Lucas pulls the final Needle, waking the Dark Dragon so that it can remake the world free of Porky’s influence. However, he soon realizes that great power comes with great consequences – especially when that power is now a permanent part of him.

This is an alternate universe that branches off from the end of the game, so warning for Mother 3 spoilers. Thanks to ToothPasteCanyon as always for brainstorming ideas for this AU with me!

Chapter 1: Transcendence

“Your life, and the lives of those who believe in you. Are you willing to put it all on the line?”

Those words echoed in Lucas’s head more than any other as he put his hands on the last Needle. Through it, he could feel the Dark Dragon’s enormous presence far below him. Its power was palpable; a gentle thrumming that tickled his fingers. It was strong – stronger and nearer than it had been with the other Needles. Up close, it felt like all there was.

Distantly, he was aware of his friends behind him. Neither Kumatora nor Duster and Boney had followed him to the Needle. They recognized that this was his burden alone – and to be perfectly honest, it bothered him that he was so alone in this. Flint hadn’t accompanied him either, though his feelings about that one was a little more complicated. And there was another person he was missing, another motionless body right in the middle of them all whom he couldn’t get out of his mind.

Claus. It wasn’t fair, what happened to him. It wasn’t fair that he had to die – wasn’t fair that his mother had to die either! Even with all of his friends and family nearby, he’d already lost so much.

When he thought about it later, he realized that it hadn’t been a very difficult decision to make.

The Needle was light in his hands. Without a word he pulled, and light poured out. He closed his eyes and all he saw was light.

Lucas was nowhere when he awoke. Bright, white emptiness stretched out in all directions – like the Snowcap Mountains but harsher, lonelier. He gulped as he looked around – felt that emptiness resonate in his chest.

“Hello?” he called out. No one answered.

Trembling, he pushed himself to his feet. He’d been through countless battles, been spat on by people he used to trust, and even took down the immortal ruler of the world. He told himself he could handle whatever this was.

He hadn’t had to do those things by himself, though.

Lucas took a step. His bare foot thudded against an invisible ground. When nothing further happened, he kept going. Choose a direction and just walk, he thought. There was nothing else to do.

“Is anyone out there?”

His steps turned inside out. The ground flipped over and curved in on itself. He saw figures in the distance but when he approached he realized it was himself he was seeing. He felt a headache start to come on, and it only grew when something finally did appear.

A black spiral, twisting out from beneath him. He climbed and climbed, and his feet hurt and his chest ached and his arms twisted but it wasn’t enough to take him down. Somehow he felt like nothing would ever be able to stop him again. One foot after another he climbed and watched the matter splay out before him. This thing he’d found, it was immense. It was infinite.

It was the Dragon.

“Pure hearted one,” it said without saying, not a roaring voice but a subtle understanding planted in Lucas’s mind. “We meet at last.”

Lucas gulped. Throughout all that time searching for and pulling the Needles, he hadn’t considered what would actually happen if he won. But now here he was, facing infinity itself, and it dawned on him the Dragon had probably been sealed away for a good reason.

Would saving the world be worth the consequences?

“H-hello?” he stammered. It came out as nothing more than a squeak, but a shift in the Dragon’s hide – starry as the night sky – told him that it heard.

“For thousands of years I have slept here, ever since the world grew past the need for my power.”

An eye – incomprehensibly large – regarded the boy who’d raised it from its slumber. An eye which had seen countless things: births, deaths, loves, wars. A being who’d caused so many of them, and had to be shut away to contain its limitless power. A power that was once again free.

Lucas took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I woke you up,” he said, voice wobbling like a teeter totter. “I had to pull the Needles to stop someone else from doing it. H-he wanted to end the world. But I want to save it.”

“I’ve seen visions in my dreams of your world crumbling. I’ve felt your despair. I’ve heard your cries for help. I’ve seen your strength, clear as day, in the pieces of your heart that you shared.”

Lucas saw himself reflected in that eye. Saw his feet lift off the ground, pulled by some invisible force. Saw the sparks of magic flying around his hands, felt his PSI churning out of control as something dark, something horrible, something unfathomably ancient poured into his mind, squeezing and pulling it like taffy, tearing it apart and putting it back together.

“Now my power is needed once again. As you have shared with me, I will share it in return, just as the Magifolk promised.”

“Wh-” he tried to ask, but his throat squeezed tight and choked the words to death. Sweat poured from his brow as the worst fever he’d ever felt took hold. His head was being thrust beneath the surface of the water, his torso was being struck by lightning from a machine.

The Dragon watched him float there, writhing and sweating and sparking with violent electricity. It closed its eye.

“I promise you that I will not miss it.”

The thrumming from before was inside of him now. The Dragon’s heartbeat was gone – it was his own. Lucas opened his mouth to scream, and what came out was light.

Grass. It was soft on his back. After all he’d been through, it felt like the most comforting thing in the world. He never wanted to open his eyes.

“Lucas? Lucas? Can you hear me?”

The creature heard the sounds, contemplated them, tried to form words out of them. He was sure he knew how, if he only focused on it, but all he wanted to do was focus on the sensations around him. He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten outside – his memory was a little shaky in general at the moment. His head ached and his heart was pounding, thump thump thump, a sickening beat that threatened to swallow him up.

“Oh no, Lucas! Kuma, I don’t think he’s breathing! Y-you check his pulse, I can’t do it.”

He wasn’t sure who this “Lucas” was, but the name “Kuma” sounded familiar. He pushed on it in his mind, followed the path a little, but got lost and ended up lost in the overwhelming swirl of sensation again.

Despite how sick he felt, the creature couldn’t help but smile at the feeling of being outdoors again. The gentle breeze, the smell of the dirt, the feeling of hands gripping his sides and shaking him awake. He hadn’t realized how much he missed this, but now that he was back he remembered all those happy days at that farm. Feeding the sheep, helping a woman bake bread, running around with Claus.

“Did you see that, Duster? He moved!”

Claus – he remembered Claus. Claus was his brother, and a brother was someone that was important. The creature reached into his mind to find this Claus, reached further and further back until the answers came trickling in.

Back before the farm was struck by lightning and burned down. Back before Flint had gone off looking for Claus and never returned. Back before that fateful trip to Alec’s house, and before Hinawa had pushed him and his brother into the river to save their lives…

The creature’s eyes welled up with tears. Sitting up, he opened his eyes and found himself face to face with two humans. Something told him they were named Kumatora and Duster.

“Lucas!” Duster yelled. He threw his arms around the creature and squeezed him tight. “Stars, we thought you were dead!”

His eyes went wide. “I… what happened? What is Lucas?”

Duster froze, mid-hug. He stuttered, unable to get another word out.

Kumatora filled in for him. “What do you mean? You’re Lucas.”

He blinked. “I’m… Lucas.” There was a thread in his mind; he grabbed at it, pulled it close. Lucas was a small human with blond hair. A human who was brothers with Claus.

He stretched his fingers until the knuckles cracked. He wiggled his toes to feel the air between them. He twisted his torso and found that the rest of him followed suit. This was his body, sure enough.

It felt smaller than he remembered.

“You hit the ground pretty hard after you pulled the Needle,” Kumatora said. Her voice cracked on the last word. “Then we all got teleported outside somehow, but you still weren’t moving. We were… we were really scared.”

Duster let go of him and wiped his nose on his sleeve. “But you’re alive, and Porky’s gone! You did it! You saved the world!” His eyes were red and puffy, which was a little weird. Lucas had never actually seen Duster cry before. Neither had he heard Kumatora sound so defeated.

“Kumatora… Duster…” Lucas said. More of it was coming back – their long journey together, all the times they shared both happy and sad. His throat was parched and the words came out like gravel. “I’m so happy you guys are alright.”

“Woof woof!” Boney appeared out of nowhere and pounced on Lucas, licking his face happily. “(I missed you!)”

Startled, Lucas sucked in a fearful breath as an unknown and potentially dangerous beast hovered over him, and a tiny voice in the back of his head told him that he had to protect himself. Then he chuckled and hugged his dog close. For a minute, things felt alright.

Then he spotted a crumpled heap in the distance. “Claus…” he breathed.

His friends’ smiles fell. “I’m sorry,” Duster said.

Lucas shook his head. With great effort, he managed to stand up, although his legs felt like they would buckle at any moment. He put one foot in front of the other, and the ground rippled beneath him as he did so, like the world itself was but a puddle he was treading through. Bits of grass went flying everywhere. He knelt down at his brother’s corpse.

Claus looked just like he was sleeping. His eyes were closed, hiding the red piercing glare of his robotic eye, but Lucas couldn’t ignore it. He sensed Kumatora and Duster and Boney approach.

“Did I really save the world?” he asked.

There was a pause. “Uh. Yeah?” Kumatora said. “We kicked Porky’s butt and then you woke the Dark Dragon up.”

“So?” Lucas clenched his fists. “It’s not like all Porky did was sit on a throne. It’s not good enough that he’s stuck in the Absolutely Safe Capsule now. I- I feel so powerless.”

“It is, it is a good thing,” Duster said, “We’re free of him now. We can start to make the world a better place. And I’m sure that the Dragon is going to use its power to undo all the damage that’s been -”

“No it won’t!” Lucas moaned. “How could it possibly fix everything? Porky hurt all of those animals and made them into chimeras! He completely changed Tazmily and made everyone into cogs in a machine!”

Duster put his hand on Lucas’s shoulder – but quickly drew back with a yelp. His hand had blisters on it – the boy was scorching hot to the touch, and seemed to be exuding a faint glow. He and Kumatora exchanged a frantic look and took a step back.

“Uh, Lucas?” Kumatora said.

He ignored her, his mind too focused on the pain welling up inside of him. That pain was turning physical – his heartbeat speeding up into a loud buzzing that made his chest feel like it was about to explode.

“It’s Porky’s fault my family was torn apart!” he yelled, and somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that this anger was unlike him, that it served no purpose other than to make him feel bad, but he’d kept it cooped up for so long that he had no choice but to let it out. “I just want them back!”

Kumatora’s voice cut through his thoughts. “Lucas!”

Lucas scowled and turned – only to realize that he had to look down to see her. Somehow, he’d floated a few feet off the ground without noticing. He had an inkling in his mind that this should be frightening, that this wasn’t something Lucas could do, but it felt so normal and natural to him that he didn’t want to stop. It certainly felt easier than walking with his feet on the ground.

He reached a hand out to his friends and froze. There was a shining light radiating off of him, bright as the sun. Kumatora and Duster were pointing, and Boney had run off, howling in pain from sensing so much PSI in the air.

Lucas felt it too. This feeling inside of him – so alien, and yet so familiar. It wasn’t a loving feeling, but it felt like Love. The kind of Love he’d used to pull the Needles.

Stirring. Kumatora and Duster had remained motionless, but still there was movement beneath him. Lucas’s jaw dropped as a metallic hand twitched, as lifeless fingers curled and uncurled. Claus opened his eyes, and whatever force had its hold on Lucas cut out. He fell face-first into the dirt.

“I- I’m alive.”

That voice. It couldn’t be. Lucas turned over and bolted upright. His skin was no longer glowing but his heart was still beating so fast he thought he was going to throw up. Claus was moving. Claus was speaking. Claus was staring at his own hands like he’d never seen them before.

“Oh my stars,” Lucas whispered. He inched toward his brother, half expecting him to turn out to be another hallucination, like the ones on Tanetane Island. His hand made contact, and he felt warm.

“Stars,” he said again, “I can’t believe it. You’re back, Claus, you’re really back! How is this possible? The Dark Dragon must’ve saved you after all!”

He threw his arms around his brother, and he felt so warm and so real and so familiar, even with all of the jagged metallic bits sticking out of him. He never wanted to let go.

“I’m alive?” Claus said again, and this time Lucas heard the hurt in it.

His stomach lurched. Cautiously, he drew back, and watched the horrified look dawning on Claus’s face.

“L-Lucas? Did you do this?”

The nausea was back. Lucas looked around for Kumatora and Duster, but they were standing about ten feet away. “I… um…”

“Why did you bring me back?” Claus growled. He brought a balled fist crashing to the ground, and a chunk of dirt flew onto his brother’s shirt. “It’s not fair! I- I was with Mom! Why did you take me away from her?”

Lucas’s mouth flapped open and shut wordlessly as thoughts of apologies and distress circled his head. What was going on? Why wasn’t everything fixed? His stomach was doing somersaults now, threatening to jump out of his throat. He heard his heartbeat, still pounding incessantly loud in his ear, thump, thump, thump, thump…

He looked up. Claus looked up too, turned around.

Thump, thump, thump…

There was a figure in the distance walking slowly toward them. The sun was behind them, shrouding them in silhouette, but somehow the twins could immediately tell who she was. Her footsteps pressed on their minds; they’d both been searching for her for so long.

Thump, thump, thump…

Lucas’s heart was beating so fast that he almost didn’t hear her speak. As she came close, as the light shifted so they could see her red dress; the sunflower in her long, brown hair.

Hinawa’s lips moved, and there was a voice Lucas thought he’d never hear again.

“I feel like I’ve just woken from a long sleep.” She stretched her arms, and her back made a cracking noise. Then she looked at the pair of flabbergasted twins, and the look in her eye made Lucas feel light as a feather. “Come here, you two. I’ve missed you both so much.”