Disclaimer: I don't Oban Star-racers. I do own my Lupanians and Jubalins.

Sorry if this chapter seems a little rushed. I'm trying to upload it before my parents yell at me to get to bed.

Moon and Star

Ch.21: Kingdom of the Dead

Lily watched Remus sleeping soundly…so soundly in fact that he wasn't moving a muscle…not even a twitch. Lily stroked his hair. She, Lupe, Lupita, Conner and Hemming had come back from the Lupanian hanger (more like Lily had dragged the twins back by their ears while Conner and Hemming had tried to convince her to let go.) "He is going to be alright, isn't he?" She looked at Duncan. "You weren't just making that up, right?"

"No, of course not," Duncan said. "Don't worry, he'll be fine. But, like I said, he'll be hovering between life and death for a while."

"He's hovering between life and death, but he'll be fine?" Lily asked angrily. "Where do you come up with stuff?"

"I'm just repeating what my father…and Alpha Cheveyo…have told me," Duncan said.

"That sounds more like something Chumana would discuss," Lily said suspiciously.

"Okay, so I had a conversation with Chumana," Duncan said. "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal? The big deal is that she's a psychopathic, homicidal maniac!" Lily said. "That's what!"

"Who is Chumana?" Aikka asked.

"Just one of the Lupanians at Yellowstone," Duncan said. "That's all. She's bit…crazy."

"Blood thirst, more like it," Lily muttered.

"Chumana's awesome!" Lupe and Lupita exclaimed.

Lily clenched her jaw and her eyes widened in anger.

"Oh no," Duncan muttered.

"Do you mean to tell me," Lily said slowly with obvious rage, "that you've been hanging out with her?"

"Well," Lupe said hesitantly, "not willingly…"

"For her, anyway," Lupita said.

"Once I tell your parents…" Lily said threateningly, "…you're both dead…if there's anything left of you for them to kill."

Lupe and Lupita glanced at each other…then ran out of the room like a bat out hell. Lily hesitated a moment; she tore after them.

-.oOOo.-

"Remus, wake up," a voice said softly. "Wake up, sweetie."

Remus groaned and tried to turn away from the person, but they gripped his shoulder gently.

"Remus, open your eyes," the voice said again. "Please?"

Remus rolled back over onto his back and forced his eyes open. A woman with black hair and ice blue eyes entered his vision. His eyes snapped wide open. "Mom?" He sat up quickly.

Remus mother smiled fondly and placed a hand on his cheek. "It's me. How are you feeling?"

"Well, at the moment…am I dead?"

"No," she said.

"Oh…well, then I'm fine," Remus said. "Thanks for asking. And you?"

"Well, I'm happy that I'm finally getting to speak to you," she said.

Remus' eyes dropped for a moment. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs. "Mom…" He wrapped his arms around her neck and hugged her tightly. He buried his face in her shoulder. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Remus," she said, rubbing his back soothingly. "I missed you too. And so has your father."

"Where is, Dad?" Remus asked.

"Around here somewhere. He'll be here soon," she said.

"CHOSOVI!"

"Hm?" Remus looked up from his mother's shoulder.

His mother sighed and pulled away. "That would be your father," she said. Remus looked around and finally noticed they were in the middle of the woods with a creek nearby.

A red-haired, green-eyed man came into view. "Chosovi, I've been looking for—" He stopped short when he saw Remus looking at him. "Remus?"

"Dad?"

His father rushed forward and dropped to his knees in front of Remus. He laid a hand on Remus' shoulder and used his other to brush Remus' hair out of his eyes. "What happened to you? Why are you here? You need to go back now!"

"Lapu, relax," his mother, Chosovi, said. "He's fine. He's not dead or dieing."

"Then what's he doing here?" his father, Lapu, demanded as Maya Wei knelt down next to him, also looking at Remus questioningly.

Remus quickly explained about the Lupanian Curse (while conveniently forgetting a few key details such as killing Gerwulf and Toros and attempting to kill everyone else).

"So, Remus, I have one question," Lapu said.

"What's that?" Remus asked.

"Do you love Eva?"

Remus nearly screamed. "NO!" he shouted to the sky, pulling at his hair. "No! Why does everyone think that?"

Lapu laughed and pulled his surprised son into a hug. "Don't worry! I'm only joking with you! I understand; my friends used to be as close as my family as well."

"Finally!" Remus sighed. "Someone gets it."

Chosovi laid a hand on Remus shoulder as her son hugged his father and sighed.

Remus pulled back a moment later. "It's so good to see you, you know."

"And it's good to see you too, Remus," Chosovi said. "We've been watching you." Remus' blood froze. "We're very proud of you."

"But…but I killed—! And I tried to kill—! And before I even met Eva and Don Wei, I—! And I've gotten drunk several times and I put my boss's hamster in the microwave and I—!"

"Remus, Remus, calm down," Chosovi said. "Relax. You had your reason, and, I'll admit, I'd rather you hadn't taken your friends problems with your boss out on his hamster—"

"I didn't want to do it either, but that seemed to be the only thing he cared about! And I didn't actually kill it…I knew enough to only put it in for thirty seconds or so…" Remus trailed off.

"It doesn't matter," Chosovi said. A funny feeling came over Remus, and her eyes widened. Remus looked down at himself; he was fazing in and out of existence. He cried out in shock. "Remus, relax. You're just going back to your body and the world of the living. Just close your eyes, Remus."

Remus did as he was told. Instantly, he slipped away into sleep.

-.oOOo.-

Eva and Don entered the room just as Remus moaned and his eyes flickered open. Remus hissed and draped an arm over his eyes.

"Remus?" Eva asked softly.

"Wha…?" Remus replied.

"Are you okay?"

"I hurt like hell. That answer your question?" He removed the arm from his eyes and looked at her and Don. "You too made up yet?"

"Yes, Remus," Eva said with a small smile. "Everything's good now."

"That's good." He promptly passed out again.

-.oOOo.-

The Earth and Lupanian teams (minus Eva and Don) sat in the kitchen, drinking hot chocolate (Conner's treat).

"So…what was it like when Remus jumped on you like that?" Jordan asked Aikka.

"I saw my life flash before my eyes," Aikka said. "I thought I was going to die."

"Did you see your first kiss?" Jordan asked.

Aikka took a sip of his chocolate and didn't answer. Jordan grinned slyly. "You have been kissed, haven't you?" Again Aikka didn't answer. Jordan laughed loudly. "You haven't been kissed? Oh, that's rich!"

"Yes, well, you were a knight in shining armor today, although your princess was a prince, but you don't see us saying anything about it," Stan said, grinning.

Jordan glared at Stan and Koji as they started chuckling.

-.oOOo.-

Images were flashing through his mind, blurry and distorted like a picture taken off a moving object. A dark alley…Gerwulf on the ground…Aikka at the cliff side…Aikka falling…breaking into the hanger…the crates falling down on top of him…

Remus' eyes snapped open and he found himself in the forest again. Only this time he was somewhere different; the creek wasn't anywhere to be seen. His parents and Maya Wei weren't anywhere around either. He stood up and started walking. He had to find them before he disappeared again.

After about ten minutes, he found his way to a large clearing—a field—in the middle of the forest with a large pond. His father was at the waters edge while Maya Wei and his mother were swimming. He stopped and watched his mother disappear under the water for a minute; she popped up behind Maya and dunked her before she'd even known that Chosovi was there. His father laughed.

For a moment, it struck Remus as odd that his mother and Eva's were wearing their clothes while swimming, but then he remembered that this was the Kingdom of the Dead. They were dead so why not go swimming in their clothes?

Remus finally got his legs and brain to start working again; the scene had been just a little too normal to believe that this was the Kingdom of the Dead. He started running toward them. "Mom! Dad!"

All three turned to look at him. Maya and Chosovi quickly swam the short distance to shore. Chosovi and Lapu started toward Remus.

"Remus, what's wrong?" Chosovi asked.

Remus flung himself at her and hugged her tightly. "I love you, Mom," he said. "I didn't get to say it before and then I woke up in the living world and I…" Lapu placed a hand on his shoulder. Remus let go of his mother and quickly hugged his father, fighting back tears. "I love you too, Dad. I've missed you both so much…"

No one spoke for a minute. Then Maya said, "Remus…does Eva know that you can talk to spirits?"

Remus stepped back from his parents and turned to face Maya Wei. "No," he said.

"And is her wish really to bring me back to life?" Maya looked worried. Remus furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Yeah," he said. "Why?"

Maya looked alarmed; she and Remus' parents shared a glance. "Remus," Maya said urgently, "promise me—first that you'll tell Eva about your "Star gazing" abilities—but more importantly, promise me that you'll tell her that the Ultimate Prize isn't what she thinks it is."

"What? It's not?" Remus was confused. "What are you talking about?"

"The Ultimate Prize is really to become the next Avatar for the next ten thousand years," Maya said quickly. "Satis is the winner of the previous great race of Oban. Trust me, please, tell Eva that if she wins she'll be forced to be Avatar for the next ten thousand years."

Remus head was spinning and his stomach seemed twisted into knots. "Don't worry; I'll tell her. I promise."

Maya sighed in relief. "Thank you, Remus. And will you tell her and Don that I still love them?"

"Sure thing," Remus said, giving her a thumbs up. Then his body began to fade in and out of existence again. "Mom, Dad, I love you."

"We love you too," they said.

Remus closed his eyes and disappeared.

-.oOOo.-

When Remus opened his eyes again, Eva was sitting next to his bed eating spaghetti. His stomach growled as he sat up. "Where'd you get that? And more importantly, did you get me a plate?" He felt better; his body didn't hurt and he wasn't tired anymore. He couldn't tell how long he'd slept though.

Eva laughed. "Don't worry, there's plenty for you. I'll go get you plate." She set hers down on the small desk next to Remus' bed. "Don't touch that or I'll dump your spaghetti all over you, got it?"

"Got it."

Eva left the room and was back in a minute. She gave him his plate. "Thanks." He started to eat. They were both silent for a minute. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Since yesterday night. It just became noon, by the way," Eva said.

"Hm." Remus was silent for a moment, eating another bite of food. "So…you and your dad made up?"

"Yeah," Eva said brightly. "And as soon as I win the Ultimate Prize and bring my mom back, our family will be complete again."

For some reason that statement filled him with alarm and a vague memory of Maya Wei speaking to him urgently came to mind, but he didn't know where the memory came from; he racked his brain, but for the life of him couldn't come up with an answer…he felt as though he'd forgotten something important.

Chapter preview: Memories – Remus sat on his bed, staring out the window silently. He was surprised that Eva was still friends with him after everything that had just happened…she was a true friend. And now he felt he owed her.

She's wanted to know about my past, Remus thought. No better time than now to take a leap of faith and spill my guts, right?

Remus sighed and stood up. He left the room in search of Eva.

Sorry this chapter is so short; once again please tell me if there are any mistakes or inconsistencies.