Chapter 11: Betrayal
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A few more days passed after my dream, all of them without incident. 7 had been right, as usual. It had been nothing but a nightmare, formed by little things that were on my mind at the time. I decided not to worry about it anymore, and turned my mind to what needed to be done to prepare for snow. We stitched up extra blankets—many of the double- and triple-thick—and made ourselves snuggly coats. Even with light bulbs set up around the library, our living spaces weren't very warm; the candles suddenly had a use again. Their bright, dancing flames kept us warm during the day.
I was feeling good about how the winter would go. Bring it on, snow! We were ready. One morning, we were woken suddenly by 0, bursting into our room and jumping on us excitedly.
"Ma! Pa! Get up, already! You gotta come see this! It's everywhere!"
We reluctantly climbed out from the warm blankets, still sleepy and a little peeved that he had done this again. He waited impatiently as we tugged on our coats and followed him out, to the entrance. Outside in the courtyard, every flat surface was covered with sparkling white, up to our knees. More of the downy flakes were drifting carelessly to the ground. The twins were already out, spinning in the snowfall, catching the flakes in their hands.
"Isn't it great?" 0 asked happily. "It's so pretty!"
I was a little stunned by the beauty of the snow. It was unlike anything I had prepared myself for. It almost made up for how cold it was. I wasn't sure what to do, now that it was here. 7 decided that I had stood in wonderment for too long and took me by the hand, pulling me away.
"Well? Staring at it isn't going to get anything done," she laughed. "Let's go look around!"
"Oh yeah" 0 agreed, running after us. "That's a great idea, ma! Maybe we'll find a snow beast, hiding in the snow."
So we started off into the ruins, as always, finding our old familiar paths again. The whole world looked entirely different, bathed in white, and gleaming like a single huge jewel when the sun came out. Our little corner of the city, that we had come to know so well over the spring and summer, seemed like a stranger. But, after wandering around for a while, we found it again. The children headed in a steady direction, intent on going somewhere, it seemed. 7 and I walked along behind them, not particularly caring where we went, as long as we were all together. Wherever they were taking us, we were sure it would be fun.
"Everything looks so clean," she commented. "All sparkling and pure… Isn't it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"
"Eh," I dismissed with a shrug, and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "I've seen better. Much better."
"Aw, 9…"
"I fall asleep beside better every single night."
"You are so sweet," she exclaimed, stopping to hug me.
"You are snuggly and warm, and solid. You won't fade away from me, like this snow will, will you?"
"No. Never. Will you?"
"Not if I tried."
We walked along after the children, discussing various things on the way, not paying attention, as long as we could see and hear them. That's the best part of having a wife, I think. Not just having someone to love so much, not just having someone to sleep beside at night—but someone to just talk to. Someone to share all your thoughts and dreams with, no matter how insignificant they might be, and knowing that they genuinely care; and then, caring about theirs, in return. Ah, 7; more than just my lover or my wife, she was my friend. My best friend. And I was hers. It made me feel so warm inside, I couldn't believe it was real.
Eventually, we came to a stop. I looked up and realized with a start where we were. They had led us back to the ravine, where we had spent so much time in the summer. Now the wind blew chilly and biting, right in our faces; there was nothing refreshing about it today. The scary parts of my dream flashed through my mind, and my insides knotted together.
"Don't get too close to the edge," I called after them as they ran down into the valley.
"And keep an eye on 0," 7 added, though they may or may not have heard anything we just said.
"What is it about children and the edges of things?" I wondered. "It's like they're bound and determined to fall off of things and get hurt."
"Maybe they just want to be like us?" she suggested with a teasing smile.
I sighed, feeling a little annoyed. "I wish they hadn't led us here…"
She sympathetically caressed my face. "Is that dream still bothering you?"
"A little. I just can't shake the feeling that something's terribly wrong."
"Maybe we should leave, then. There are other places we could go."
"I think we should," I agreed solidly, my mind made up. "Let's go round them up, before they scatter."
We marched down the hill—half-tripping because the snow was so high—and followed the various sets of Stitchpunk tracks until we found one of our children. It happened to be 4, trying to dig through the caked ice and snow for findings. But she was alone. That was odd.
"4, where are your brothers?" 7 asked right away.
"I'm not sure," she admitted. "They were right here a second ago. But I looked up and they had gone off somewhere. They're probably locked in another sword fight or something. You know how 0 likes to be the knight, and 3 likes to be the dragon."
"No help from the mighty beastmaster today?" I asked.
"Nah," she answered with a bored shrug, returning to her digging. "My best fighters seriously need a vacation. Sometimes, even big sis needs a break. Anyway, part of the elevator broke, and I'm looking for the piece to fix it. But it's hard—the sun meted the snow a little, and then it re-froze in the wind. Now it's just mud and ice all over the place!"
"Do you need any help, sweetie?"
"I think I'll be alright, papa," she said with a bright smile. "But thank you!"
7 stayed behind with her, to make sure she didn't wander, and I walked off to find the boys. And I found one of them—3 was by himself, a little way off, and 0 was nowhere to be seen. Butterflies swirled through my mechanical stomach, but I tried to ignore them.
"You're kind of far away from your sister, aren't you?" I asked. "What are you up to?"
"Nothing much," he answered, fiddling with a scrap of metal in his hand. "Just walking around, enjoying the snow. It's nice, huh? It's different from what we expected."
"It sure is. Where's 0? 4 said he was just with you."
He shrugged and made a face. "He's always wandering off. I can't always keep track of him."
"Did you see which way he went?"
"Nope. One second he's right beside me. Next second, he's completely gone. But I'm sure he's around here somewhere."
"Well, I suppose I should find him before he falls over the ridge."
"He wouldn't do that. I'm sure he's fine, papa."
"Still… Go on back with your mother and sister, while I look for him. This isn't the smartest place to be on a day like this, and I want to get us out of here."
"Oh… Well, I'll bet he'll come back on his own. You probably don't have to go off looking for him like that."
That was an odd thing to say.
"No, I'm going to look for him," I informed him, and stalked off through the snow. "You just get back to them, and I'll be there soon."
"No," he offered, catching up with me, "actually, you can go on back with them, and I can look for 0. It's no problem."
"Why don't we look for him together? I'd be glad of the company."
"No, no, really. I can do it myself."
On any other day, I would have trusted him, and appreciated his willingness to help. Given his general disdain for his brother, this would have been a welcome relief. But not after my dream. I didn't even have to time to question whether I was being paranoid or silly. An alarm sounded in the back of my mind, and I very clearly heard words from an unseen source:
You mustn't allow this to happen.
3 was up to no good again. That much was obvious.
"Where is your brother?" I asked again, knowing for sure he knew the answer.
"I already said, I don't know," he insisted.
"That's not true, is it," I countered, looking right through him. I couldn't help but think of how proud 7 would have been if she could have seen me. He stood paralyzed, surprised that I had figured him out so quickly, and probably trying to figure out a believable excuse. But he didn't answer me.
"Where is he?" I demanded. "Where is 0?"
He still didn't answer, but his eyes darted off to one side. I followed his gaze, finding myself looking straight along the ledge. Several yards away, I finally spotted 0 on his hands and knees, leaning perilously over the edge, looking down into the ravine.
My heart stopped dead for a split second, and I took off running after him. My dream spun through my head. I couldn't let him fall—not when I had a chance to keep him safe.
"0! Get away from the edge!" I hollered to him. He heard me and looked up, wondering why I was yelling at him. In his confusion, his hand slipped and he lost his balance. To my horror, he went tumbling over the side with a cry of alarm.
With a scream, I dove to the ground and slid halfway over the edge… But I had him by the wrist. I had barely caught him in time. Now he hung from my grip by one hand, dangling over the terrifying drop. He looked down, realized the height, and shrieked.
"Pa! Please don't let me fall!" he cried tearfully, fear crackling behind his green eyes.
This was not my dream. This was reality, and I had saved him. Breathing hard from our adventure, I hauled him up, back over the side and onto solid ground. He fell in a heap in my lap, clinging to me desperately and sobbing uncontrollably. I held him as tight as I could, feeling like crying, myself. I had been so frightened, and now I was so relieved. Tears would have cleansed my very soul. But, for now, I had to be strong for my son.
7 and 4 appeared in moments—I had figured they would hear us yelling. When she saw 0 crying, 7 ran up and fell to her knees beside him and threw her arms around us, so he was sandwiched safely between us.
"Oh, my baby," she exclaimed, concerned that he was crying, but relieved that he was safe. "What on earth happened?"
0 hiccupped and took a quivering breath. "I was only looking for the treasure!" he sobbed, as if we knew what he was talking about.
"Treasure?" I asked, thinking it was part of one of his games. "What treasure? What do you mean?"
He slowly looked up at me with baleful eyes. "The treasure," he insisted. "You know, the treasure. The one in the ravine."
7 shook her head. "There's no treasure in the ravine, baby. What are you talking about?"
"…But… Big brover said…"
"What did 3 say to you?" I asked, trying not to raise my voice. If 0 said what I thought he would say…
He sniffled, pulling himself together a little. "3 said there was a treasure down there," he explained. "He said it was amazing, and that you hid it down there from me, 'cause you didn't trust me, and didn't want me to break it. And he said, if I was a really clever warrior, I would go down there and find it. I was looking for a way down… but I fell… And I—I was real scared!" he cried, beginning to cry again. "I thought I was gonna fall all the way down, pa, and you caught me!"
Even as he cuddled against me for shelter, I felt something in me snap. Once again, I didn't have time to second-guess myself, or wonder how this could have happened. All I could think of was how furious I was. That monster who looked so much like 3 was back—I had told him not to come back, not to kidnap my one son, and terrorize the other, but he had come back anyway. Who was he? And what had he done with my son? Whoever he was, I wanted to beat the living tar out of him this time.
7 looked up at him, standing a little way off, with a look of less anger and more dismay on her face.
"3, you said that to him?" she asked, disbelieving. "Please, tell me it's not true."
He didn't answer. He took several cautious steps back, but didn't speak. His silence spoke a thousand words.
"…Why?" she asked.
Without answering, he turned and bolted away. While the two of us were completely stunned, 4 and 0 reacted much faster. She cased after him, and 0 jumped up to follow her.
"Big brover, come back!" he yelled. "You don't have to run away! I'll still forgive you! Please come back!"
We stood up, but I hesitated to run after them. "I almost don't want to catch him and drag him back. If I catch him, I might strangle him."
"But we have to bring him back and make things right again," 7 insisted. "Even if it takes until summer comes again, I want my son back."
We ran the way they had gone, but they had already gotten far away from us—we couldn't even see them anymore. Once again, we followed their tracks until we caught up with them. But when we did find them, we found a sorry sight. 4 and 0 had tripped and fallen face-first into a puddle if icy mud; their arms, legs and faces were completely covered in the stuff, and they couldn't seem to move. 0 was sitting up, trying to clear the mud from his eyes so he could keep running after his brother. But 4 lay flat on her face in the puddle, crying softly.
3 had gotten so far ahead, chasing after him any more seemed pointless. As it was, I didn't want to go after him any more than we already had. If he wanted to run away with us, it suited me fine. I didn't feel like it was my son running from me—it was the monster that had tried twice to kill my 0. I didn't want it anywhere near us.
7 must have agreed, or at least felt as hopeless as I did. Instead of trying to pursue him, she knelt in the mud beside 4 and helped her sit up, throwing her dry coat around her, and using the sleeve to wipe the mud from her face. She was soaked through and shivering violently; but her twin's utter betrayal must have been worse than all the snow and ice the world could offer.
Unable to help myself any longer, I stomped my foot in the snow. "Fine! Run!" I yelled after 3, as he became smaller and smaller. "Don't come back here until you're ready to be my son again!"
I hoped he heard me clear enough this time. I shrugged off my own coat and knelt beside 0, wrapping him up and holding him close. He felt like ice, just as soaked as his sister. 7 and I were getting pretty wet, ourselves.
"We need to get them home."
7 nodded vaguely and looked to the horizon. 3 had already vanished from our sight.
"What are we going to do about him? He's our son. We should go after him… right?"
I had no answer to that. I was so angry, and I felt so betrayed. Had he been plotting this all along? Had his even temper all these months been a lie? Had I failed as a father?
No, I hadn't failed. I had saved 0 twice, already. And while he and 4 were hurt and scared, I could still help them, now. There was too much to be done to waste time feeling sorry for myself. If anyone had failed, it was 3.
I slowly stood up, holding 0 close against the cold. Beside me, 7 helped 4 to her feet.
"Baby, do you think you can walk?" she asked.
4 slowly, wordlessly shook her head and sniffled pathetically. As if her body sensed what it was being asked to do, her knees knocked together and buckled completely, and she fell back into the mud.
"7," I said gently, "you take 0. I'll carry her."
She took 0 in her arms, and I pulled 4 back out of the mud, swinging her up on my hip. Brokenhearted, we started the walk back home without 3—or whatever he had become.
Hopefully, we had left the monster behind for good this time. But would we ever see the real 3 again? I prayed that he would return. Soon.
