A/N: Just another little fic I thought up one day while I was reading an Umineko no Naku Koro fanfic while playing piano at the same time. Yeah, I know I'm procrastinating again. I've got Chapter 2 of Protection half done and I should be working on it as of now. But my mind moves so fast that one idea slips in one end and out the other in a flash so I thought I'd get this one down on paper as quickly as possible. Enjoy!

P.S. Try typing a fanfic while listening to Vocaloid. It really gets your author cogs grinding. I get most of my fanfic ideas from Vocaloid songs and anime scenes. On second thought, don't listen to it while you're writing if you're not good at multitasking. Vocaloid songs are so good they can be quite distracting!

Disclaimer: Oh hell no, I'm just another insignificant 12 year old pathetically trying to make her dreams come true by using FFnet. Don't rub it in people!

Psychic Understanding

All through Lucas's life until now, everyone had always praised him for having a great understanding of the feelings of the people around him for someone his age. And it was true. Whether it was due to his psychic abilities or his kind, considerate nature, he'd always been able to figure out at a glance what people were feeling, their emotions and their motives.

When Lucas and Claus were five, and Claus suddenly decided to forget his intense rivalry of Fuel one day and act completely civil to him, Lucas had known that Claus wasn't just doing it out of the goodness of his heart. Sure enough, when Claus had coaxed the naive and trusting Fuel to open up enough to talk about himself with him, Fuel had spilled one of his biggest secrets. Claus had then used his devilish cunning to somehow twist the situation up so that Fuel's secret was revealed in front of everyone, ending up with him crying on the ground. Afterwards, when everyone was laughing about it, Fuel managed to look unaffected and laugh with them, but Lucas could see the hurt and resentment in his eyes.

Later, when Fassad had come to Tazmily, making some grand speech about 'happiness' and how people could obtain more of it, all the while giving out those ridiculous pink boxes with light patterns always moving up and down, Lucas had seen right through his wide, jolly smile and promising words.

And so Lucas wondered, if I understand others so much, then, does anyone in the world truly understand me?

Because Lucas and Claus were twins, everyone automatically assumed that they had some kind of 'twin telepathy', and could understand each other perfectly and tell what each other were thinking any time. This would have been the case if their personalities weren't so totally opposite.

Claus couldn't understand the simple everyday pleasures Lucas found in helping his mother do meagre things around the house every day, or what he found so interesting about sitting at the edge of the cliff, staring at the sea for hours at a time. He was of a more active personality and liked to get up and actually do something. To him, the things Lucas liked to do were boring and time-wasting.

It seemed that the other boys of the village shared Claus's opinion. Lucas was constantly bullied and teased by them for being 'weak and a pansy girl'. While Lucas, with a few tears shed, took the abuse without complaint, Claus was furious at the bullies for treating his brother that way. He would take revenge on behalf of Lucas and get back at the boys some way or another.

That was the only thing Lucas didn't understand about his twin. No, it was the only thing he didn't understand about everyone in the world. Why did people like to take revenge? Did they think it would balance everything out, would make it fair? Two wrongs didn't make a right, Lucas at least knew that much. It would just provoke more wrongdoing. It was the start of a vicious cycle.

It's ironic, Lucas thought one night as he lay in his bed cursing the elusive sleep that would not come and take him away from his troubles for just a few hours, the only thing I didn't understand about my brother proved to be fatal. He let out a mirthless, wry chuckle as he thought about what kind of end his twin must have met at the hands of the Mecha Drago.

Sometimes, when Lucas was lost in his own musings, he would unconsciously make a sound, or say something aloud according to his thoughts. More often than not, there would be people around him at the time. Said people would look at him weirdly and think, "Poor child, the death of his mother and brother must have messed with his mind."

Lucas knew what people thought about him, and omitted them from his list of people who had a possibility of understanding him. He honestly didn't care what people thought about him anymore. The events that had ripped his family ruthlessly apart had turned him into what seemed to be a stoic and emotionless person who just... existed. When on the inside all he wanted was to break down and cry, he never showed this on the outside. If only people had been a little more understanding, maybe he wouldn't have turned out this way. Even his father, the only family he had left, didn't try to understand him. Too lost in his own grief and misery, Flint had lost all sense and spent his days visiting his wife's grave and endlessly searching for Claus in the mountains.

It could've been called a paradox. When people didn't understand him and ignored him, Lucas became stoic and emotionless, and when Lucas became stoic and emotionless, people understood him even less.

So, Lucas, who had been through more things than anyone should ever have been through, with a burden pushed upon him that he didn't deserve, went on a journey to save a world that didn't care or understand, with two human 'friends' who didn't understand, and a dog. During another one of his musing sessions, Lucas realised, with another mirthless chuckle, that when it came down to this, his faithful dog was the only one who truly understood him. It was quite pitiful, really. Having no friends, no people who truly understood him, an animal was the only one he could turn to.

And at the end, holding his dying brother in his arms, Lucas lamented. For the first time in three years, Lucas let tears fall from his eyes, let himself remember how to cry.

Suddenly, he felt the used-to-be-familiar sensation of warm, comforting arms around him. He raised his tear-stained face and looked up at his friends, and his father. Their smiles bore sorrow, sympathy, and encouragement.

Placing his brother's body gently on the ground, Lucas pulled himself to his full height and walked towards the needle. He grasped its golden handle, and pulled, letting his heart and mind pour into it. He felt the smiles on his back, and as the apocalypse happened around him, for the first time in his life, he felt understood.

A/N: Well that didn't end like I planned. Oh well. Hey people! See that blue button at the bottom of the page? All you need to do to get free cookies is to press it!