The Phantom Cruiser rolled up to the venue Brak had rented at around 8:00 that night. Throughout the ride Sisto was slouching deeper and deeper in the passenger seat until the shoulder harness was over his face. Meanwhile, Space Ghost was obliviously yammering along beside him about what to expect at the party.

"He's going to have real food, don't worry about that," said Space Ghost. "I think Lokar was helping him out, he's looking to get into event planning."

"Who's Lokar?" asked Sisto.

"Oh, right, he wasn't on the council back then. Lokar's an evil locust."

"I thought Zorak was an evil locust."

"So did Zorak, I think. But he's actually a mantis."

"Wonderful. Will there be any other giant bugs there?"

"No, but Tansut will be there."

"Yeah, I don't know Tansut either."

"Oh, right. Well, the important thing is that Brak will be there."

"I can hardly wait."

The venue was a building colloquially known as the "Party Hall" in the neighborhood next to the one where Space Ghost's condo was. It was a stand-alone building with an attached kitchen and a large empty field for both indoor/outdoor events. Space Ghost parked the Phantom Cruiser on a patch of grass next to the parking lot. "Well, here we are."

Inside, the party was already in full swing. There were streamers hung up sloppily, likely by Brak himself, along with a banner printed on dot matrix printer paper with green bars already on it and bunches of balloons blown up by mouth and taped to the wall. There was a buffet with, as Space Ghost had promised, real food. It worried Sisto that Space Ghost had had to specify. Around the edges were round tables, each with several chairs. One of them had a television on it and a game console hooked up to it, where Black Widow was the reigning champion taking on all contenders. Currently she was whipping Creature King's butt.

The villains in attendance were all milling around. It wasn't exactly a festive party, but no one wanted to risk Space Ghost blasting them or sending them back to prison, so they were prepared to make nice for at least another hour. In the meantime, they were mostly decent enough friends and were passing the time with conversation, mostly about the glory days of crime and discussing crimes they would like to pull off if Space Ghost weren't watching.

Near the front door was a pay phone, and as Space Ghost entered behind Sisto, Moltar was in the middle of the conversation. "Yeah," he was saying, "this party is kind of dead, so I'll probably be heading out soon. You want me to stop at that Chinese place you like and pick up- oh hang on. Hang on. Sorry, honey, I think this is about to get interesting. Yeah. Yeah, I love you, too. Bye."

Sisto sneered at Moltar as he passed. "Sorry to disappoint your craving for drama, but don't expect a scene."

"We'll see," said Moltar. He glanced to where Brak was currently sitting at one of the tables but saw that at the moment Metallus was free and quickly crossed the room to talk. "Hey, Metallus! Buddy! I've been wanting to talk to you!"

Metallus whommed enthusiastically as Moltar approached.

"All right, there's Brak," said Space Ghost, pointing to where Brak was sitting.

"Yeah. I see him. I do remember what he looks like, thanks."

"Okay, just making sure. So." Space Ghost nudged Sisto's back. "Go. Talk."

"In due time." Sisto made a beeline for the refreshments table and poured himself a glass of punch that Zorak had seen fit to spike. He took a sip, swirled it, then took another sip as he mentally steeled himself for what was to come. He also started making plans to steal Space Ghost's keys, take the Phantom Cruiser to the next star system, ditch it with a chop shop, and start a new life as a deep-space butcher.

Suddenly he felt his shoulder clapped strongly. He whipped around and saw his brother's doofy grinning face. "Hey, buddy!" Brak chirped. "You made it! Oh, wow, you really made it! I didn't think you would."

"Yeah…" Sisto trailed off. "You're… uh, you're looking well."

"Oh, come on!" Brak gave Sisto a huge hug, which Sisto did not return. Instead, he stood stiffly, fingers twitching. "You look great, too! How've you been?"

"Fine."

"Boy, that's great. Gosh, it's so great to see you. It's been too long. I missed you something awful! How come you never came to work for Space Ghost?"

"I don't know, I just… didn't." Sisto went to take another sip of punch only to find that he had spilled it all during Brak's hug.

"Well, we'll have to make up for lost time, won't we? You can come hang out at my place if you want. I've got a basement with a pool table! Remember? Remember how we used to pretend that you weren't so good at pool, so everybody put all their money down, but then you were super good at pool?"

"I remember."

"So, how about it? Wanna come over?"

"No," said Sisto. "I'm sorry. I'm just here for the party."

Brak's face fell. "Oh… okay, that's fine." But from his voice, Sisto could tell that it wasn't fine at all.

"I'm sorry." Sisto shook his head. "I thought I could do this, but I can't." He turned around and walked away, until he got to the far side of the room near the door.

But Brak was right on his tail. "What?"

"I can't… talk to you. I can't even look at you." Sisto hadn't made eye contact with Brak since he'd come in, and now he could barely stand to turn around and face his direction. He was afraid of what might happen if he did.

"Well… I mean, I know I'm not like I used to be… but I'm not that bad… am I?"

Sisto felt his throat tighten. "It's not that," he managed to choke out.

"Then what? Come on, I'll do anything. Just tell me what?"

Sisto realized that the eyes of everyone in the hall were on them. This is what they had all come for: Zorak, Moltar, Black Widow, Tansut, Metallus, Lokar, Creature King, Brago, Dr. Nightmare, and The Sorcerer were all watching Brak and Sisto. It was as quiet as deep space.

Sisto took a deep, steadying breath as he turned around towards Brak. His voice wavered as he managed to say, "I can't… I can't deal with the guilt."

"What guilt?" Brak was thoroughly confused. "What did you do?"

"You don't even remember, do you, you fool?"

"Remember what?"

Sisto wiped his eyes that were dangerously close to leaking. "On our escape ship, in the pirannamyte… when I emptied the weapons cabinet to shield myself from the radiation in the hopes that you would get us out before the pirannamyte ate through our ship. When I locked you out…"

He couldn't finish. He couldn't keep them in his eyes. Once the first tear fell, the rest came spilling down his cheeks. The floodgates were open. This was the first time Sisto had cried since he was a child, the first time in front of Brak since Brak slapped him and told him weakness would not be tolerated. He knew the rest of the villains were staring at him, knew he was making a scene, but he couldn't stop.

"Don't you get it, you fool?" he said through choked hiccups. "It's my fault! I knew there was only room in that cabinet for one of us. I knew that it would only buy me seconds of time before the pirannamyte chewed their way into us, but all I could think of was the radiation and I panicked!"

"No, no, it's okay," said Brak, altogether uncertain of how to handle his brother's emotion. Everyone at the party was suddenly trying their hardest to pretend they didn't see what was going on. They had expected drama, but not this embarrassing display. Zorak even dunked his head in the punch bowl so he wouldn't be able to hear the awkwardness. Even Tansut didn't cry this much.

"No, it's not okay!" Sisto continued, still sobbing. "If one of us was to be saved, it should have been you! You were the brilliant strategist! You were the cutthroat leader! I was just your lacky. All I could do was follow your orders. If one of us was to die or meet this horrible fate, it should have been me! I locked you out!"

"You didn't lock me out," said Brak.

"What? Yes, I did! I held the latch shut so you couldn't get in!"

"I didn't try to get in," said Brak.

"... What?"

"Look, I don't remember exactly how I got the ship moving and I don't remember how I got us out, but I do remember a little... I remember I saw you going for the locker."

"Yes, you unloaded it so you could get in ahead of me!"

"No," said Brak. "I unloaded it so you could get in."

Sisto felt like he'd been splashed with a bucket of ice water. He was so stunned that his tears stopped immediately. "W-... what are you saying, Master?"

"I told you before, don't call me that no more," said Brak. "If you gotta call me something, call me Buddy. Or Bill. I like the name Bill. It's a fun name." Brak shook his head to re-focus himself. "No, but I remember you goin' for that locker and I thought, 'Brak, there's no way Sisto can get us outta this pickle.' If I tried to save myself on the off chance that our ship would get out, we'd've both been toast. But if you hid, I might be able to get us out, and you would survive, and heck, I might, too."

Sisto tilted his head slightly to the side, as if seeing everything for the first time from a new angle. His mouth was slightly open, but no words made it out.

"Donchya get it?"

"It... it's not my fault?"

"No," said Brak. "It's just one of those things. You know?"

"It's not my fault."

"Nope." Brak was beaming now, happier than Sisto had ever seen him. And it was real happiness, not vapid empty contentment. "So how about it? Can we be friends again?"

Sisto was still staring at Brak. He had so many emotions swirling around in his head that for the moment they were all short-circuiting, and he was numb. But he managed to hold out his hand and say, "Well... then... I suppose... yes. Yes, we can."

Brak's grin somehow grew even wider. He wrapped his arms around Sisto in a gigantic bear hug so powerful he lifted his little brother off the ground a few inches. "Yay! I knew if we talked, I could make you be my friend again!"

"Er... yes... but I'm really not sure what that means, exactly? I mean, we never were friends... were we?"

Brak put his brother down and straightened out Sisto's clothes. "Aw, don't say that. Maybe I didn't really know how to be a nice guy before, but I liked you. I dunno why I was so mean and didn't let you call me by my name. Guess it made me feel tough. But I'm not like that anymore."

"Well… I suppose we could try being... 'friends.'"

"Now you're talking! Look! Space Ghost brought his segga over! Did you ever play a video game before?"

"No, I haven't," said Sisto.

"Well, lemme show you how it works!" He turned around. "Hey! Black Widow! Can me and my brother have a turn?"

Black Widow held her controller aloft. "Only if you best me in combat! And no one can beat me as Johnny Cage!"

"Wait," said Tansut, who was standing behind her. "Aren't you Sonya Blade?"

"No," said Creature King. "I'm Sonya."

"Oh, what," scoffed Black Widow. "I have to play the only girl character because I'm the only girl here? That's sexist."

"Hey," said Space Ghost, cutting in. "Why don't we play Sonic & Knuckles instead?"

"We keep telling you, that's a one-player game!" said Black Widow. "Who brings a one-player game to a party?!"

"I do," said Space Ghost, sounding hurt.

Brak turned to face Sisto and said, "Okay, I'll just beat Black Widow real quick and—" but saw that Sisto was not next to him. He turned around, looking all over, until he saw the door outside was just swinging shut. Brak opened it and saw Sisto walking away from the game hall. He jogged and caught up with him quickly. "Hey, buddy, where are you going? I thought you were gonna stay."

"No, I am," said Sisto quickly. "I just needed some air."

"I wish you'd told me how you were feeling sooner," said Brak.

"I do, too," said Sisto. He was looking up at the sky. It was inky black, dotted with the dozens of stars that could shine through the neighborhood's suburban light pollution. The moon was mostly empty, shaped like a thin crescent with he points facing up.

"I like this moon best," said Brak, "'cause it looks like it's smiling."

Sisto let out a weak laugh.

"Wanna hear my moon song?"

"Yeah," said Sisto. "I do."

Brak took a deep breath, then belted out:

Oohhhhh,
 They say there's a man who lives in the moon
 I kinda wanna know why?
 It doesn't seem like a good place to build
 A house for a moon livin' guy

I think that me and the man in the moon
 Probably could be pals
 I think it might be kinda lonely up there
 I should send him some gals

At the end of the song, Sisto laughed. "Well, Brak, that was… interesting, to say the least."

"Hey!" Brak perked up. "You just remembered to call me Brak!"

"I did?" Sisto replayed his sentence in his head. "Oh… I suppose I did."

Funny how you can change and not even realize it.

Brak and Sisto didn't end up going back inside. They sat down on the grass out front and talked, really talked. Brak told Sisto all about Cartoon Planet and how there were some rumblings about him getting his own spinoff, and Sisto told Brak all about how nobody in prison would mess with him and all the weird shenanigans that go on in there. They reminisced about old times and made wild plans about the crazy things they would do in the near future, discussed the finer points of space piracy, and just really connected in a way they never had before.

The party ended early, at 9:30. The guests all left, saying they were tired but probably planning to go to some other, better party that was only just getting started. Then the only ones left were Brak, Sisto, and Space Ghost. Space Ghost wanted to start cleaning up early, so they wouldn't have to come back in the morning, but Brak was tired.

"I think I'll go home," Brak said as the last guest walked by. "How about you, Sisto? Do you have a place to go?"

"Er… actually, no. Honestly, it was a bit of a surprise that I'm out here to begin with."

"Well, if you want you can still come crash at my place," said Brak. "I got a couch that's super comfy, and if you want to stay for a while, I can make room and get you a bed or something."

"That sounds fine," said Sisto.

"Good," said Brak. "I'll show you where it is, I just gotta do something first."

"Take your time," said Sisto.

Brak stood up and went back into the party hall, where Space Ghost was just tying the last bag of trash shut. "Oh, hey, Brak," said Space Ghost. "So, how's everything? Did you guys work everything out?"

"Yeah, we did," said Brak. Then he wrapped his arms around Space Ghost and gave him a tight squeeze.

Space Ghost was surprised, but he returned the hug. "What's this about?"

"You know," said Brak. "Thanks for bringing my brother back."

"Oh, you're welcome."

Brak and Space Ghost left the building together, where Sisto was waiting. "That was fast," said Sisto.

"I just had to say goodbye to Space Ghost."

"He thanked me for the birthday present I got him," said Space Ghost smugly.

"What did he get you?"

Brak playfully punched Sisto's arm. "You, silly!"

"Ah." Sisto rubbed the spot where Brak connected. "But seriously, Space Ghost, from now on please keep your meddling to a minimum, eh?"

"We'll see," said Space Ghost.

"I mean it."

"And I mean, we'll see." Space Ghost paused. "Do you still want me to leave you alone for the rest of forever?"

Sisto gave a weak chuckle. "No, I suppose not. How about this: if you see me around the studio, you can say hi. And maybe I'll say it back." He paused. "Maybe."

"If you need a job, I know we're hiring on Cartoon Planet," said Brak. "You should come on by sometime and take a look."

"Maybe I will."

Space Ghost watched Brak and Sisto walk away for a while before he went back to the Phantom Cruiser. Even though he was going home alone tonight, it felt good inside that because of him, two other people wouldn't be. It was a nice feeling.