Chapter Text
In the midst of a bewitching hour, when everyone was already deep in slumber, faint footsteps were heard echoing between the hall that connects the Askanier Manor. Although the House of Askanier was said to be less spacious than the rest of the ruling family’s house, its size was still too big for someone who came from the 21st century. Lukas remembered the first time he opened his eyes and found himself to be here, he spent the entire day walking like it was some kind of a cardiac sport.
One thing that Lukas could conclude after spending decades in this world was the people here really adore walking. However, Lukas could let things pass mostly because the view between one hall to another was, to say the least, too wonderful not to forgive. The footsteps then stopped in front of the door coated with gold ornaments, knowing well where it would lead him, Lukas then knocked on the door twice. There’s this specific rhythm that formed naturally, between them, like some kind of a secret code that Lukas knew the person that is currently occupying the other side of the room would definitely recognize. Considering the other person’s behavior of being overly observant of things that are somehow related to Lukas, he would pick it up everytime.
No answer was heard, but of course that didn’t stop Lukas from entering the room. So then he opened the door, slowly but not too forgiving.
There he was greeted by the sight of a young man that is very much familiar to him, sitting leisurely with no care in the world. Although Lukas can’t see the other opponent’s face properly, Lukas could guess what his friend is currently doing.
“Leo, have you lost your mind?”
“What?” Leonard’s voice was heard.
The fact that he didn’t even bother to spare a glance towards Lukas himself made Lukas lose a piece of his patience. However Lukas knew the other person’s temperament and status, so he decided to not take any physical actions towards the other. But wasn’t he the master of this house? So maybe the other party could take a punch or two? Considering their status right now, won’t Leonard let him do it?
“It’s almost dawn, and you’re still here? The crown prince of Bayern must have too much time on their hands to the point they have the spare time to laze around in other people’s houses?”
“Well, rather than lazing aroundーI would gladly call this activity ‘reading’, Lukas.” A sound of a book being flipped was heard. Lukas stared at him, giving him a second of silence. Lukas then realized this guy was indeed being serious, acting as if his body was nailed down to the seat, not moving even an inch.
“Leo, you read books when you have spare time.”
“And I do have it now, yes? Time that I’m willing to spare.”
“For what?” Lukas paused, “The library in the Wittelsbach household might be burning down to ashes to the point a crown prince had to step out himself and spend their night reading in someone else’s house.” Lukas crossed his arms. Unexpectedly to Lukas, Leonard finally glanced at him, turning his head and met Lukas’s gaze.
“No, you worded it wrong.” Leonard then licked his thumb, marked the corner of the page, closed the book, and put his gaze back to Lukas. “I spared my time for you. You have my time, not the book.”
Hearing Leonard's shameless response, Lukas was at a loss at his words.
He would have hit the other’s head so hard if only he wasn’t aware of the other’s schedule that awaits him the next day, but unfortunately, Lukas didn’t hold the capability to forget, so simply remembering is all he got for now.
He sighed, “Sure, whatever. Let’s leave it at that. What is it this time? Ellie wasn’t willing to be painted again?”
Considering the Hohenzollerns' whereabouts not too long ago after the coronation of Elias Hohenzollern, Lukas witnessed the struggle and hustle that happened between the two childhood friends. One day it was Elias refusing to be painted unless Lukas would stand and wait for him there, then the next day Elias made Lukas paint him instead (Leonard didn’t approve, he said Lukas’s painting would lead to tribulation and that offended Lukas so much that they stopped talking for two days). After all that chaos, Leonard would come to Lukas’s place and talk about it to figure out what to do in order to make that soon-to-be emperor sit down and smile properly to be painted.
“No. It’s not that.” Leonard then shifted to the right a little, making a space beside him for Lukas to sit.
However, Lukas simply sat across Leonard. Leonard spared him an annoyed glance, then Lukas felt a pang in his core. Are you serious? Lukas thought that annoyed glance should’ve been on his face instead and not Leonard’s, so did the core sudden attack should’ve come from him instead. Still Lukas didn’t care and just gestured for Leonard to keep talking.
Convinced that Lukas wasn’t willing to sit beside him, Leonard scoffed. Then he rummaged through the mountain of books beside him and after confirming he grabbed the one which he intended to show, he said, “I caught a glimpse of the Askanier family tree.”
The Askanier family tree and not ‘your’ family, Lukas noticed how Leonard worded it as if Askanier was just a label that tied Lukas’s existence. But then Lukas recalled how after finding out the whole truth about his existence, Leonard seemed not to want Lukas to define himself as an Askanier if he himself won’t be willing. Lukas liked that. Leonard was indeed being very respectful of him and respected his choice.
Back to the present, after hearing Leo’s statement, Lukas glanced at the book that Leonard was currently holding; it was, indeed, a record of Askanier. There was the familiar Askanier family crest stamped on its cover. So was he spending all the night here casually rummaging through a document of importance? Treating it as if it’s another fun political read?
Lukas let out a chuckle, fixed his sitting posture and crossed his legs. “What about it? A nice read? Or too boring compared to yours?”
“You…” Leonard then looked away, “I’m just wondering, what are you planning to do?”
“What I’m planning to do?”
“With this.” Leonard brought the record on the top of the wooden table and tapped the cover. Lukas then looked at him. Perhaps the silence that Lukas gave to Leonard as an answer managed to make Leonard realize that Lukas indeed didn't have any idea what Leonard was trying to say. “The Askanier bloodline. Will it stop?” Leonard asked.
Lukas widened his eyes, his mouth formed into ‘o’. He thought for a second. “Maybe.”
“I respect your choice, but don’t you think it’s a waste?”
Lukas furrowed his eyebrows, “Waste?”
Lukas’s mind recalled that the person in front of him is too logical. Just like Lukas was known as a strategist, Leonard was an opportunist. Leonard is a walking field manual that can’t help but calculate every possible outcome that might cause a beneficial opportunity. When the dot finally connects and the puzzle fits, Lukas knows exactly where this is going.
But Leonard beat him into it, “Lukas, things that I will say starting from now won’t contain any compulsion and you are free to reject my offer.” Leonard then repeated tapping the record with a certain rhythm. “However, I am doing this—as a friend—while you are indeed my most beloved friend, I'm doing this because I am your friend before I’m your political partner, so please listen to me.”
Got it, he doesn’t want me to refuse. Lukas scoffed inwardly and noted down.
“Lukas, will you be willing to create a successor with me?”
“Pardon?”
Lukas then thought, you really either live long enough to the point you start encountering anomalies or die early and buried merely as names, in his case, a person of importance just proposed to make a heir with him as if they’re asking him to spare some minutes to put a tick on a shopping list.
“I asked whether you would be willing to participate in an experiment or not.”
“Excuse me?”
“Listen to me first.” Leonard didn’t bother to repeat himself. He opened the record, rummaging through the pages to others and stopped at one. Then he pointed at one of the pages. “You see, there was never a record of a successor made by fusing two kinds of magic, the combination is always linear, never varied. The only thing that comes close would be your existence. Isn’t that amazing?”
“I suppose I can take that as a compliment?” Lukas chuckled.
“Always.” Leonard corrected.
There was admiration reflected in Leonard’s eyes and that somehow made Lukas catch a glimpse of the Leonard he met for the first time. It was a very old memory that had been stored in the back of his mind, but the realization hit Lukas hard even before and after numerous retries, Leonard that reached out to him in desperation and faith, the Leonard that he left and the Leonard that sat across him, they’re all still indeed the same person.
Lukas then laughed to himself, he actually found it unbelievable how Leonard was able to define himself with love.
“If you understand, now it’s better to start our experiment. If my hypothesis could be proven right, then there’s a big chance we could start a change to mankind.” Leonard continued.
Okay, let me correct that. Maybe too much. Lukas thought.
“You’re being too excessive.” Lukas scoffed. “So you’re saying that you want me to search for a suitable magic partner with a different type of magic to combine it with mine and create a successor?”
“What is there to search for?” Leonard gave Lukas a questioning look. There was silence. Lukas then looked at Leonard up and down. Leonard then realized this person will always be proper, in terms of maintaining dignity, even if he wasーindeed eyeing him with a look of displeasure.
“My magic partner, who will it be?”
“Lukas.”
“Ellie’s magic would be interesting…”
“Elias is too busy with his coronation.” Leonard said, a little too fast.
“Narke should beー”
“Lukas, it’s not funny.”
“Oh, it is. Really.” Lukas tilted his head, putting a hand on his chin and grinned. “Well then, what makes this person so sure of himself?”
Realizing that he will not be getting away anytime soon from Lukas’s antics, Leonard finally gave in. “That person’s healing magic only works when it first applied to you.”
“That’s not very convincing. Try harder.”
“Lukas, are you serious?”
“Well, are you? isn’t this supposed to be the matter of our successor? You’re suspiciously being very adamant about who will be my magic partner.”
Hearing Lukas’s resolute ‘why does it matter to you’ response, Leonard then glanced at Lukas intently as if he was about to bore a hole in Lukas’s face. However Lukas only smiled calmly, still unfazed. Lukas thought maybe he should stop teasing the poor crown prince and just get to the point. But this too, is an important opportunity for him to teach his beloved friend a lesson of honesty and self awareness. Life is never too much for one to learn. Lukas had been through double the amount of hardships, so will it hurt Leonard to learn from him?
“Leonard, you’re not being too honest right now, aren’t you?” Lukas asked, fully knowing Leonard doesn’t really like it whenever Lukas called him with the entirety of his surname. But emphasis was something he needed now. So he could care less.
Because the art of making Leonard understand something should start with Lukas showing him something that he doesn’t like. Just like one time Lukas tried to push him away because of their different sense of what’s justice and what’s not, Leonard only learns through results. Leonard would only understand if he was shown the worst possible outcome right in front of his eyes and would only understand if Lukas said and spelled it right to him, let’s not see eachother in the meantime. Leonard then would conclude inwardly, Oh, I shouldn’t have done that. Lukas didn’t like it if I did that.
Lukas crossed his arms, waiting for Leonard to give him the exact reason he wanted. “Sure, let’s say that your magic and mine hold the perfect answer for your question. But you skipped the very important part, why does it have to be me and you? Why are we suddenly relevant in this experiment?” Lukas then shrugged and continued, his sight still glued to Leonard’s gaze. “You could have gone and dragged Ellie, his magic is also outstanding. Narke’s magic would even be worth considering, wouldn't it?”
Then Lukas continued again, slowly letting out word by word while reaching out to Leonard’s palm that was placed on the top of The Record of Askanier, pulling it up and guiding, “Look me in the eyes right now and tell me what is the exact reason why you brought this up in the first place.” Then the record was tightly shut, Lukas’s hand was still on top of Leonard’s.
There wasn’t any sound heard from Leonard’s mouth. It was as if his mouth was silenced for seconds. However Lukas didn’t back down, he let Leonard take all the time he needed. Lukas found it hilarious that even in silence, they really still could be fighting. As Lukas’s hand slowly loosened the hold between their hands, Leonard immediately caught it again. Then Leonard slowly opened his mouth and finally said it.
“I just want it to be you.”
“And?”
“...not with anyone else.”
Lukas then laughed out loud, “That wasn’t too difficult, was it?” Lukas smiled, his eyes gently bent into a crescent.
“Lukas…” Leonard rolled his eyes. “You always overcomplicate things.”
Lukas thought Leonard seemed to think as if he was hard to read, that he hid things well, that he was able to quickly get back on track and expected Lukas to miss it. But the way he wasn’t able to meet his gaze heads on, the way Leonard always acted as if there was a slight hesitation in his actions, and the most important of it allーthe crimson shade that was visible in both of his ears gave it away.
“You always overcomplicate things, Leo. If you already went with that answer the first seconds I asked why, then we would not be having this conversation right now. I would just nod, smile, and be so accepting of the adoration you have towards me.”
Leonard felt helpless.
“Okay, we are getting too off topic right now.” Lukas then broke free of Leonard’s grasp. Fixed his sitting posture and leaned back to the chair and closed his eyes. Though not heard, Lukas could exactly sense what Leonard was about to say and whose fault was it?
“Will there be papers for me to sign? Like some kind of a contract?”
Leonard shook his head, although feeling a little empty with nothing for his hand to hold on, “Not yet. We are still on the hypothesis part. It’s more preferable if we try to do more research regarding how combining two entirely different types of magic works when it comes to creating a successor.” Leonard then propped his chin up, thinking.
“Don’t you think it’s weird too?”
Lukas nodded, “Yes, very much so. It seems like it’s too good to be true if you were really the first new human who initiated this. But there might be reasons behind this… there might be new humans out there who also had this thought but maybeーjust maybeーsomething happened and the result is always a linear combination.”
Considering new humans had been around way longer than the two of them, there will always be a possibility for other ruling families that could have initiated the practice. The fact that there is nothing like a non-linear combination isn't weird, but why is it always linear combinations over the years? That’s the weird part.
“Yes, that part.” Leonard also nodded in return.
“Lukas, we need to work on that first.”
Then he brought another stack of paper, this one was carefully binded with a very elegant and luxurious looking cover. It was blue, the kind of blue that Leonard grew up in. There was a Wittelsbach crest stamped on top of it. Lukas didn’t need to ask what it was.
“Would be interesting if you care to explain since when you’ve been planning to do this to the point you got both of our family records lined up side by side in instant.” Lukas said.
Leonard didn’t pay any attention to it, “Some other time I would, but look.” He opened the Wittelsbach records, started rummaging through the pages again and stopped right in the last part of the book. He then tapped the part where his name was written. “If you notice, my family always excels in non-combat magic, does it? Especially in healing magic.”
Lukas nodded. “However yours only works properly when it comes to me first.”
“Yes. That means our magic at least holds the same variable.” Leonard continued. “If that would explain why I was able to be aware of your attempt to turn back the time.”
If what Leonard was trying to say could be true, then there might be similarity of the variable they have in their magic. Lukas was originally born in a prestigious wizard family. But the magic that was stored within him physically is still an anomaly, something unknown, and was greeted to be something that wasn’t common. Be it his eyes or his ability to be able to transform a living force such as blood and whatever else, and retract it as his manpower, it wasn’t something the Askanier from previous bloodline owned.
Contradictory to The Wittelsbachs, Leonard was accustomed towards the uncommon, mainly because in the end it didn’t hurt anyone unless he used it. Leonard’s magic development wasn’t ‘normal’, it was just odd. However it won’t change the fact his healing magic worked instantly when he used it on Lukas. And Leonard broke the system and noticed his retry.
If you put those two variables side by side. One unknown and one uncommon, they still had one similarity. It wasn’t the fact that their magic held that same oddity, but the fact that Leo’s magic lacked something that Lukas’s magic could easily fulfill, and Leo’s magicーor existence could break through the system that only Lukas’s magic was able to contain could still be something that still have the same value.
Lukas snapped his finger, “So our magic, even though it's a different type…”
Leonard and Lukas spoke at the same time, “...could still be a linear combination.”
So, what about it? It’s not that simple, because we are talking about creating a life. It should be more complex than figuring out how a formula works. With how far Lukas already read the novel itself, there wasn't anything detailed about how a ruling family can end up with an heir. He just remembered it was mentioned that the thing about creating a successor for new humans didn’t have anything to do with how the old humans do it, thus making them heavily rely on their magic. It seems more on equation and combination…
“Does that mean it’s still possible for a successor to be made by combining our magic?” Lukas asked, he just wanted to make sure whether they are still on the right track or not. This might be the start of something new after all, if they end up succeeding, that is. “But how?”
Noticing how Lukas wasn’t being sure, Leonard slowly propped up his chin, then he looked away. He stared at the window near the two of them. After a while, he sighed. “Maybe we should just talk about it tomorrow, it’s getting late, after all. We should get some rest.”
Getting late is a little… no. It’s like a quarter left for the sun to rise, you bastard...
Lukas scoffed inwardly. He tilted his head, his eyes still on the other. “Sure, let’s do that. Go back to your place then.” Lukas reprimanded. But the other man just stared at him nonchalantly, as if he didn’t get it. “You’re not even going to see me off?”
“Didn’t you warpーoh. Don’t tell me…”
“Yes.”
“Leonard Wittelsbach, you… you’re really out of your mind.” Lukas facepalmed, he slowly lifted his gaze. Still staring at Leonard with a look of annoyance. After going through acceptance, he approached Leonard. With all his might, Lukas harshly tugged on Leonard’s sleeve and dragged him to the gate. Sensing his annoyance, the other just let him do whatever and followed along with absolute content.
With all honesty, Lukas could definitely care less about the media masses, if the words do get out to public, exclaiming that the crown prince of Bayern rode a train and carriage all the way to Anhalt and not warping, even though the other clearly already had the exact coordinates carved on the back of his palm, the masses would definitely be happy to finally put something in the headlines of the newspaper after days of seemingly never-ending days filled with peace. But still, the fact that the Hohenzollern is currently having their spotlight and all eyes are directed towards Elias Hohenzollern right at this moment, made Lukas feel somehow so conscious of everything. If some of the conservatives start to speculate something useless about Anhalt and Bayern then it will not be favorable for Elias.
As they were walking through the hall, Lukas asked, “Leo, if we did well and succeeded in this experiment, what will happen then?”
There was no answer coming from Leonard. Seconds passed, it then turned into minutes. As they finally reached the gate, Lukas still didn’t expect Leonard to just let his questions unanswered just like that. But Lukas didn’t falter. He knew there was something else that Leonard didn’t tell him.
Much to his expectations, just before Leonard got up to the carriage, he finally turned to look at him.
Even though the two had been very close towards each other throughout the years, there were times when Lukas wasn’t able to be good at reading Leonard’s expression. Leonard was never easy to read to begin with, Leonard just happened to lower his guard whenever he was around Lukas. Rather than reading Leonard like a book, Leonard picked the exact pages and showed Lukas what he wanted him to understand. The movement of the other broke Lukas’s thoughts, Leonard bowed a little, then he slowly brought one of his hands to touch the artifact that’s placed in Lukas’s earlobe. Then he retracted his hands. Lukas didn’t miss the slight trembling. There was clearly hesitation in Leonard’s actions. Lukas wondered why.
“I will tell you later. Let’s just work on it first, okay?” He finally answered.
Lukas nodded in return.
After all, they still had days ahead of them, so why rush?