'I can smell them. I smell the scientists. I hate them. I hate them all. I should kill them. No. They'll know I'm out if I do. I have to find Shirou.'
Atsuya raced through the halls of the lab, searching for where his brother was held. He didn't know exactly where the scientists were, but he knew he could find them if he had decided to kill them.
Hey, wait. That smelled like his brother…
The boy stopped in his tracks abruptly to sniff the air. That was Shirou's scent.
How he knew that, he didn't know. Possibly that he'd subconscious learned it before the tests began and know he was placing that knowledge in his animalistic self to seek out his older twin.
Something was odd about this, though. It hadn't changed in the way he expected it to. It did seem a bit more… metallic… though.
Quickly the boy raced in the direction of the scent until he found himself in front of a door that looked nearly just like the one that had kept him from escaping a long time ago.
Losing all fear of being caught, he began to tear at the lock that was in between him and his brother, ripping it off the door with ease. The loud clanging noises may or may not have alerted the scientists, but by now Atsuya was too busy forcing open the door to retrieve his twin.
For a moment both just stared at each other, registering what changes had taken place.
Atsuya hadn't changed much since his tail had grown, his nails became claws, his teeth had sharpened, and his ears had become like that of a wolf's. After that, he began using shorter, choppier sentences most of the time due to the scientists wanting him to forget how to speak, read, and write.
Shirou, on the other hand, had been used in technological advancement tests. Both of his legs had been replaced with mechanical ones, along with his right arm, and his eyes seemed to have circuits running through them if you looked close enough at them. He probably had learned more complicated words during his tests...
"Shirou-?" Atsuya called hesitantly to his older brother.
"Atsuya…" was the reply he received.
A moment passed before the twins had both lunged forward and wrapped their arms around each other in a warm embrace. Atsuya's claws dug into the back of Shirou's shirt and his tail began to swish violently behind him while he buried his head deep in the other's chest. Shirou held closely onto the younger, almost seeming as if he thought that he'd be wrenched from his arms and taken away again if he didn't.
Both of the twin had finally been united once more.
After a few seconds had passed, Atsuya pulled away and reached out to grab his twin's arm, bouncing slightly.
"Come, Nii-chan, let's get out of here! Let's run away!" He whispered excitedly.
With a nod and a slight smile Shirou answered. "Okay, let's go."
It took some time, but the two managed to escape the laboratory which had captivated them since they were merely eight years old. How old would they be now? About 13? 14? They should be in junior high right now.
Atsuya's sensitive ears twitched as he heard the calls of the scientists that figured out that they had escaped and were now searching for the two.
Unless they had some kind of dog whistle, Atsuya should be perfectly fine, though he didn't know about what all they could do in order to take back his older twin. Hopefully nothing.
As the younger twin continued to tear through the vegetation that was in the path of the two brothers, Shirou was mapping out the area, saving it all in his system's memory for later reference in case they ever found themselves in this area again.
They ran and ran, stopping for nothing. They both wanted to put as much distance between themselves and the lab as they possibly could, though they knew better than to run in a straight line. That would be too easy for someone to follow. They complicated their path with different zigzags and swerves, once and awhile even switching to traveling up in the trees.
Only after all their running was over and they felt they had finally reached a place where they would be safe did the twins finally decide they should rest.
Although Atsuya was exhausted, only Shirou's mind was tired at the moment. His physical self was mostly machinery and wouldn't wear down the way an organic body would, but the machines had limits as well and it would be best not to see how long it took for him to reach them.
Shirou slid down into a sitting position against one of the many trees which surrounded them. It only took a few moments for Atsuya to crawl over to his older brother and nuzzle at him as he lied down on next to him.
"Night, Nii-chan." He mumbled through a yawn and rested his head down on the ground, falling into a deep and peaceful sleep only a second later.
"Goodnight, Otouto*." Shirou's lips turned upward to form a tiny, sad smile directed at his little brother. Hesitantly, he reached out a hand and gently stroked his hair for a few moments. "Goodnight…" he repeated before pulling back his hand and changing positions so that he was lying down next to his brother.
For a moment he just stared at his brother. Shirou didn't really want to go to sleep now. He felt like when he woke up, all of it would have been a dream. His brother would still be on the opposite side of the building and may or may not look the way he did now.
That's why he was savoring the moment, in case it was just a dream. However, he had to sleep at some point and now was the best time to do so.
Slowly the boy closed his eyelids and allowed his mind to drift away in a nice, deep sleep.
*Otouto means 'Little Brother'. It's never used with '-Chan' or '-Kun' unless looking down upon them. 'Otouto-San' is only used when referring to someone else's brother.