A Gift To You

Old Lives| Luca |reader|Mike🍋

Here under the shadows of dead trees, you stalked through the mud, heaving your suitcase in your arms. It was late evening, the sun's warm glow dimming as time went on. Your worn boots were covered in mud that had coated the bottom of your dress.

It had rained a few hours ago beckoning mosquitos out to pester you. The stagecoach had long since abandoned you about half a mile into your trip. He'd decided that the trip to the 'cursed manor' wasn't worth it and tossed your suitcase to the side.

'Please let me get there before nightfall' you shivered from the cold. Wetness seeping into your socks and shoes.

You'd come all this way without a penny to your name to find your husband! Pulling the paper out of your dress pocket, you looked at the manor sign and sighed in relief that this was the right mansion. Walking up through the property, you felt an odd tingle, dread, and anxiety flooded your system, then all too soon, it all faded. Dragging your case through the mud, you knocked on the door.

'Please let someone be up'

It took a while, and for a moment, you thought about busting a window open with a rock. The big wooden door creaked open, and a man? No, a woman answered the door. She was about your size wearing a bee keepers headdress.

She let you in and closed the door behind you, then left.

'How rude' she didn't even bother introducing herself!

Looking around the manor, you noticed how shabby it looked, dust coated most of the objects. Spiderwes sat high up in the corners, and the floor was gray, like it needed to be moped and polished.

Like a good guest, you wiped your feet and tried to get rid of as much dirt on you as possible. The last thing you wanted was to track mud in! There had to be a bathroom here somewhere.

Setting your suitcase down, you began looking for a bathroom.

'After I freshen up, I'll look for the owner and then-' that's when you heard it. That shakey laugh you could always pick out of a crowd. Wandering the halls,uncaring if it was rude or not. You checked room after room. Surely, your mind was playing tricks on you. There's no way you could have heard him from this deep in the manor. But there he was, standing in a room between the living room and kitchen he stood wiping his hands off with a towel. Without a care in the world.

Taking a shaky step, you ran and pulled him into a tight hug, nuzzling and holding his shirt. Luca yelped, and his weak legs gave out as he fell to his knees with you in his arms.

"I've looked for you for so long! I...I can't believe I finally found you, don't ever scare me like that again, Balsa! You hear me!?" You sobbed into his chest. How many years had you been searching for him? Trying to scrape together enough money to buy his bail only for someone else, some stranger to beat you to the punch. He went missing after that, and the warden didn't even bother to try and find where he'd been taken to. So you sold everything you could get your hands on and left.

From city to city, you biked, walked, and rode every mode of transportation known to man. Collecting a ghost of a trail of your husband's location and red hearings. But you finally found him! After years of searching and travel, you'd finally found him! Now you could go home, and he could work on his little inventions just like he used to!

The days when you'd wake up to him, covered in oil and grease standing over you and shaking you awake to see something at 11 am. You always threatened to throw away the key to his lab when he did that. However, it wouldn't be the same, not without his mother and certainly not without his mentor, Alva Lorenz. Despite his rather cold exterior, he was the reason you'd convince yourself to pursue a relationship with Luca. Or maybe the old man was just tired of watching you flirt with his, oblivious, protégé. The world was a bit more lonely without him, though.