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This companion hollow was strange.
Nothing about it seemed particularly different than any other hollow, save for the rapidly shifting entry, connection, and exit points, and difficult-to-map data.
Lycaon had recommended himself and Hugo for this particular commission from the Master Proxies, since their past and familiarity with utilizing the hollows even without a proxy in their youth gave them an advantage over less experienced agents. However, it seemed that not even having a proxy was particularly helpful in this hollow.
"We're lost." Hugo frowned. "We probably should have taken the last stable connection point twenty minutes ago."
"You're going based only on a feeling, you didn't even know where it would go." Lycaon replied.
"When have my gut feelings ever led us astray?" Hugo rose a brow and crossed his arms. "In a hollow, specifically. Only about hollows. Don't bring up anything else."
"I was about to say."
"This hollow is so weird. It's not large but appears endless. The shifting is so fast it's hard to track... I think if we just had a bit of time then we could really get the pattern down." Belle's voice came from Eous, she was clearly intrigued by this hollow.
"I don't think we have a bit of time." Hugo said as he looked into the distance, pointing at an approaching beastlike ethereal. "We'll either need to fight that or make a choice of which rift to use quickly."
"You don't think we can handle that?" Lycaon asked.
"I was making sure you were up to the task, Old Man." Hugo teased.
"You're hardly younger than I am. By that logic, you're also old."
"How dare you. I am in my prime. I'm eighteen." Hugo dramatically retorted.
"Going on thirty, more like."
"Shut your mouth, Mutt. What do you know, anyway? Dear manager, you may want to find a suitable place to wait this fight out. I'll make short work of it." Hugo smiled, urging Eous along by tapping its back lightly.
"Be safe!" Belle said as Eous toddled to a safe place behind some debris.
The fight wasn't particularly difficult-- or it shouldn't have been. Except this ethereal packed quite a punch and had a penchant for flinging people around by barreling into them and smacking them out of the way with its head. They'd both managed to dodge or avoid most of these attacks. They met each other's sides for a brief conversation between attacks.
"Is it just me or does it seem like this is a strange strategy for an ethereal?" Hugo muttered to Lycaon.
"It does. Just don't get hit and we'll be fine."
"Oh excellent advice, Lycaon. Thank you for your brilliance." Hugo rolled his eyes playfully before they separated to opposite sides.
Lycaon managed to counter an attack, but he was staggered back. Hugo was briefly distracted by the thiren not managing to take his own advice, and the ethereal swung its head at the blond. Hugo threw up his briefcase to attempt to counter just as Lycaon had, but he was significantly lighter than the wolf thiren and didn't have metal legs to keep him grounded in place. He was sent further than Lycaon and hurdling into one of the surrounding hollow access points.
"Hugo!" Lycaon called after him. He knew he had to act quickly, the rapid shifting of those points meant that he wouldn't have much time to follow after the blond. He snarled and kicked the ethereal toward the same point it had sent Hugo through, and stomped its head into the ground using both his legs and his weight in a move he wasn't entirely sure would work, barely watching it dissipate before lunging himself into the same point that Hugo had gone through.
"Wait, Lycaon!" Belle tried to call after him, but it was too late. "Fairy, keep tabs on that particular hollow exit. We have to be able to get them back."
"Yes, Master."
---
Hugo groaned as he sat up, rubbing his shoulder. This place was... not the same one he remembered being in. It didn't look like the hollow anymore, or really any hollow. It felt like an uncorrupted place. It was a bit dark, but nighttime was nothing Hugo couldn't handle. He turned to check the area behind him. It seemed the hollow had closed, so he'd have to figure out another way to get back to Lycaon and the Proxies.
"That damn ethereal. I just have to figure out where that hollow spit me out, and then I'll be alright." Hugo assured himself, pulling out his phone. There was an error message, saying he didn't have service. That was odd. He'd never forgotten to pay the bill, so this shouldn't be happening. Perhaps it was an issue with the service itself. He'd have to find another way, since it seemed contacting Lycaon or the proxies was not possible at the moment.
Hugo began walking the dark streets of... wherever he was. It looked oddly familiar but he didn't immediately recognize anything. He noticed about twenty minutes into his wandering that someone was following him, but he didn't turn to see them. He heard the steps. They were trying to be quiet and failing spectacularly. Hugo ducked into an alley and as his pursuer rounded the corner he seized them by the upper arm and slammed them into the wall, ready to pull his switchblade on them. The person yelped in a familiar way.
Then, he realized who it was.
"Lycaon...?" Hugo blinked in confusion. Yes, this was Lycaon, but not the one he was used to-- at least not these days. This one was a little shorter, a little smaller. He had two eyes and his original legs. He was less bulky, but his fur was a little frizzier because he hadn't really learned how to take care of it yet. His eyes were brighter and more expressive, contrasting the hard gaze Lycaon had nowadays.
"Why do you smell like Hugo?!" Lycaon took advantage of the momentary pause to flip their positions, slamming Hugo hard against the wall now- pinning his arms to his sides by holding his biceps tight against his body to restrain him.
"Use your head, idiot. I am Hugo." Hugo frowned, annoyed at how easily even a younger Lycaon could outmatch his strength.
"But you're... tall. And your hair is different... Though, your face looks the same, and you smell right..." Lycaon deliberated with an adorable concentrating face in Hugo's opinion-- his brows scrunched together as he tried to make sense of this, the young thiren's face appearing squishy. He wanted to reach out to him, surprisingly thankful that his arms were restrained and he was unable to act on that.
Lycaon supposed that this person may be telling the truth. The color of his hair was the same, and from the angle he had pinning Hugo to the wall he couldn't see how long it was anymore, so it almost appeared in the same style as Hugo's. He had those two little beauty marks under his left eye, just like Hugo. And his scent was the same. Maybe this really was Hugo. Just taller, more tired looking, and dressed more elegantly in well-fitting clothes.
"Let me rephrase. I am Hugo, but I think I may have been sent to the past, judging by, well, you. Either that, or this is perhaps the strangest dream I've ever had."
"So you're from the future?" Lycaon asked, his tail beginning to wag in excitement. "I have so many questions for you! Hugo is gonna freak out when I show you to him! Okay, come with me. Let's go find Hugo and then we can talk." He released his arms and grabbed Hugo's hand instead to begin tugging him along.
Hugo, lost in amusement, let him do it. He almost found it concerning how easily Lycaon trusted that he was telling the truth, but it was so endearing that he couldn't even begin to scold the young thiren.
---
Lycaon didn't know where he was. This place seemed like somewhere he'd been before, but he wasn't concerned with his surroundings at the moment. Right now, all that mattered was finding Hugo.
It seemed that the shifting hollow exit deposited him in different place than Hugo, he hoped that it wasn't too far off from where the phantom theif had been sent. Lycaon started walking, hoping to catch Hugo's scent.
Eventually, he caught a whiff of Hugo. He was tracking the scent until he came to a convenience store. Hugo must be here, he was certain.
Lycaon entered the store and continued to look for the blond he sought, when he was run into in one of the aisles by the exit. He looked down to see who had run into him when he realized that Hugo's scent was strongly emanating from this individual.
The blond boy looked up and Lycaon met with the two-toned eyes of what appeared to be a younger, smaller Hugo. He looked identical to how Lycaon had remembered. Short, whispy blond hair, slightly fuller cheeks, he wasn't as tall as Hugo was and hadn't filled out the same way.
This was either the largest coincidence in the world-- complete with an identical scent, or that strange hollow had sent Lycaon through time somehow.
"Uh.... sorry?" Hugo said as Lycaon stared at him, but he didn't seem to mean it. It was clear he had been attempting to slip out of this store without the cashier realizing he was stealing.
Lycaon sighed.
"Give me what's in your pockets." He instructed.
"What are talking about?" Hugo frowned.
"Hugo, don't play dumb with me. I'll pay for it. Just give it to me." Lycaon held his hand out and Hugo blinked in shock.
"How do you know... wait... you look a little bit like...." Hugo mumbled as he wondered how this wolf thiren may know his name. He was snow white all over just like Lycaon, but he was big-- bigger than Lycaon is, even. He looked so scary with his eyepatch and those legs... was that armor or were they robotic? The way this thiren held himself didn't seem like he'd hurt him, and he was offering to buy things for him.
"I'll explain when we get out of here, alright?" Lycaon assured, urging Hugo to empty his pockets again by nodding to his outstretched palm.
Hugo conceded, emptying his pockets into Lycaon's hand. It was a few snacks-- he noticed that the assortment contained both of their favorites and smiled a little bit.
"Wait here, I'll be right back." Lycaon instructed, going to the counter to pay for the items that Hugo had. He did keep shifting his gaze back to the blond just in case he tried to run away, but it seemed like Hugo was interested in both recieving the snacks he picked up and hearing what this explanation was as he waited patiently by the door. He must be confident he could get away from Lycaon if necessary.
Lycaon handed him the bag when he was done and walked out with Hugo.
"So... are you related to Lycaon or something? He always said he didn't have any family." Hugo asked once they'd gotten a few paces outside of the store.
"I don't. Well... no biological family." Lycaon said.
"You... you're Lycaon?" Hugo stopped in his tracks to examine the thiren again. He supposed that this thiren really did look like his Lycaon, just older and bigger... among other differences. But something about him did feel right. This person was very different from Lycaon, but Hugo still felt comfortable-- that he could trust him.
"Yes. But I believe that this is the past." Lycaon explained. "Hugo, ah... my Hugo, was flung into a hollow exit point and I followed after him. It seems like there was some kind of time anomaly within that hollow exit, and I was sent to the past. I can only hope that my Hugo was sent to this same place... or, rather, time." Lycaon explained.
Hugo seemed contemplative for a moment, placing his free hand under his chin as he thought about the situation with furrowed brows and his mouth drawn to the side. While his thinking expression was rather cute, Lycaon thought that perhaps he had gotten too technical in his explanation.
"That's so interesting. I didn't know hollows could send you through time." Hugo mumbled. "I wonder if you can change anything about your past or if the timelines are locked to what already happened..."
"Admittedly I don't know. I also don't know how we're going to get out of here if I do find Hugo, or where he is if I can't."
"As expected of you, Lycaon. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll figure it out for you. You're the brawn after all, remember?" Hugo teased with a grin and a wink at Lycaon. This solidified his trust in the older thiren, this was far too specific and his reactions were exactly as Hugo would expect them to be.
He stood amused as Lycaon sighed at him through his nose and rolled his eye as if he simply couldnt help it. Just as he thought the thiren would.
"Oh, lighten up! Come on, I'll take you back home and maybe we can get my Lycaon to help you look for your Hugo. You dogs have really good noses, right? I'm sure that both of you together will be able to find the other me, if he's here." Hugo said, beginning to walk away from Lycaon, presumably to the attic they used to live in. Lycaon followed obediently, because truthfully that was a decent idea. Two of his noses would be able to locate Hugo, he was certain.
---
They arrived back to the attic and Hugo let them in. It looked just like he remembered. Messy, but homey. There were scattered projects all over the place, the bed he and Hugo shared every night was left unmade. It was so incredibly nostalgic to be back here.
"I guess he's not back yet." Hugo idly commented as he fluttered around the living space, seemingly cleaning things up here and there.
Lycaon decided to look at a few things while he did that, reminiscing. That is-- until the floor creaked in protest under Lycaon's weight, and Hugo just smirked at his embarrassed face.
"It's okay, it does that for my Lycaon, too. That spot is creaky." Hugo laughed, and Lycaon took a step to the side to get off that spot. "So... what's the future like? Are we famous phantom thieves?"
For a brief moment while considering his response, Lycaon found himself surprised that this younger Hugo's first question wasn't about his missing limbs. Hugo probably assumed the story wasn't exactly pleasant and decided to stay away from it.
"Well... yes." Lycaon said finally, deciding not to mention that Hugo was, but he wasn't. There was no need to sow any kind of discord between these two with the implication that they no longer worked together. He decided to move on quickly. "Where's Jack?"
"He isn't doing well... he went to stay with a friend in the Outer Ring. They know a decent doctor out there that he hopes can help." Hugo explained, a sad look in his eyes even though he had averted his gaze from Lycaon.
If Lycaon was correct, that meant that Jack hadn't sat his younger self down yet to tell him that Hugo was not going to be able to overcome the "seed of evil" within him. The statement he blindly took to heart.
So then, things were still really good between them. He definitely didn't want to give the younger versions of them any reason to believe that would change. Even though he did sort of want to sit himself down and tell himself not to believe everything he was told and to pursue the truth on his own instead of make assumptions... that advice would certainly prevent the catastrophic misunderstanding, he hoped.
But at the same point, he couldn't selfishly decide to change the past-- if it even worked that way. Maybe Hugo was right, and the timelines were set in what had already happened.
He was fixing his future, anyway. He and Hugo had been spending time together again, he actually wanted to be in the same vicinity as Lycaon without violence and fighting. They'd even gone on what Lycaon would consider a date the other day, even though Hugo probably wouldn't call it that (at least not out loud). Things weren't the same, but they were getting better. They were going to be fine even if everything happened just as it already had.
The door opened and a younger Lycaon came running in, tail wagging rapidly.
"Hugo! You'll never believe this--" Lycaon started but stopped in his tracks, staring wide-eyed at himself. "Woah..."
"I think that I win the 'you won't believe this' contest." Young Hugo laughed at his expression.
"No way! Look." Young Lycaon pulled Hugo through the doorway, but didn't immediately let go of Hugo's hand. Lycaon suddenly felt jealous of himself.
"Ah, Lycaon. Fancy meeting you here." Hugo grinned at the thiren.
"Hugo... thank goodness you're okay." Lycaon breathed a sigh of relief, gravitating to the blond he had been searching for, subtly inspecting his person to make sure he was really alright. Well, that and to get his younger self to back off a little bit. It worked, and the younger Lycaon did drop Hugo's hand and move a step or two away, further into the room.
"I'm more than okay, I completely forgot how adorable you were." Hugo smiled at the smaller Lycaon, causing the bigger one to have to bite back a growl before it left his throat-- being jealous of himself was rather silly. "Truly this made my day. Or, night, I guess."
"What are the odds that we both found one." Hugo blinked, staring at his older self. Though, it was more like a harsh scrutinizing than a stare.
"Well we did... so pretty good, I guess." Young Lycaon shrugged.
"I'd also like to put it out there that I found you, not the other way around." Lycaon corrected young Hugo.
"Heh. So really it was just us that found you twice." Young Lycaon assisted, tail wagging with a pleased expression.
"Well with your dog nose how could you not find us first?!" Young Hugo huffed.
"You may have found me, but you did a terrible job sneaking up on me. You need to work on the weight of your footsteps." Hugo half-scolded young Lycaon. "Something you still have an issue with."
"Hugo. That's not fair. I move as quietly as I can with my legs." Lycaon frowned, though Hugo would call it pouting.
"I know, I'm just joking."
"So... what happened to your legs? My legs?" Young Lycaon asked.
"An accident. It's alright, I'm fine now." Lycaon insisted, but Hugo did look incredibly guilty next to him for a split second.
Young Lycaon nodded a little but still seemed a bit perturbed by the future loss of his limbs.
"Hey, we don't know if this is our future. It could be an alternate reality situation. Like a multiverse. Maybe that won't happen to you. And maybe I won't choose to grow my hair out like that." Young Hugo said to his Lycaon.
"Watch yourself, brat." Hugo narrowed his eyes at his younger self.
"I think you look really pretty in the future." Young Lycaon said, but it seemed he didn't mean to say it out loud as his ears flattened a bit in embarrassment "I mean, you already do, though, so it's not surprising..."
"Pretty?" Hugo rose a brow, but his ears were reddening at the tips
"You're so silly." Young Hugo rolled his eyes, but his ears were also red.
"I can agree with that. Though I'm certain you'd prefer to be called gorgeous or stunning, perhaps even beautiful, if I may." Lycaon said, relishing in the opportunity to tease Hugo for once.
"L-Lycaon! Would you be serious?!" Hugo scolded, the redness now covering his ears and the back of his neck, threatening to creep onto his cheeks, too.
"I am serious. I'm certain that you know that complimenting you is always serious business."
"You're doing this on purpose to get a rise out of me." Hugo pouted a little bit, crossing his arms despite the briefcase he still held.
"So you still get all blushy when I give you compliments. That's so cute." Young Lycaon laughed.
"I don't even do that now!" Young Hugo insisted, but the lie was obvious, as his ears were still bright red, peeking out from the whisps of his short blond hair.
"Sure you don't." Young Lycaon replied sarcastically.
"Look, we need to focus, alright? We have to figure out how we're going to get back to our own time. As fun as this is, I think it would be weird to remain here forever." Hugo said.
"Aw, do you have to worry about it so soon? Why can't you stay awhile?" The younger Lycaon's ears drooped sadly, giving a puppy-dog-eye look to Hugo.
Hugo clearly tried to stand his ground, but faltered when faced with such a devastatingly cute expression.
"Well, I don't know how long we can stay, or if the hollow entrance will come back at all... Belle seemed to think there was a pattern to the shifts." Hugo said.
"We could try contacting the Proxies via Knock-knock." Lycaon suggested.
"Don't you think I've thought of that already? It says I have no service here." Hugo frowned at his Lycaon.
"Hm. That is problematic." Lycaon sighed.
"Hey, how come you look at me all nice but you look at him differently? We're both me, right?" Young Lycaon pointed out.
"Yes, but you're cute. This one is a big nuisance." Hugo explained.
"Why?"
"Well--" Hugo started, but hesitated to actually say anything bad about Lycaon. "He just is."
"That's just a cop-out thing old people say when they don't actually have an answer." Young Hugo crossed his arms.
"Old people!? How old do you think I am?!" Hugo looked taken aback by his words.
"I have no idea. I have a great question, though, why are you dressed like that?"
"Why are you dressed like that? Oh, don't worry, I know the answer-- it's because you haven't developed a sense of style yet. This is style." Hugo gestured to his clothing. "You'll thank me later."
"Why are you so mean to yourself?" Young Lycaon asked his Hugo.
"Something seems off with him. I don't trust him." Young Hugo said with a skeptical gaze.
"Oh for fu--" Hugo cut himself off, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Why am I so difficult as a teenager, and you're so adorable and fluffy." He sighed.
"You think you aren't difficult now...?" Lycaon rose a brow at Hugo, but he seemed amused.
"Shut up! Ugh, why do I even bother with you? Maybe I should take this one home and leave you here."
"That would be weird, Hugo." Lycaon said and Hugo sighed dramatically.
"Besides, I won't let you take him. This one is mine. What's wrong with yours anyway? He seems fine to me." Young Hugo said, sticking himself to his Lycaon's side and holding his arm close, which caused his tail to start wagging violently.
"Well, nothing is wrong with him. He just-- I-" Hugo started several half-thoughts before he sighed again.
"Don't you love him? Why would you want to leave without him? I would never leave without Lycaon." Young Hugo pressed further with an air of superiority about his own reluctance to leave Lycaon behind.
"No! I don't--"
"You don't love me anymore?" Young Lycaon seemed surprised and then deeply saddened by that implication.
Hugo was silent for a moment.
"Of course I do. I'll always love you." He said finally, tone soft in a way Lycaon hadn't heard in a very long time.
Lycaon's tail swayed softly next to Hugo as he met his eye.
"Hm. That's more like it." Young Hugo nodded.
"For a second I was worried that something happened. I can't imagine a future without you in it." Young Lycaon said with a fond smile to his Hugo.
"Me, either." Lycaon said with the exact same expression on his face.
"Good. You don't have to. I'm not going anywhere." Young Hugo said with conviction.
"I suppose it would be difficult to get rid of you now. You know far too much." Hugo mused, but a light flush presented itself on his face.
"You know that I'd just come right back. Or, follow you into a random hollow rift that I'm not entirely sure either of us will be able to get out of. You can't get rid of me." Lycaon smiled.
"I would never want to." Hugo said quietly, like he didn't even want to be heard. "At least we have each other even if we are stuck here forever."
---
They rested for a bit and spent some time reminiscing with their younger selves without giving away too much of their futures. They weren't entirely sure what it would do if they did tell them anything important, and they both seemed to be on the same page about changing the future, despite not talking about it.
Afterward, they had chosen to revisit the places that they had been dumped out of the hollow, which coincidentally weren't actually that far apart. The two had just decided to go in different directions upon arriving. It was near where Lycaon had been spat out that a hollow entrance opened up. All of a sudden, Eous tumbled out of the hollow.
After a moment of recovery, the bangboo realized that the people it was looking for were right in front of it.
"What a coincidence." Hugo said with amusement.
"Ehn-na eh na ta! En-na wa ta na ehn na!" Eous exclaimed.
"Really, so Eous still works, but can't form a connection with the proxies." Hugo said. "I suppose that makes sense considering our phones still work but have no connection."
"Wa ta! Ehn nana wa ta na ehn-na!" Eous continued.
"Someone sent this bangboo after you?" Young Hugo clarified.
"Yes, it seems like they were able to stabilize this hollow entrance for us. So I suppose this is goodbye. What a shame, I'll miss the cute you." Hugo teased.
"So will I." Lycaon sighed, and Hugo frowned at him, while his younger self reddened again.
"Okay that doesn't feel very nice, actually." Hugo muttered.
"Well, good luck back in your time." Young Hugo said nonchalantly.
"Oh, I forgot to ask, when are we getting married? I need to know how long I have to save." Young Lycaon asked.
"What are you even talking about, you idiot?!" Young Hugo scolded.
"Not for awhile, you'll have plenty of time." Lycaon smiled.
"What are you talking about, you stupid dog?!" Hugo exclaimed in a similar tone.
"I was answering the question. Now, let's not waste any more time. We can't keep the proxies waiting." Lycaon gestured to the hollow entrance, intending Hugo to go first.
He huffed but did turn and wave to their younger selves. "Good luck to the two of you, too." He said with a smile before turning. "You're gonna need it." He mumbled as he went through the hollow entrance behind Eous.
"Stay safe. Everything will be okay." Lycaon smiled before following Hugo, leaving their younger selves behind.
"What do you think you meant by that?" Hugo asked, meeting Lycaon's eyes.
"Who knows. That's probably another thing old people say just to be nice. Let's go home now." Lycaon shrugged, holding his hand out for Hugo.
---
"Thank goodness Eous found you guys quickly!" Belle's voice came through Eous once the connection had been re-established. "We managed to also navigate a way out, let's move before things change in here and we have to recalculate." She urged.
"Yes, let's go." Lycaon said, and Eous pushed ahead to lead them out of this strange hollow. "So, about what you said... did you mean it?"
"I said a lot of things, dear Lycaon, you'll have to be more specific."
"About always loving me. Do you really?"
Hugo huffed a laugh. There really was no point in lying when he already told the truth.
"Of course. No matter how long it's been or what we've gone through... there's only one person for me... and unfortunately that's you, Lycaon. It always has been." Hugo replied, glancing to Lycaon with a soft smile.
Lycaon's tail started wagging rapidly against his restraints, hitting Hugo in the backs of his legs. Despite Hugo calling it "unfortunate", he was happy. He knew that wasn't the part to focus on, anyway.
"Now about what you said just now..." Hugo continued.
"Well, you're just going to have to wait and see what I meant by that." Lycaon smiled back.
"That's fine. I'm not going anywhere." Hugo repeated what his younger self had said, leaning comfortably against Lycaon as they exited the hollow.
Their future would be just fine in spite of all that had happened, Lycaon decided.