Locked Legacies

Chapter XIII: Absolutely catholic Agapito

 The fourth hour guarding a library can become quite dull, and Lucas had already tried everything to entertain himself. For the first hour, he had been as stiff as wood, nailed to the ground like every good knight. When the second hour arrived, his willpower decreased but his honor didn't, so he just paced in front of the entrance. The fourth hour was just around the corner when he decided to step in; if someone decided to steal something, he would notice from inside.

He marched through the aisles, wandering through all the bookshelves and, even though they all mostly talked about Catholicism, there were thousands of them. Despite the fact that he was not searching for something in particular, his heart skipped a beat at the sight of a slim book spine. "I cannot believe this is still here," his puzzled frown communicated. It brought back one of the joyous memories he had, yet his heart got heavy at the black lettering. "The absolutely Catholic and definitely not fictional adventures of Agapito," it read. He rolled his eyes at how they had once thought the name was hilarious. But, when he read the name of the protagonist, he could almost hear his heart crack a little bit.

"What do we want to name our character?" Rainer questioned Lucas and himself. His legs were still short as they dangled from the tree branch; he would have a growth spurt later that year. The other boy had his feet up against the trunk, his head on the other's lap as he wrote intently.

"Uh... Definitely a mixture of our names," he suggested, staring at his shoes as he tapped them softly against the bark.

He thought about it for a second, trying to come up with a reasonable name but failing miserably, "As in Raicas or Luner?"

"Sounds good to me."

"That doesn't make any sense, they don't exist!" He complained, bending his neck to look at him and gifting him a smile that he mirrored.

"I thought your name wasn't real, yet here we are..."

"Lou!"

"What? I'm serious!" He assured, though his face didn't match his words. "But, oh well, if you don't like them..."

"They just don't exist."

"They do now," a half-smile was drawn on his face, and the other laughed.

There were a couple of minutes of deep silence in which they tried to come up with another one until Rainer said: "What about Agapito?"

"Oh, look who is inventing names now!"

"No, Lou," he chuckled, once again looking at him, "It is a Spanish name..."

"Yeah, right. What does it mean, then?"

"It means 'One who is dearly loved, precious, adored..." he started, looking into his caramel eyes as he spoke, which, illuminated by the sunlight, showed some specks of gold that made him smile, "Um... cared for, treasured, cherished... and one's favorite."

He responded after a second with a grin, cheeks slightly tinted pink. "I like it."

The beaming expression drawn on his face nine years ago hadn't changed a bit; the light dimples still appeared as he reminisced.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

"I am still in disbelief... He built this?" She repeated for what must have been the thousandth time. Despite having arrived fifteen minutes prior already, she was still inspecting; the colorful crystal pebbles hanging by the window, the maps and drawings... Every single detail was unique and breathtaking.