The wind in Willow Manor wasn't particularly peaceful. Still, it was a new experience at least, spending a whole day in bed resting after his encounter with the human emoticon, he had managed to adjust mentally to his new situation.
He had ended up in Gotham City after meeting a higher-dimensional entity and was currently in the body of a random eight-year-old boy who just so happens to coincidentally share the same first and last name as he does with no parents. 'Talk about starting from scratch'.
"Well, let's look at it this way, I'm technically living every nerd's dream," he muttered to himself, trying to convince his mind that there were at least positives to his current situation, but honestly, he wasn't sure.
Any world where heroes, superpowers or futuristic technology were staples was a world where one was bound to get flattened as collateral damage, Lucan didn't think very fondly of being collateral damage 'Nothing I can do about it I guess'.
He rose from the bed putting on a new pair of clothes that had been prepared for him and was about to leave the ward, when he was advised to stay until at least nighttime, while it was only eleven o'clock in the morning he was already bored with lying down and curious about their new environment.
He stepped out of the ward and scratched his head 'I don't remember which way I took to get here'. He had been so disoriented at the time of his arrival and distracted by other things that he hadn't paid much attention to his route.
He stood still for a moment then shrugged and just picked at random, deciding that since his goal was ultimately to explore, he might as well spend some time being lost and wander the mansion, scenic strolls were also part of rest weren't they? At least that was the logic that Lucan had convinced himself of.
"This place is pretty big". Lucan had never imagined he would be in this kind of place, he was someone who had never been to an orphanage much less one that seemed like it had done the fusion dance with a hospital and maybe a sprinkle of a psychiatric ward on top of that? It was quite a unique spectacle to experience.
This section didn't offer him much visual stimulation, like when he had just arrived, it felt like this side just had regular counselling rooms, storage closets, and medical rooms, it wasn't anything particularly interesting so he decided to try the other direction.
The hall there was much darker than everywhere else, the walls were all white and it was oddly quiet the doors were all made of metal and looked somewhat old and worn which made him squint a bit, 'Where is this supposed to be exactly?" the strong yet ever-so-curious urge to reach the end of this wing but he also felt that maybe it was a bad idea. While he was contemplating turning back, the sound of one of the doors opening further down drew him back to reality with the sound of approaching footsteps, a man with an angular face with prominent cheekbones, deep-set brown eyes, and a strong jawline came into view with a curious look on his face "And who might you be little friend, are you lost?".
The man bent over slightly matching his eye level with that of Lucan as he examined him closely, the man's gaze made him feel a bit shy, which made him scratch the back of his head.
He was, in fact, lost; but he felt a bit embarrassed that it was so easy to tell that he had no idea where he was going "A little?"
The brown-haired man with his neat side-parted hair let out a chuckle "Only a little? Why don't you tell me your name, it would be nice to know who I'm talking to. "His voice was soothing, perhaps a better way to describe it would be charming.
It felt hypnotic, and Lucan readily replied to that hypnotic voice without feeling any discomfort, it was like he was being sung a lullaby, he could feel his eyelids growing heavy and sleep starting to seep in.
"It's… Lucan|" The man moved his head like he was trying to recall something before suddenly snapping his fingers, which quickly drew his attention to his fingers, his consciousness snapping back to alertness, the voice still sounded the same but he didn't feel the same pull.
"You're the one that was brought in yesterday Lucan, Grey?" Lucan nodded in response and the man furrowed his brow "I thought you were on bed rest?". Lucan averted his gaze, not daring to offer his previous excuse about a scenic stroll through the halls.
"I..I was just exploring" he raised his hands in defense and the man eyed him suspiciously then his expression softened as something seemed to click and he clapped his hands together with a cheerful tone in his voice.
"Oh yes, you were the one with memory loss, I guess exploring makes sense, but you shouldn't be here unsupervised, you looked like you were about to fall over just now". Lucan raised an eyebrow, wondering what he was talking about, after all he felt completely fine.
The man walked forward and gestured for him to follow. He obediently walked behind her until they reached a large central hall and she stopped "Head that way to the dormitories, don't wander this way again if you can and try not to fall on any rocks".
Lucan nodded, committing it to memory when something occurred to him 'How did he know what had caused his head injury?' Lucan's eyes fell on a clock that hung just above the dormitory and he suddenly felt confused 'How did so much time pass?'.
The clock in front of him told him it was already thirty minutes after two in the afternoon, he turned around to try and ask a question only to find no one standing there, as if, there had never been anyone next to him in the first place "I didn't even say thank you".
He quickly got over the strangeness he felt and strolled towards the dormitories, surprisingly, there weren't a lot of children here, or maybe there were and not all of them spent their days in this wing of the building.
Not that he could verify, it was only his second day here at most, and he had just barely accepted where he was now, and was currently more concerned with what he would do with his life going forward rather than anything else.
***
The halls had rooms to either side, some people had their doors open, others had them closed and from what he could see it looked like each room had about four people with everyone having their own lockers. 'It's like what I used to hear about boarding schools'.
The children were also in the hall and some would wave at him or offer a greeting, some stared at him strangely and said nothing while others would try to drag their clothes to cover up scars or bruises when they saw him looking.
Eventually, he passed by an open room door as someone reached out and grabbed his shoulder, he turned around on instinct ready to punch whomever it was that had just grabbed him "Hey, bud, you all better now? Where are you heading off to?". Lucan sighed as the tension in his body evaporated.
It was the blonde boy who had brought him here "I was just exploring" Lucan replied and the blond-haired boy just scratched his head with an awkward but confused expression.
"Is that the new way of saying you're lost?". Lucan could feel his blood pressure rising in real time, and a small wave of anger rolled over him as he wondered if he was so easy to read that anyone could tell he was lost or if exploring was a foreign concept in this world.
"It's not". The blond-haired boy looked at him with concern then turned to look inside the room and then back at him, his gaze then shifted to his side for a few seconds as he squinted and then just slowly shook his head.
"Well, whenever you're done not being lost, just remember this is your room" he was about to close the door when he suddenly stopped himself "Oh, and you probably don't have your locker key anymore but you always used to give me your spares".
He rummaged around in his pockets and pulled out a small single key with a teddy bear keychain attached to it before walking over and placing it in Lucan's hands "Careful not to lose this one or we'll have to get the locks changed".
He shut the door and Lucan just stood there staring at the key for a bit, it was faded and it looked like the metal teddy bear had been scratched and dented in several places. Lucan had a rather sarcastic thought 'Cute… almost in perfect condition in fact'.
Shoving the ugly teddy into his pocket he continued to stroll till he hit the end of the corridor and saw a bunch of stairs and just eyed them curiously, since there was only a wall and space there "This feels like an interesting place to hang out".
"I know right? It's all dark and cozy". It took every last bit of mental strength for Lucan not to scream like a little girl while he jumped out of fright from the sudden presence beside him, who was none other than the smiling crimson-haired girl called Polly, who currently had her hands interlocked behind her back.
"How long–". He was confused as to how he had not noticed her standing there until that point and more so why she had done so.
"About the same time you exited the medical wing, I was worried you would get lost or something…" She paused and tilted her head to the side a bit "No, you were already lost so I guess I failed that".
Lucan could now be certain there was a throbbing vein on his forehead as he grew more and more irritated with the fact that everyone seemed to be able to tell he was lost, but rather than voicing his anger he just let out a sharp exhale.
"I feel like you're missing the issue here, why are you following me? Aren't you not allowed here or something?" The crimson-haired girl blinked as though he had said something ridiculous but after a few seconds of extended silence decided the other party wasn't joking and just shrugged.
"I've always followed you around, it's you Blondie, and me over there remember? Oh well I guess you don't remember, did I say you owe me your dinner?". Lucan raised an eyebrow as the girl snuck in something strange at the end.
'Wasn't it supposed to be my lunch?... No I'm focused on the wrong thing' he recalled what she had said when he was in the medical ward when he had first met her and shook his head "Okay well, you're not going to follow me into my room are you?"
She shook her head and turned into a bunch of glowing butterflies Lucan watched in amazement and was just about to mention how cool it was when he heard a thud and a few steps away and snapped his head in its direction just in time to see the materialized Polly lying face flat on the floor. "Are you okay?"
"S-shut up" she screamed before turning invisible and shuffling her tiny feet away as fast as she could away from the corridor while Lucan was feeling a mixture of embarrassment and something else.
'She's a bit clumsy but she's cute so it's okay plus she's like four years old or something' he looked towards the door of his room and took a deep breath "Home sweet home?"
Author's Note:
If you're enjoying the story and want to read ahead or support my work, you can check out my P@treon at [email protected]/LordCampione. But don't worry—all chapters will eventually be public. Just being here and reading means the world to me. Thank you for your time and support.