Chapter 4

"Lost"

When the two of them got back to the Lassa oceanside and stood in front of Max's house, Max sighed, looking at the Twilight Moon that glowed a light-red glow around it in the red sky, as if it was letting them know the day will soon end.

"Wow. It's already near nightfall. How long did we even stay at that little tour of the facility of ours?" Max asked as he raised his hands and placed them behind his head, supporting it with them, sight still set on the Moon.

Trey raised his hand with the blue piece of metal they found at the facility in it, staring at it.

"What is this thing exactly? Was this what I saw in my dream? …And…who was that girl we saw at the facility? And who exactly were those G.L.O. guys…? I don't think they're ordinary guards…" Trey thought out loud.

Max looked at him.

"Trust me, you don't wanna know. Try to forget it. I know I will." he tried to shake Trey out of his thoughts, and placed his hand on Trey's shoulder, tapped it twice, then walked away to his house and tried to open the door, only to find it locked.

"Oh great, grandpa locked it. Who's he afraid of, thieves? Where the heck would they come from, below the ocean?"

"He's probably at my house. Come on, let's go!" Trey said, walking away to his house, with Max following behind him.

Trey entered the house, a big smile on his face.

"Mom, I'm home!" he shouted happily.

Alex was kneeling next to the fireplace in the living room, his back turned to Trey, and the moment he heard Trey come in, he started turning his head towards him slowly with a sad and dead-serious look.

"…Trey… I… I'm sorry…" he said quietly.

Trey's smiling and happy face slowly started changing into a serious and confused look.

"W…Why? What's…going on…?"

He looked at the object Alex was kneeling in front of, only to see his mother, Sally, lying down in front of him, barely moving or breathing.

"…M…mom…? MOM!"

He ran towards Sally, kneeled in front of her and started crying, then placed his hands under her head, lifting it from the ground a little.

"Mom, what happened? Are you okay? Mom!" he shouted.

Sally was trying to catch her breath very slowly, while Alex slowly stood up, supporting his body with his cane and stepping back just a bit, Max walking slowly towards him and standing next to him, a serious frown as tears were shining in his eyes. Alex closed his eyes and frowned a little with a serious look.

"I went out to the beach to get some sand, and…when I came back…I found her like this… I'm…very sorry, Trey… There's…nothing we can do for her now…" Alex explained, then turned his head sideways, frowning even harder, eyes still closed.

"…How could he gain so much power to do something like this…?" Alex thought.

"Oooh… T…Trey…" Sally suddenly started talking.

"Mom? What happened…?" Trey asked, a tear sliding down his cheek.

Sally slowly turned her head towards Trey, barely keeping her eyes open, and cracked a weak smile to him.

"Trey… Don't…worry about…me… I'll be…fine…as always…"

As she said that, she suddenly turned her head back a little and frowned in pain for a second.

"Don't pretend to be strong now, mom! I can see very well you're barely breathing!" Trey raised his voice, "What happened? What's wrong? …Don't you dare leave me now!"

Sally started catching her breath slowly again, as Trey squeezed his teeth hardly in worry, tears flowing harder from his eyes.

"Y…You're right…Trey… I…I think…I…won't get up…from this…" Sally struggled to say.

Trey frowned hardly with his eyes closed and quickly turned his head sideways.

"No… No… Don't say that, please… Don't say that!"

"Trey… I…want to…thank you for…taking care of me…for these past…3 years… Both you…and Max…took care of me…for such a long time…and I could never…find a way…to repay you… You've made me…so…happy… Ever since…your father died…all I could think of…was that horrible accident…and why…would such a thing…even happen… But while you were…taking care of me…the memory of that…fateful day…slowly drained away with…your kind heart, Trey… But now… Now I'll…finally be able to…see Chris again…after such a long time…"

"No, no, NO! You can't! You can't leave me too, mom!" Trey yelled before he started to weep loudly.

Sally slowly turned her head sideways, closing her eyes, a tear sliding down her cheek, then opened her eyes again and slowly turned her head back to Trey, again struggling to talk.

"I'm sorry Trey… You'll be fine…on your own… Don't worry… You have Max with you… He's a true friend…Trey… Never fight… You must stay together…to prevail every obstacle… …Trey…I…"

She suddenly stopped, as she made an intense frown, feeling like something was stabbing her from the inside, then quickly jerked her whole body forward a little, and back into Trey's hands under her head again. She started breathing very hardly, as if someone was choking her, but she still tried to talk.

"…I… I must…te…tell you…s…something…Trey... Fr... Frie… Friendship…m…must be…kept…p…precious to you… A… Alw… Always…re…remember that… Y… Y… Yo…he…hea… C… Chris… Ohhh…"

She stopped breathing completely and Trey could feel her head being heavier than when she was trying to keep her consciousness a moment ago. Her eyes were completely shut while her head was slowly turning over to the side, faster and faster, until it stopped before falling off of Trey's hands. Trey completely froze, his mouth opened just a little while huge chunks of tears twinkled in his eyes, when he narrowed his eyes a bit and squeezed his teeth a little, as he slowly bent down his head completely, his tears smashing onto Sally's incapacitated cheeks. Max was completely frozen too, standing a few steps behind Trey, nothing but sad and in pain, as tears glittered in his eyes. Now he knew what it felt like to lose a loved one, as he never knew his parents at all, so he couldn't actually even consider them as loved ones. He turned his head sideways with his eyes closed, carrying a frown and gripping his fists, while a tear slid down his cheek. Alex turned his head sideways as well, closed his eyes and frowned very hardly.

"It's him… I'm sure of it… No one else could have done that to her… But…how…?" he thought, then looked at Trey who was still frozen in sadness, anger, wonder, and every other bad emotion and feeling that existed, crying silently with his head still held down, "I think…it's time they met their fates…"

He then looked towards the ceiling.

"Chris… I am sorry…" he finished his darkened thoughts.

xxx

A week had passed since Trey's mother left the world of the living and he and Max buried her next to his father, behind his house.

It was around noon, and Trey was sitting on the beach of the Lassa oceanside with a deep frown, looking towards the Moon.

"I don't understand any of this… What's happening…? Why are people dear to me dying…? What happened 3 years ago…? I just…don't understand…" his thoughts slowly devoured him, as he lowered his head, closed his eyes and frowned very hardly, squeezing his teeth, as flashbacks of both his mother's and his father's smiling faces went through his head, while a tear was sliding down his cheek. Max came out of his house, making a very quiet sigh through his nose as he started walking towards Trey, sadness clearly visible on his face. He sat next to Trey, looking at him, and made another silent sigh.

"Hey…" he started talking, "Grandpa wants to talk to us about something…"

Trey just sat there, saying nothing, making a serious frown as he was looking across the ocean.

"Look… I'm sorry I yelled at you before for dwelling on your past… But I never knew how it is… To lose a loved one… But…I still have to stand behind what I said… You can't always keep thinking about this or you'll completely lose yourself and become weak… Alone… This happened for a reason. Although no one knows why, it happened for a reason and nothing can be done about it. I know how you feel right now. You just don't wanna live anymore, seeing as you're left completely alone and weak. But you're not alone! I'm with you! And I'm never gonna leave ya, buddy! We've been friends since we were kids and we've been through lots already, and of course we're gonna be through lots from now on too! I actually feel like you're my brother I've never had, not just a friend! So listen to me… Stop being so sad, 'cause you're not alone unless you want to be, then I guess I wasted my breath right now saying all that stupid stuff…! …Got it?"

Max gave Trey a kind smile as Trey turned his head towards him, giving him a kind smile back.

"Thanks, Max… I'll…try to be stronger…"

Max sighed.

"Okay. Somehow I managed to spill that out… I'm not good with things like that at all. Y'know I had to say SOMETHING to make you at least a little bit happier…" he rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out, making a sweet smile, chuckling quietly, as Trey gave him a sweet smile back, chuckling quietly as well, then started laughing louder, Max doing the same after him.

"So! Glad I finally managed to break your sadness!" Max laughed, "Now shall we go hear grandpa out?"

He got up quickly, giving Trey a hand to help lift him up from the ground.

"Lead the way." Trey answered.

The two of them walked up to the front of Max's house as Max opened the door, and they saw his grandpa Alex kneeling over the treasure chest in the living room Trey saw him close once he paid a visit, one of his hands inside the chest while the other was holding his cane by the top, supporting his old body. Max and Trey entered the house, Max closing the door.

"Okay grandpa, what's the lecture?" he asked and showed a sarcastic smile as both he and Trey entered the living room, standing near the doorway and looking at Alex.

Alex stood up, clinging onto his cane and turned towards the boys.

"Trey, Max… Come closer."

Trey and Max looked at each other confused as they approached Alex, when he spoke again, his sight falling on the inside of the treasure chest.

"Take its contents. Trey, you take the one on the left and Max the two on the right."

Trey and Max looked inside the treasure chest, only to see three real-steel swords spread out, a longer one on the left and two shorter ones on the right. The longer one on the left had a sky-clear blue blade, with a darker-blue handle and a very dark-blue jewel-like engraving in the handle just below the blade. The two swords on the right side of the treasure chest were slightly shorter than the one on the left, with very light-yellow blades and slightly darker-yellow handles, along with dark-green jewel-like engravings on the handle, exactly like on the blue sword on the left side of the treasure chest. Trey and Max looked at each other, confused even more, their eyes slightly widened and mouths opened just a little, when their sights fell on Alex.

"Grandpa… What's…this…?" Max asked, now a little scared.

Alex lowered his head with his eyes closed, and made a long, faint sigh through his nose.

"They belonged…to your fathers…" he answered them, as Trey and Max widened their eyes even more, when they turned their heads back towards the opened treasure chest next to them, "The blue sword was Chris', while the yellow ones were Elliot's… They used them a very long time ago…"

Trey kneeled in front of the blue sword and picked it up, examining it from the tip of the blade to the bottom of the handle, making quiet astonished gasps, still with a confused look on his face, while Max did the same, literally slowly falling in love with the beautiful and cool-looking yellow swords placed in his hands, making a wide happy smile as he kept examining the swords, not believing he was holding real steel swords in his hands. While Max was being brainwashed by the beautiful swords, Trey wasn't, as he wondered how come it belonged to his father.

"What do you mean…they belonged to our dads…?" he suddenly asked Alex.

Max snapped out of his trance and turned his head towards Alex, now carrying another confused look.

"Yeah, right… What do you mean by that, grandpa? And…how did they even get them…?" he examined the swords yet again, especially distracted by the dark-green jewel-like embeddings sticking out of the swords' handles.

Alex sighed loudly, his eyes closed and head lowered down.

"I think it's time…you got to know…" he said.