Chapter Title: Bad Idea

Series Title: Unlikely Brothers

Ages in this chapter: Tanner (15) Dashen (21)

POV: Dashen

Chapter Summary: The boys happen by the forest of a creature of legend.


The perimeter was swamp. Dense, deep, the ugliest dark black-green color and it smelled like, well, like a swamp. It was almost moat-like in it's protectiveness of the interior woodland just beyond.

There were legends inside that forest. Okay, there was one legend, but it was a horrifying one. Kossi and I had never tread through that quagmire into the forest. We'd walked around it, stared at it, talked about it, wondered... and we'd heard the countless stories.

Kossi was too smart to go any further. I was just scared witless.

Never let it be said that I was a brave soul. Nope.

So, we stood here now, Tanner and me. It was on our way home from a job in the large town of Firma - a day's travel in one direction.

With the entire journey being a several day event and there not being any particular danger on this run, I had Tanner along with me. No danger? Now that was a nice change of pace. Any day where I didn't have to run for my life was a good day.

We'd stopped here on the way home. Outside the forest. Curious mostly. Interest fueled by talk in Firma where we'd heard the gossip about the swamp-forest and it's creature of legend. Legend said the creature was anything from a serpent that could turn you to stone with a glare to a bantha-sized monster with bloody claws that were longer than a man is tall. It could fly, it could walk upright, it could swallow you whole from under the earth, it could drain you of every drop of blood in your body. The legend has no consistency except that every option was kinda terrifying.

Of course, Tanner and his endless need for information was excited to know more. Me? Eh, not so much.

"Mouse, I told you, it's a swamp surrounding a forest. The forest is dense, whatever is inside, is hidden. Could be anything in there, or nothing at all."

"You believe the legend?"

Did I? Good question. Not sure if I did or didn't. I always enjoyed things based in fact and in a case like this, seeing was believing.

"I've not ever seen a creature. Or heard it. Kossi liked to believe it was true. Always fascinated with crazy impossible things, real or not. But no way was I ever going into that place with him. He was smart enough not to go. I was just a coward. I'm okay with that."

Tanner shifted beside me, his head barely to my shoulder. Shorty that he was, there was no growing spurt for him even now that he'd hit his teens. Being smaller though, it certainly never curtailed his want for knowledge.

"There's one way we could find out if it's real." He said to me. I immediately looked down at him and shook my head firmly.

"If you think for a second, we are slogging through that quagmire to see if there's a giant, hideously ugly killer monster on the other side, you've been drinking too much of that spiced tea with Dec'lar lately."

"It's not spiced with anything bad, Dash. Just flavor. You worry too much."

"With good cause, little brother. Because if you went in there, I would have to follow. And if the beast is real, the one weapon I do carry, yeah that vibro-knife would be pretty useless. The thing would probably laugh at it right before it slaughtered us."

Tanner rolled his brown eyes and sighed at me, as I knew he would. I sometimes frustrated Tanner with my anxiety-ridden tendencies. But when it came to protecting him...

"What if it's not a killer monster, Dash? Maybe it's misunderstood. Maybe it's a creature that needs someone to speak for it. Maybe it wants to be found and known."

"You are not going into the forest to try and talk to the thing. Just un-imagine that right now. If it's in there, lets just leave it alone. It won't bother us if we don't bother it."

Tanner walked away from me, eyeing the circular swamp-moat that stretched crookedly equal parts east and west. The bank was solid. It wouldn't take much to cross. I mean with with my long legs I could probably leap it in one jump. That wasn't really the point though, was it? If it was so simple to cross, then why had no one done it before? Or maybe they had and were never heard from again. Or they fell into the swamp and got sucked down to their death. Swallowed whole. Drained of blood. Any or all could be true and they were all such nice, pleasant thoughts.

"Damn it, Tanner, don't get any ideas. It's not safe."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do."

"I don't feel anything out of sorts," he said, reaching out with his magic.

I shook my head and hurried to his side. I was supposed to be the idiot of this group, didn't need the kid contributing to the cause.

"Tanner, come on. You know better. You are better."

"Yeah, but maybe if we find the creature and see that it's not so bad, we can tell everyone not to be scared of it."

"Sure, then people will invade it's home and annoy it to death, or worse. That's certainly what I would want." If my tone was sarcastic, it was intentional. "Come on little brother, you really are smarter than this."

He shrugged, still eyeing the forest beyond the moat. "I'd like to know about it. Learn about it."

"You and your damn need to know everything about everything. Some things you just do not need to know!"

"But I want to know."

My head fell back and I coughed in exasperation. I was going to lose this battle. I really was. And I didn't know how or why. This was stupid.

"Tanner, if Colton finds out we went there, he would murder us the second we walked in the door."

"Why would he need to find out?"

"Probably because we're using his speeder and there's gotta be a tracker on it and he knows where we stop and for how long we stop. Hell, knowing him, he's had us tailed this entire trip. We can't hide this and you are certainly not going to lie to him, I know you."

I was faltering. I felt it. Tanner knew it too and this was such a horribly bad idea.

"Just for ten minutes, Dash. Compromise. Once we're in the forest, ten minutes and done. If we don't see anything, we'll leave. Swear it."

Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea, bad idea. Gah!

Such a bad idea. And yet, I was about to say yes and agree to this craziness. Why? Because I was an idiot, of course. Mostly though, Tanner wanted it and the kid never ever asked for anything and this was so stupid.

"Fine." Surrender. "Ten minutes. You'll be on a timer. And if things get out of sorts before time, then I will drag you out by your damn Jedi braid if I have to. Understand?"

He nodded and agreed. "I do."

Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea, bad idea.

—-

Did I not say this was a bad idea?

My legs moved faster than Tanner's, but I kept his pace to stay next to him. The creature was real. It was giant and ugly and very possibly a killer. It was also, apparently, Force sensitive. So, surprise! It sensed Tanner before we even spotted the thing.

This monster, it was the size of a full adult bantha. As hideous as a swamp rat. Covered in thick scales, dark brown with the creepiest of yellow eyes. Those yellow eyes narrowed when it made visual contact. More precisely, it made that visual contact with Tanner. And that was well... did I mention this was a very bad idea?

That scowling glare was enough for me and I grabbed Tanner by the arm forcefully dragging him in the opposite direction of scary monster thing.

"Run and keep running, go now. Now!"

"But, Dash."

"Don't but Dash me. This was a horribly stupid idea and it's worse now and I'm an idiot for letting you talk me into it. You need to move faster!"

We ran. It ran. We screamed. It screeched. Tanner grabbed his head as it did.

"It's in my head!"

I pushed him forward. "Can you turn it off?"

"No, Dash, I can't turn off the Force, and it's angry and letting me know."

"Last time I ever let you talk me into anything stupid, little brother! Last time! Focus on something other than it's screeching. I'll carry you if I need to, but you can't slow down."

Our target, the cleared area that lie straight ahead. Lush green grass. Blue sky. No forest. No swamp. No giant ugly killer creature.

To get there though, we'd have to hurdle the moat.

"Tanner!"

"I can do it, Dash. I'm okay as long as he doesn't scream anymore."

Fat chance of that happening. It screamed again and it was a split second after Tanner and I leaped to get over the moat. Me with my long legs, Tanner with a bit of a push from the Force - something he'd been working on. The creature's screech nailed Tanner's focus just enough that he didn't quite make the distance, slipping violently backwards into the bog as we landed. Thankfully, my brain was in full protective mode and without thought my arm snatched a piece of his tunic before he completely submerged under the black-green muck.

My feet slipped and slid as I struggled to drag my brother up and out, the creature closing in, shrieking at a volume that I was sure was making my ears bleed.

"Tanner, grab my neck, I can't pull you out. Come on!"

Mud covered arms reached up and clasped my neck in a death grip. Finally I got my footing and fell backwards as hard as I could, Tanner landing on top of me, covered in gunk and soaked to the bone.

The creature stopped howling and halted it's pursuit just before the moat. There, it retreated from it's two legged stance back to four. I got a better look at it now. Long pointed nose, fangs the size of my hand, claws that could easily rip those hands from my arms. It huffed and panted and a low growl rumbled the ground under our feet.

I rolled to my left. Tanner fell off me. Other than being covered in disgusting things and being out of breath, he was fine. He sat still for a moment, watching the creature from this safe distance. Mud dripped from his face, but his eyes were clear enough to a catch the yellows of our pursuer. There - the two of them - they found something. It flowed between them. I couldn't hear it or feel it, but I saw it happening. Respect? Truce? Maybe. Who knows.

"Tanner?" I said.

"Dash. It wasn't going to kill us or eat us. It was just making sure we never did this again. It wants to be left alone. It wants it's solitude."

"Did I not say that to you?"

"You did."

"Did I not say this was bad idea?"

"You did."

"Did you not listen to me?"

"I didn't."

The creature turned and wandered back into the forest. Back to it's protected home. It's wanted solitude.

"Mouse, you're not the part of this pair that makes the foolish decisions. Weak moment?"

Tanner crawled to his knees and scraped the gunk off his face, then trying to shake the thick mud of his arms and legs.

"I don't know," he said to me, somewhat disappointed in himself. It wasn't something he felt often, but it did happen. It wasn't a look I liked on my little brother.

"Well, it happens. Observe all the horrible decisions I've made in my life. Welcome to the club, kid."

"I felt a connection to it before I knew it was Force sensitive and didn't understand it. Maybe it was trying to warn me to stay away. Lesson learned. Next time you think something is a really bad idea, I should listen."

I smiled. Smart kid. "You should maybe listen to your big brother more often."

"Well..."

Okay, so it went without saying that most of my ideas weren't all they were cracked up to be. I let it go.

"All right, kid, we better get gone. Figure out how to get you cleaned up without first, making a mess of Colton's speeder and second, sneaking you past him at home. I really don't want to explain this. Or die. Yes, dying would be bad too."

"We should just tell Colton the truth, Dash."

Eh, yeah. Tanner wasn't wrong. Colt would find out one way or the other. I pulled a blanket from the speeder's emergency kit and set it onto Tanner's seat.

"If we can keep his speeder clean, he'll have less reason to kill us. You're right, we tell him up front. Lying would be a very bad idea, and I've had enough of those for one day."

I glanced at my brother, covered in mud, coated in muck, then looked back at the woodland area beyond the swamp-moat. Not our best moment.

We'd survived though and learned something. Mainly not to trust Tanner's ideas when they seemed out of the ordinary for his usual boring self. And when I thought something was a bad idea, it probably was. Oh, and don't irritate secluded forest creatures because there's probably a reason they are secluded in the first place. They prefer it.

Yes, lesson learned. Next stop, home. Next obstacle, Colton.

Huh. Colton or the giant, angry forest creature.

Our odds might be better with another venture into the forest.


END