Confidence in Up and Down

Lucus paused, before bumping past Alya towards Allicia. She hadn't made much noise since the initial scream, so he was worried. Did something happen? He stopped briefly after walking slightly past her and spoke. He didn't turn around to look at her. Not that it would have mattered.

"Friends aren't a liability. I don't know who told you that, but please don't push the people you need the most, the furthest away." Lucus paused for a second to let his words sink in. "You've grown weaker." Lucus waited a beat, before he started to jog away and pushed through the crowd. Alya waited a few more seconds before replying. It was quiet. Barely a whisper. Even Lucus would have struggled to hear it. She said just two words. Two small words that could be thrown into so many contexts. Yet, they meant so much. Two words that sent one quiet tear down her cheek. One tear she would have to clean up later in the bathroom, but she didn't hold it back. She let it fall.

"I know."

Lucus arrived at the destination of where Allicia had screamed, but she was gone. There was a noticeable ruckus in that area. It wouldn't normally be too much of a mess, but in a fancy place like this, even a simple stain would be seen as "a mess". Only a few glasses were knocked over, but there were multiple food stains, and one full fancy pastry smudged and kicked around on the floor. Nobody at the gala would have willingly stomped around in a sticky treat, except if you were drunk, or you were Allicia. Allicia was both.

As Lucus bent down to smell and touch the ground and spilled glasses in order to better understand the situation, a familiar hand tapped his shoulder. It was Ben. Lucus didn't hesitate to jump up, and worry about Allicia. He probably should have taken Ben's feelings, and what he now knew into account, but right now, all he could think about was the potential danger Allicia was in. She could be anywhere, and the gala was huge.

"C-calm down." Whispered Ben placing his hands gently on Lucus's shoulders and looking around in a mix of worry and embarrassment. He regained his composure and spoke quietly in a whisper. "I'm sure Allicia isn't in too much trouble at the moment. She is quite capable of defending herself. However, from what we heard, she seemed heavily intoxicated, and under the influence of either alcohol, or some sort of drug-like substance. I personally prefer the prior much more than the latter." Ben talked in a very different way. He spoke in a much more proper way, that reminded Lucus far too much of his recent encounter with Alya. He never showed it at school, but now you could really hear the difference in class between Lucus and Ben. It was often hard to remember that Ben, too, was from high society, because he never showed it. Now, more than ever, Ben seemed to have a huge head start over Lucus. As if he was at a pace far too quick to catch up without a fight. It was unnerving. Ben even held himself higher up, just as Alya had. Every word was perfectly thought out, and every motion he made was well rehearsed. In doing so, even his voice began to fade into the crowd. It was practically unrecognizable. So much, that Lucus took a second to comprehend what Ben had said.

"Right, yeah. Of course, we need to find her quickly. No need to worry, but should we split up?" Lucus stuttered over his words. He never stuttered. He really was overloaded. Ben took over with importance.

"Absolutely." He nodded like a businessman at an important meeting. "This gala is quite large, and has many rooms. It would obviously be in our best interest to divide. I trust you will be able to manage on your own?" Lucus was half scared that Ben would have said no. That he would have said something implying Lucus wasn't going to be able to cover ground as efficiently due to his lack of sight. He sounded so different, and to someone who relies so heavily on sound, this was really twisting his head in a knot. This really wasn't the Ben he knew.

"Yeah. I'll take the upstairs and you can take the downstairs?" He wasn't even sure of himself anymore. Ben's presence was so demanding, that it felt like his opinion was the only right answer.

"Perfect. Why don't we set a timer? You have your speech in approximately an hour, so you need to get there on time. Worst case scenario, is that Allicia and I miss it. We have heard you rehearse, to us, so we wouldn't be missing too much. You can catch us up later on how it went." Ben was already starting to walk towards the grand staircase with Lucus following hurriedly behind him. Lucus regained his composure and spoke.

"Should we set our timers for fifty five minutes? That would give me time to quickly prepare myself, while also leaving a good chunk of time to find her. We should try to find her quickly, though. We don't know what trouble she might have gotten herself into. You know her. Always the reckless one." Ben's self esteem seemed to waver a bit in the face of Lucus's newfound bravery, but quickly recovered. Ben paused and agreed with Lucus. He had nodded first, before realizing Lucus couldn't see. Ben drug around in his well tailored suit pocket, before finding the object he was looking for and set a timer on his phone, and helped out Lucus with his, before going to look down the hallway of private rooms, with Lucus rushing up the gaudily decorated staircase to the high up balcony calling his name. All Lucus could hope for for now, was that Allicia was safe. For the moment, he was to be stuck in the land of unknowing, and quite literally stumbling around blindly in search of Allicia.

-REMINDER REMINDER-

I am going to be answering any questions you might have soon, however, I know this isn't too popular of a book so I will also be adding some cute elements and anecdotes into the special episode. Ask away.