"Who are you?"

Lukas' gaze never left yours. Everything seemed to move in slow motion⁠—the movement of your lips, the constant motion of the people behind him, the tresses of your hair falling over your shoulder, the venture of phoenixes outside. He wanted to say something, anything, but he couldn't. Shock overwhelmed his body as if the gods just took his soul to paradise. 

You were right in front of him, alive and breathing. You weren't captured by anyone as he feared. For nearly a decade, Lukas had been trying to get a hold of you—searching for you, hoping that you were safe. It didn't matter to him if you never saw him. What mattered to him was you living a normal life and enjoying whatever you can enjoy without the burdens of his troll hunting. If he were to show himself, thing would get complicated. You've stayed hidden enough from him and the magic world, and even ignored a lot of sightings to be safe—unintentionally. 

"You're back."  

As you were about to ask the man what he meant by that, he faced a familiar face behind him—and you were a hundred percent sure that you knew the man he just faced.

Oh. 

"Peeing while a plane lands looked harder that I thought." His companion laughed.

The taller man finally took notice of you. For a moment his expression shifted with worry, but quickly changed into the biggest smile that could rival Alfred's. You could've sword that his spiky hair just spiked up more.

"(Y/N)!" The mystical atmosphere between you and the man in front of your seeps away. "Long time no see!"

"Matthias?" You managed to let out.

"Huh, what's happening?" Nick knelt from her seat to join in the conversation.

A smile curved on your lips, yet you couldn't help but feel disappointed from the fact that the mysterious moment was broken. It made you feel giddy—not in the school girl way, but  in a way you couldn't really understand; a weird sense of familiarity washed over you like a tidal wave. It felt wrong to have that sort of sense, but a small voice in your mind was yelling in your head that this was something you should be feeling from him. It wasn't dictating you to feel this way, it was telling you that you have felt this way before. It just wasn't telling you who it was.

Nick nudged you and gave you the most smug expression you have ever seen coming from her. 

"So," Nick suppressed a snort, "aren't you gonna introduce us all?"

You shot her a warning look. You were so using the "I am literally five years older than you" card on her once you get off this plane. 

"I'm Matthias." The Dane beats you to it. "This here's Lukas, my brother."

Brother? You finally got why he looked so damn familiar Lukas is probably the brother Matthias is closest with. You've probably seen him in Matthias' family photos when you guys were dating in high school. 

You think.

Weird, I can't remember. You covered up your worry with a smile.

It was probably normal that you couldn't remember. Well, it has been seventeen years since you've dated him and three years since you've bumped into him. The last time you met up with him, he was having trouble at home for not being married at his age yet. The pressure must've been hard on him. You kept in touch with him a few times to help him find someone he could bring home to his parents. There was no luck though. You couldn't find anyone who could handle him in all aspects of him. 

"Nicole, but y'all can call me Nick." You looked at Nick with a tint of fear in your eyes. "This here is (Y/n), if y'all didn't know."

"Did you just—"

"Amelia kinda rubbed it on me when we visited her before this, alright?" Nick raised her hands up in surrender as you sighed.

"What are you guys doing in Japan?" Matthias asked.

"You know me," You gave a chuckled, "another shoot, another dollar."

You were speaking to Matthias, yet your focus was on Lukas. There was something about him, really. As cliche as it sounds, you just couldn't get your eyes off of him. The more you stared, the more you saw the small details on his face.

Lukas was well aware that you were staring at him. He didn't want to speak to you, much less face you. He was doing for the best of everyone he loved, including you. His magic has been keeping you under the radar from the dangers you both encountered in the past—that was his punishment from the association, but it was better than not seeing you safe at all. They placed him in charge of your being and safety, but never mentioned any secrets that were only between the both of you—between him and the memories you have forgotten. He wanted to tell you everything on the spot, right here and now, but would you believe him? Ten years, he's been gone from your life, he doubts that you would even listen to a complete stranger.

 Lukas had to thank Matthias though, since he was the only person (besides Emil) who could get close to you for a conversation. Emil was way too busy in his part of the association—after studying medicine and graduating from it, he had to study more alchemy and monster anatomy under the span of three months just to get back in the field. Emil had the chance of meeting you a few times, but they were just coffee breaks and they were never too long. You were constantly traveling around the world, Emil had his internship at the hospital and then his residency after those years. You were able to meet him at a reunion with your fellow mates at the dorm building—probably the longest catching up session—but you had to leave early since you had a plane to catch the next morning. Boy, did you manage to straggle yourself at the airport the next morning. Never again were you going to drink like that.

For some reason, you four managed to catch up until it came to the baggage carousels. There you finally had a better look at Lukas, with Nick and Matthias volunteering to gather the baggage. You had Lukas to yourself for the meantime. 

"Hey." Lukas looked at you with that stoic expression of his. "Lukas, right?"

You reached out your hand to him for a shake.

 "I-I'm sorry about the awkward encounter earlier, it isn't really my thing to just ask people questions like that." You gave a light chuckle. "I'm (Y/n), by the way, I don't think your brother mentioned my name earlier."

Lukas looked intently at you for a moment before reaching for your hand.

"Lukas Bondevik." He took your hand in a firm grip.

Lukas may have moved coolly that could've grabbed your attention, but your attention was more on the vision that just appeared right before you when he took your hand. You saw him in front of you in a car, and it was snowing outside. He was speaking to you, but the sound was still the ambiance of the airport, just slowed down like a recorder. The vision, though the audio around you is slowed down, was at a normal pace. You tried looking around the vehicle, but you were stuck in that position. 

His eyes were kind and warm, not like the expression he faced you with a moment ago. The sparkle in his eyes were similar to his gaze when he faced you in the plane—it reminded you of the night sky when you took a photo of the Northern Lights last Christmas for a wedding prenup with Nick. The porcelain face was moving with a joyous expression.

(Y/n).

The voice out of the vision moved in sync with his lips. He was holding your hands in the vision. You can see your hands, they were frostbitten. Your fingers were turning blue and you were shivering. He brought your hands close to his lips and muttered something under his breath. The numbness began to disappear as the color of your hand began to return. You looked at him with awe. Once your hands felt normal, you looked at him. His expression was soft and he was talking to you. You heard a laugh. Your laugh.

"W-Wha—"

(Y/n)!

You finally snapped out of the vision and found yourself sitting up from a bed. 

"Jesus, what happened to you?" You blinked twice as your vision started to stop seeing doubles.

"I think I drank too much, again." You came up with the most plausible excuse you can make for whatever the hell just happened.

"Excuse me?" Nick looked at you astounded. 

Matthias and Lukas were in the room talking in the corner in hushed tones. You looked at them skeptically. Matthias looked a bit distressed while Lukas was pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. 

"Hey guys!" Nick called for them, and immediately they stopped their conversation. 

Matthias stayed behind while Lukas came up to you. 

"Are you alright?" He asked. You noticed the twiddling of his thumbs against the bars of the stretcher you were on. Nervousness was visible on his face.

"Yeah, I am, now." You gave him a smile as Lukas sighed in relief.

Lukas was in a state of panic when you passed out. Nearly got him a panic attack, but Matthias managed to calm him down. He had no idea how you passed out, and that bothered him a lot. It could've been magic-related (perhaps breaking the protection spell he placed you on for years), yet it wasn't quite close to his magic when he sensed it through your touch. He couldn't get a glimpse of what you were feeling or hearing when you passed out. You were blank as a test paper when he tried a small spell to wake you up from whatever was causing it. There was something blocking out his magic from waking you up earlier.

"Hold up, there is no way in hell that you could pass out from one bottle of soju last night." Nick thought aloud. "And that was last night!"

"You went out drinking?" Lukas asked. 

"She was heartbroken." You shrugged as Nick continued to deduce on whatever made you pass out. "I had to pick her up from the bar next to our hotel before she could start making out with someone."

You darted your eyes towards Nick as Lukas let out a soft chuckle. 

As soon as the doctor returned to the room, you were offered to be brought to the hospital but you declined. You felt fine, and you were pretty sure that those kind visions were going to be normal here on out; and it had something to do with Lukas. The visions you've had before this one surely had something to do with Lukas, and you need to figure them out. 

"So, where are you guys heading to?" You spoke up.

"We'll be staying in Tokyo for a few days and then move our way to Sapporo for some sight seeing in Hokkaido." Matthias answered mindlessly as he began to receive notifications on his phone. "We'll be there for a week at the most." 

"Ohhh! How about we all get together when (Y/n) and I get there." Everybody had their heads turned towards Nick now. "We'll be in Hokkaido by Thursday."

"We will?" You took out your phone and immediately checked the itinerary given to you by your employer. "Oh yeah, since by this time the snow is gonna get thicker."

Another chance to discover more about these visions, and Lukas.

 You looked at Lukas who was pretending to ignore the plan of a meet up.

Perfect.