He messed up.

Richard Moreau was a proud man, one that had worked hard to try and cover up his flaws, whatever they may be. He knew he wasn't perfect, but then again, who could claim to be nowadays. No one was perfect. If they were human, they were destined to be imperfect, destined to have some kind of residual flaw lingering within him. No matter how hard they tried, no matter how much they attempted to hide, there was always going to be some blemish or dirt that could never be washed away. Richard knew this. He didn't want to admit that he knew this, but he accepted it, despite how he'd go to ridiculous length to hide it from others and even himself. He knew he wasn't perfect. He knew when he made mistakes, and, for the most part, he thought he knew how to amend them.

But he thought wrong. He was always careful as to when he powered up, as he always took a moment to observe his surroundings before snapping his fingers and allowing the rush of energy to flow through him. If he thought, even for an instant, that someone would have spotted him, he would have carried on his way and simply miss the opportunity to gathering energy or collect a starseed. After what had happened with Jade, he was determined to simply allow nature to take its course before he'd ever risk transforming in front of another being again. Richard wanted to think that, with how imperfect that he was, that he at least had the ability to learn from his mistakes.

He thought wrong.

Richard wasn't sure when Lucca started to suspect that something was up, but in truth, he couldn't blame her. After all, Lucca may have been quiet and kept to herself, but she was observant. She always was the clever one, knowing to be seen but never heard, never one to draw any attention to herself. Had he suspected her of anything, Richard would have considered her a threat, but also, an opportunity. As far as working retail and assisting customers, Lucca was never a shining star, always too meek, too quiet, not having the power to push the sale through when faced with objections. He kept her as part of the family, to appease his uncle, but were there not similar genes within the two, he would have fired her after a month.

But he was a fool to not have seen it before. Lucca wasn’t necessarily useless, she simply needed to be approached at a different angle. Even now as he looked at her, from where she sat on the chair in his office, ankle over ankle and gripping the sides of the chair, looking around like a poor little mouse that had been caught in a trap and accepted its timely fate, Richard could see potential coming out of this mistake. His mistake, which would have put him as the laughing stock of the Negaverse again, should anyone find out.

He wasn’t sure when he made the mistake, but he should have suspected that she knew. She was always quiet, but recently she’s been exceptionally quiet. She would see him coming and turn her head, but not before he noticed her cheeks would pale and her burgundy eyes would widen, and her fear was unmistakable. He thought that she had held ill feelings towards him for continuing to shove her in the cooler when a Senshi came by, but no, it went deeper than that. He simply had no way of knowing just how deep. But now, the cat was out of the bag, and her note, though simple and brief, spoke volumes.

’I know.’

It was rather rude to throw that him at the beginning of the day, he thought. Not because he was clueless or could even pretend to be, but because now it would fester on his mind all day, and being a school day, she knew there wouldn’t be a constant rush of people to distract him from the inevitable. It gave him plenty of enough time for him to think and muse his action, and being that she was working the closing shift with him again, he would have to use every second of the day to prepare himself for the confrontation.

He didn’t need to ask what she knew. That much he knew. What else could she mean? Somewhere along the road, he messed up and she saw him transform. With his civilian identity exposed to another, he would have to settle this, and though his immediate reaction was to call a General-King or Queen to handle this mess, he forced that notion aside. Last time he messed up like this, he pulled poor Jade, a woman he respected and admired, a woman he longed to know but felt he had ruined all chances to engage guilt-free, into this, and if that wasn’t enough to dirty his conscious, he pulled Zinkenite into the mess as well. His recent draining with Hafwen, a simply task, turned messy, and while Krishna was a mere phone call away, he unplugged the phone cord and turned off his cell phone, to stop himself from begging for help.

Richard was tired of seeking others’ help. For too long he had used others as a crutch, and enjoyed it. He more than enjoyed it- he’d go out of his way to embellish the thought of someone else cleaning his mess. But something happened within him. Something was told him that he couldn’t force others to take the fall. He had to take responsibility for his own actions and mistakes, and if he could not clean up this mess with his cousin, then he wasn’t worthy of the power that Zinkenite, and Metallia gave him.

He had made a mistake, and he would fix it.

Once the store was closed and the doors were locked, Richard made his way into the office where Lucca sat, and when he stepped in, there was no surprise or mirth on his cousin’s face. Her eyes widened for a moment, but otherwise her reaction was typical. It was as if this was a regular job and she was in the boss’s office for disciplinary actions, and he thought that it was an interesting approach for her to take. However, he wasn’t just her boss. He was her cousin, and he allowed some familiarity to be heard, coating his speech with honey as he addressed her. “So, you know. What gave it away?”

Lucca wasn’t sure what to say, and she whatever courage she might have had was tarnished. She was always timid, more so around him than with anyone else, than with Daran. But at least now she had a reason to be, and she barely spoke above a whisper, as she answered with her face to the ground. “Saw you transform. The other night. When Hafwen left.”

He wore a careful mask, tightening his lips and keeping a straight face, despite how fragile it was. This told him all he needed to know. She had witnessed him not only stalk her to the mall, but transform. Which meant that she was at the mall when he attacked. Which meant that she knew who it was that attacked Hafwen and Darren.

“Who did you tell?” Richard asked.

She shook her head. “No one.”

Not that Richard believed her, even when he knew Lucca to not to be the type to speak of what she knew. Even when that information held tremendous value, she wouldn’t tell a soul. While Richard wanted to think that this was true, he felt compelled to ask, “Why not?”

“Because,” Lucca said, still looking to the ground, and even when Richard knelt before her she was hard to hear. “Tag Swagger said you were protecting the city. Thought you might have had a reason to target her…”

This offered Richard some amount of relief, and now, more than ever, did he want to track down Tag Swagger and give that man the biggest, manliest handshake that he could provide. Lucca may have been observant, but she was gullible, and this could have worked to his advantage. It took much strength for him to not openly cry out his praise to the heavens, but he did let out a soft sigh, muttering the words ‘thank you’ to himself. While it was a small comfort to Richard, it was still trouble for the Negaverse. Like with Jade, her options were limited, and he took little pleasure in bringing this up with her now. Jade was a beautiful, spirited woman that had managed to strike his conscious. Lucca? She was family, and the thought of enforcing these same options onto her was like a thorned whip to an already gaping wound.

“I did, because she threatened my identity. Just as you do now, my dear Lucca,” Richard said, setting a hand onto her shoulder and feeling how tense she was, and just how tighter she would become in a few moments. “I know you wouldn’t tell, even if you haven’t watched Tag’s documentary, but I cannot take that chance. The Negaverse can’t take that chance.”

“Because of them, right?” Lucca asked, glancing up briefly before casting her eyes to the ground. “Because of her… the one outside the store that day. The one at the mall.”

Richard nodded his head, not revealing Medea’s name to her but acknowledging the statement. Thus far, Lucca was handling this fairly well, and he wondered if he was simply worrying for nothing. After all, it was like Richard to work something up like this, right? And in the end, it all turns out fine and they all shared a good laugh. He might have invested too much hope in this, and without warning or delay, he placed a hand under Lucca’s chin and gently coaxed her into looking up, just as he snapped his fingers. Within seconds, his sports coat and dress pants disappeared, replaced with his thick, soldat steel jacket with militaristic ornaments, and the transformation completed itself as he felt the weighted cap on top his head. Her burgundy eyes widened with surprise and she gave a gasp, but otherwise she kept quiet, much to Captain Buddingtonite’s delight. “Then allow me to formally introduce myself, I am-”

“Buddingtonite. I know.” Lucca cut him off from his introductory spiel, and she was quick to get to the point. “What are you going to do? Are you… going to kill me?”

Buddingtonite gave a deep laugh, though in doing so, he allowed too much of his inner turmoil escape into the open. He immediately insured her, even when it meant narrowing her options down to a single, just as terrifying one for her. “No, my dear. That is an option, however, I would never dream of killing you. You are family, and you are far more useful to this store and the Negaverse alive. However, there is another way, if you’re-”

“Join the Negaverse?”

He gave an annoyed sigh, before bobbing his head up and down, “Yes, yes, I was going to say that. Would you mind letting me finish my sentence? It’s extremely rude…”

As Richard Moreau, he could get away with such banter and she would repond meekly and let him have his way. As Buddingtonite, he could have easily plucked her starseed from her chest and called it a night. And yet, how was it that she seemed more brave when handling a Negaverse Captain over her own cousin? “I’ll join. I wanted to join. From the moment I saw the documentary, I just… was too scared to seek one out.”

This was not at all what Buddingtonite was expecting from this ordeal, and he could not help but allow his careful mask to fall, his lips cracking into a wide smile that would have made the Cheshire Cat green with envy. He was expecting a fight or a struggle, but Lucca had managed to pull a fast one on him, and for once, it was a surprise he enjoyed. “Well, my dear,” He said softly, unable to hide the genuine surprise and mirth from his rich voice as he addressed her. “I will be honest with you when I say that I am surprised by this behavior in you. Never in my wildest dreams would I have suspected little bitty Lucca practically volunteering, but I suppose it shouldn’t come as a surprise… after all, Melancon might be your last name, but Moreau blood still runs through you.”

Her smile was soft, timid, nothing at all like one would have been when offering their services to the Negaverse willingly, but who was Buddingtonite to object? Part of him was proud of his little cousin and while mystified that he had seen a sight of her that he never suspected existed, and that side of his overwhelmed any other thoughts he may have had, for good or ill. However, as eager as he was to bring her over, he felt the need to bring up an extremely important topic before he brought her to the Rift. “Before we do this, I must warn you. The initiation process might be a little painful. Do you think you can handle it?”

Whatever hesitation that Lucca might have had was brief, but present nonetheless, and it was almost enough for Buddingtonite to want her to reconsider, but just as she surprised him before, she did so once again. “If it’s necessary to help the Negaverse and save Destiny City… then… I think I’ll be okay. You won’t hurt me… right?”

“Now, Lucca, my dear… in all the years you knew me, did I ever hurt you?” Buddingtonite tightened his grip on her shoulder, in preparation for teleporting her over as well as to comfort the smallest bit of distress he saw. She looked up at him and shook her head softly, knowing just as well as he had that of all the scrapes and bruises caused, Richard never hurt her. Not like Daran had. “Now, are you ready?”

She bobbed her head, and it would have been all too easy to whisk her away, to bring her before a General-King and add another eager member to their ranks. And yet, he had stopped himself before he could follow through with it. Was this how it was always going to be? Was this all that Buddingtonite could do to help the Negaverse? What if the General-Kings were not available? How could he expect her to wait until then? How could he sit there and handle the ridicule and belittling words of others when he went crawling to a General-King to do his job?

In a brief moment, he recalled his last mistake, and he was determined to not to make the same mistake twice. If he was to succeed in the Infiltration branch, then he was expected to do his own dirty work, was he not? Not just Zinkenite’s encouragement ringing through his ears, but Alois’ insults, his laundry list of failures because he waited for someone else to seal the deal… and what if they would take all the credit? How many had he allowed to slip through his fingers because he did not do the work himself?

“Richard… um, sorry, Buddingtonite… are you ready?”

Her question would go unanswered for a second, but not for too much longer. He gave her a quick response, giving his fingers a nervous flex before plunging his hand deep within her chest, continuing until he was clutching her starseed. She gave a pained gasp, and he tightened the grip on her shoulder to keep her still as he tried to sooth her. “Ssshhhh, it’s okay. I’m ready… are you ready? Don’t say anything, just nod your head when you’re ready.”

Lucca gave a pained gasp and tears began to swell in her eyes, but bless her heart if she wasn’t trying to to abide to his commands. She gave a shuddering breath and bobbed her head up and down, letting her know that she was more than ready to continue, and then, and only then, did Buddingtonite begin to pump chaos into the starseed. He had seen it be done once before and he tried to mimic the same motions, tried to capture the same prowess and skill that General-King Zinkenite had possessed, resisting the urge to simply rip the starseed out. No, that would have been easy. He would have learned nothing from it. He would gain nothing from it. Instead of taking away, he was trying to give, feeling the strain that his own body was going through but refusing to back down and refusing to withdraw until the deed was done.

When he was done, he would ask her name. He would welcome the new lieutenant into the Negaverse, take her under his wing and guide her, perhaps better than how he treated her here in the store. He would take her out on missions, teach her to drain energy, starseeds, put her to good use within the Negaverse… and all the while, he would boast, and he could show Zinkenite, Serpentine, Bischofite, and Benitoite that he was not useless… show them all that Buddingtonite had come into his own, and-

He made a terrible mistake. He wasn’t sure exactly what happened or what went wrong, simply that he made a mistake. The starseed he held might have been cracking and he couldn’t hear it over Lucca’s sobs, but by the time he felt it splinter within his grasps, there was a stabbing pain in his hand and he was forced away from the screaming being on the chair. Shards of ice dug into his arm and caused him to shiver, but the chill he felt from such a minor of touches was nothing compared to what he felt from listening to that animalistic, yet familiar howl that consumed his office, reverberating through the walls and threatening to consume his entire soul. He looked towards Lucca, but there was nothing before him but growing ice, the sudden drop of temperature causing a thick mist to fill in the small office space. Buddingtonite didn’t need to see what laid beyond the mist to know…

That he made a terrible mistake.

((Word Count: 305 cool )

(((TO BE CONTINUED...)))