The Innkeeper

"On a brighter note, I'm heading to a new major realm," Lex suddenly said, a smile appearing on his face. It was as if he wasn't talking about killing his own parents just moments ago.

"Look I don't know if you can hear me or not, but I was thinking that it's been a while since I last dated someone, so I should probably start looking again. In this new realm, where literally no one knows me and I probably won't return to any time soon, I'm going to practice asking people out. I know I'll probably embarrass myself, but that's exactly why I'm thinking of practicing…"

Before Lex could complete his sentence, he saw a bright flash out light. His eyes were forced shut, and amazingly, even his spirit sense was momentarily blinded. When his vision returned, he seemed to be overlooking a flourishing city, though he couldn't see too clearly.

Though the city seemed unfamiliar, a castle in the mountains nearby looked very familiar. That was where he found Moon.

Before he could figure out his exact situation, he heard Moon's echoing voice, as if coming from far away.

"Lex Williams, even trapped and alone on Yildrim, I heard stories about how disastrous your last relationship in college was. So if you're thinking of dating again, please, for the sake of everything good in this world, take pictures so that I can laugh at you when I'm done. Also, tell Z I said hi."

Before he could respond, the vision ended, and he was back in the room, looking over Moon sleeping.

He raised a trembling finger, ready to scold the heck out of Moon, but then just sighed.

"Sleep well kid. I'll take a lot of pictures for you when you wake up."

There were quite a few hours left before Lex had to depart to the Expo, so he quickly teleported over to the Emporium and bought a polaroid camera, but one that never ran out paper to print, with each picture printed a spiritual treasure that could be preserved eternally as long as it is nourished with spiritual energy. He also bought a scrapbook.

Before leaving, he took a selfie with Powell, who was actually quite flattered that Lex took a picture with him. Apparently, he had never taken a picture of himself before.

Upon returning to the Inn, he decided to take a few more pictures of some of its main attractions.

Being an older brother, he took his responsibilities seriously, which is why he appeared back in the room with Moon and drew glasses and a moustache on her face, before taking another picture of himself with Moon.

He thought about doing the same to Liz, but then considering her already distant behaviour with him, decided not to.

He then stuck all the pictures in the scrapbook and wrote small captions or introductions under the pictures before storing everything away.

Since he was worried about the distance between him and Moon building, one way to avoid it was to document his life journey and share it with her when she woke up. He generally didn't care about others too much, but he wanted to maintain the sibling bond he and Moon shared.

But all that sentimental stuff aside, he was more than ready for a vacation. That is not to say that Lex didn't have a million things to do, but gaining exposure of the universe at large and taking a vacation were not mutually exclusive, so there was no reason he could not do both. Find your next adventure on empire

He deserved a break after orchestrating the fall of a realm wide terrorist organization after all.

The next day, Lex, Velma and Gerard gathered within the Midnight manor, ready to depart.

"Do we know what to expect?" Velma asked excitedly. Oddly enough, she was wearing a backpack, and though Lex was polite enough to not check the contents of the bag, he could easily guess that it contained notebooks.

"Ripley will meet us here and take us to the Versalis Bank, and from there we'll head to the new realm. Hey, I hope you don't mind me asking, but why are you wearing a backpack? Don't you have a stapial ring?"

"I do, but I did some last minute studying with Z and we checked out all the adventure anime that he has. The main character always has a backpack before heading off on a long, adventure filled journey. It's a tradition, and I like it."

It was as good a reason as any.

"Having traditions is nice," Gerard said, nodding. "I decided to use a handkerchief given to me by Lilith as a pocket square while heading out. From what I understand, it's a bad omen to carry a picture of your beloved in your wallet or your hat - something about raising death flags or somethin of the sort. In that case, a handkerchief to remember her on my travels sounds like a good idea."

"It's cute that you guys are doing this," Lex said as he pulled out his polaroid. "As it happens, I'm making a scrapbook for my sister of my travels. I guess if I keep doing this, this will become a tradition of sorts too. Want to take a picture?"

Gerard and Velma were more than delighted to take a picture, so the three of them posed in front of the manor.

"We should give out such cameras to our guests who come to the Inn for a date," Velma said as she looked at the picture.

"Look at that. We haven't even left yet, and we're already coming up with new ideas for the Inn," Lex said with a smile.

"You're all here! Sorry for keeping you waiting!" Ripley said as he jogged up to them from a distance. "If everyone's ready shall we depart? No point in waiting."

"Yes, let's go," confirmed Gerard.

Lex could not help but feel excited for this trip, even though honestly an Expo was not technically an ideal vacation spot. Even so, it had been far too long since he did something just for fun like this.

It was a good thing Lex didn't believe in raising flags, or else he might have considered the overly friendly and happy way this trip was beginning to be a flag for ominous things to follow. Yes, good thing he didn't believe.