behind Fusoya.
"Um... Fusoya..." He whispered. "That doesn't look like a worm..."
Fusoya's face dropped, his eyes darkening as he gulped. "It's right behind me... isn't it?" He asked with a shaky voice as he spun around. Instantly the torch in his hand lit up the form of a humongous, indigo-colored dragon that loomed dangerously high above his brother.
"Fusoya!!!" Kluya and Oroya immediately screamed in unison. Within a second, Fusoya scurried to their side- nearly falling in the process.
"HALT."
All three Lunarians froze as the dragon's deep voice echoed throughout the cavern.
"My name is Bahamut," he boomed, his head lowering to meet with their wide eyes. "I am the King of the Eidolons. What brings the three of you to my level? Have you come to challenge me?"
Fusoya shook his head rapidly. "No-No not at all!" He assured him fearfully.
"We were just leaving!" Kluya added on as he whisked the crate back into his arms and took a step back.
Oroya frowned, as if suddenly curious. "Challenge?" He echoed back.
Bahamut let out a growl. "Only those who can defeat me shall be allowed to summon me. Have you the power to summon Eidolons?"
"No... I suppose not," Oroya sighed in disappointment as the two other Lunarians' were still and silent in fear.
"Oroya," Fusoya hissed quietly. "We need to get out of here!"
Bahamut shook his head. "I pose no threat to you as of now," he rumbled as his gaze swept across the three of them. "I only advise you be wary of where you step foot on an environment that is not yours."
I only advise you be wary of where you step foot on an environment that is not yours.
Those words should have stuck with Kluya, yet for some reason, they never did.
Eventually, the three of them stumbled back into the nearly-finished palace, still shaken by their encounter with Bahamut.
Well, two were still shaken. Oroya had taken to boast about his experience.
"I had nearly challenged a dragon!" Oroya bragged to Luruya with his hands on his hips. Luruya let out a snort.
"And you would've lost, you fool!" Luruya shot back.
Fusoya shook his head as he walked over to create distance between the two. "That is enough," he growled. "It's about time for all of us to sleep. I suggest we settle down first."
"Psh!" Oroya snorted with a shake of his head. "We shouldn't have to wait for old humanity to evolve... it's not fair!" He grumbled.
Fusoya made a stern face as he rounded on Oroya. "But it's the correct thing to do," he growled back. "The Blue Planet isn't ours!"
Deep down, Kluya silently agreed with Oroya. He didn't want to wait. Everytime he thought of having to stay asleep in a pod in the middle of a small, cold palace alone with Lunarians' he was hardly familiar with, he wanted to vomit.
He wanted to explore. He wanted to do something. He grew up knowing almost nothing but a cold dead moon-- building and tunneling a place to live and for what? To abandon it almost immediately when it was time to move to the Blue Planet?
Kluya's chest tightened and his throat began to burn.
"He's right," he croaked out quietly. Fusoya's and Oroya's gazes snapped towards him almost immediately.
Oroya waved his arms dramatically in Kluya's direction. "See! See!? I told you this isn't fair for us!"
"Enough!" Fusoya bellowed, his eyes burning with indignation. "We will be staying on this moon until further notice."
Kluya stared back furiously at his brother, suddenly filled with nothing but hate. Why? Why so much hate against his brother who did nothing but care for him the best he could?
"No!" Kluya yelled back, suddenly throwing a mini tantrum. "I hate you! I don't want to stay here!!"
Oroya's gaze began flickering back and forth between the brothers in shock and a little bit of entertainment. Luruya began jumping up and down in enthusiasm.
"Yea!" Luruya called out with a high pitched giggle. "You tell him, Kluya!"
Fusoya whipped his head towards his friends. His barely disguised hurt form Kluya's words still shone in his eyes as he pointed a finger at the two of them.
"This is a family matter!" Fusoya snapped. "I'd like the two of you to leave us be for now!"
All of the other surviving Lunarians at least had the decency to let them be.
Kluya shook his head. "No!" He roared. "I don't care!" He gestured towards Luruya and Oroya. "And they want to leave this cursed moon too!!! Why will you not let us go!??" Fusoya shifted closer to Kluya with a grunt. "We won't hurt a thing!"
"Yes, YES Kluya!!!" Luruya continued to cheer as he clapped his hands and began to dance. "Let it all out!!"
Oroya shoved Luruya to the ground. "Stop that silly nonsense!" He snapped.
"Kluya..." Fusoya began angrily. "I told you to--"
The anger exploded in Kluya's chest. He gripped tightly at his own hair and clenched his jaw so hard it trembled. "Why won't you fucking LISTEN to my words!!??" He howled, feeling the intensity of his words reverberate through his chest with a sob. "Are my words falling on deaf ears!?! I am beyond MISERABLE brother!!!"
"Hey.. hey!" Fusoya immediately dropped the majority of his anger and took hold of Kluya's shoulders as he cried harder. Both Oroya's and Luruya's jaws dropped in disbelief. "Kluya listen to me," he urged, but Kluya shoved him off.
"No!" The younger brother snapped as he continued to shake with fury. "I refuse! I hate you! You never listen to me-- all I want is to leave this place but you won't allow me!!" Several irate and miserable sobs wracked his body.
He'd never been so angry with Fusoya before. In fact, he just about hated him now.
"It's for the best, brother," Fusoya repeated once again softly. "I'm deeply sorry."
Kluya shook his head. "No you're not," he spat as he spun around sharply. "I hate you Fusoya!"
"No way..!" Luruya finally interjected, his hands on his head.
Kluya finally walked away, still in a fit of rage and tears as he sniffled and wiped his eyes. "'It's for the best' I'll show you what the best is supposed to be!" Kluya snarled to himself as he walked across the room and created a large enough distance.
In front of him laid an unfinished wall, the unpolished moon quartz sticking out in an incredibly sharp manner.
"I'll show him what's truly best for me," Kluya whispered to himself once again before he gripped a piece of quartz sticking out and used all of his strength to break it off.
Perhaps this will get him to listen.
And then right after it was in his hand, he drove the sharp end right into his other arm.