Nick had made his decision. He didn't care anymore if he was human or not, he didn't care what using the crystal could do to his mind. If Cole wasn't going to fight for Earth, Nick would have to. There was too much that was precious for the Rahdam to destroy. He would obliterate them first! Such a violent thought would have disgusted him before, but he'd changed in the past day.  Seeing his brother that way…well, if violence was the only way to save his friends and family, then so be it.

He pulled the blue crystal from around his neck, snapping the golden chain, and raised it above his head. "Tekk setter!" he cried for the second time in his life. He only had an instant to realize that the darkening blue sky above was the same color as his crystal before he was encased in his gray and blue alien offensive armor. With instinct as his only guide, Nick fired his thrusters and sped toward Space Knight Headquarters to meet up with his Uncle Shinya for the first time in more than a year.

As he flew, he saw with enhanced eyesight the beautiful vistas of Earth at sunset and knew that he would fight till his last breath to protect this planet from the invaders. He eagerly anticipated the time when he would slay them with his bare hands, to feel their bodies crumble and die within his grip. Nick imagined how they would dissolve into their basic elements and float there like logs in an endless, eternal sea of midnight. The Rahdam would never take this planet from its rightful people!

When Nick landed at Space Knight Headquarters, he dispelled the armor and hurried to Uncle Shinya's office. He entered without knocking, still feeling the adrenaline aftereffects of the tekkaman transformation process. Nick knew that he wasn't thinking clearly, and he didn't give a shit. The Rahdam had to die for what they'd done to his brother, to his whole goddamned family.

"Nick. I am surprised to see you here. Would you care to explain your presence?" asked the Commander in his usual unemotional tone. Nick had seen his uncle destroy legions of spider-crabs in minutes and he had seen his uncle in a fistfight with Nick's father, but he had never seen anything matching the hostility in his uncle's ruby eyes when he'd walked into the office. Nick shivered despite himself.

"I came to fight, Uncle," replied Nick in what he hoped was an even voice.

"Did you, now? And what happened to the whining coward who swore that he would never tekk set? Where is the coward who let his own twin brother go off to war without him, and who sat back and watched as the warrior destroyed himself?" Shinya glared at Nick coldly. "Well, boy? What happened to the shit faced maggot that fled instead of fought?"

Nick wondered for a second how much of that anger was directed at him, and how much was pent up rage about Takaya's decision to quit leadership of the Space Knights.  It had been a long time since he'd spoken to his parents.  The last time was a year and a half ago, before he'd moved to California to attend college, before the Rahdam had attacked again.  Realizing the terrible anger was not wholly directed at him gave Nick courage.

Nick stared straight into the eyes of his uncle, green meeting red, unwavering.  "The coward is gone, Uncle. Cole is out of the fight, he has no more faith; I do. I need to fight, for his sake as well as for the world," responded Nick angrily, his voice rising with every word. "Let…me…fight."

Shinya regarded him for several seconds before speaking. "I don't think that you are ready to fight the Rahdam yet. You have the instincts that were born into you, but you lack any kind of physical and tactical training. You cannot fight yet, unless you want to die in battle."

Nick glowered. "No, Uncle. I do not want to die at all."

"In that case, you will begin training immediately. The Space Knight Tekkamen squadron alpha is about to begin the day's practice. You will join them. Tekkaman Slayer will be your advisor; do exactly what he tells you to do and you will live. This will be a live ammo practice. Watch your butt, little nephew," said Shinya, clearly dismissing him.

*

"You let him what?"

Miu snorted. "I didn't let him do anything. He tekk set, then took off someplace while I was sleeping. If I could have stopped him, I would have."

Cole glared at her, clearly unhappy to learn that his twin had taken it upon himself to transform. From what Miu had said, Nick had been headed toward Space Knight Headquarters, toward Uncle Shinya and the Terran army. As much as he had thought his brother a coward in the past, and been ashamed because of that spinelessness, it was infinitely worse to know that Nick was throwing himself into danger, being just as headstrong and self-assured as Cole himself had once been. Didn't that fool know what awaited him? What lay ahead was only sleepless nights and endless days wondering when the call to battle would be sounded. It was such a fucking demoralizing way to live.

 "That goddamned fool! How could he do this?" fumed Cole, realizing his own hypocrisy and not caring.  Nick had always been the gentle one, innocent in so many ways.  Fighting would destroy him.

 "Commander Aiba will take care of him, Cole. You know that."

"Yeah, he'll take care of him all right. Train him to be a killer, you mean. He'll start with just a few skirmishes at first, to give him the taste of an actual battle, but Nick will begin to revel in the destruction he metes out. I will lose my brother." Nick paused, reflecting. "Just as he's lost me." Another pause, then Cole's voice again, in a tear choked whisper. "Just as he's lost me."

Miu was stunned. Cole had shown more emotion in the last few minutes than he had in the last year. She was also sympathetic. She didn't want to see Nick's soul destroyed by war, as Cole's had almost been. He was still teetering on the edge of losing himself, but getting away from the rest of the Space Knights and seeing his brother again had helped a lot. If only Nick hadn't been so hasty. Why couldn't he have waited just a little longer while Cole's psyche healed? She'd have to help him repair the damage all by herself.

"Cole…it's okay. Nick hasn't lost you. Not yet anyway. It's your choice though…do you want to be there for him?"

"Of course I do, it's just…I don't know if I can go back there. I mean, I guess I just didn't realize how much I needed to stop fighting until I put some distance between me and the Space Knights. I don't want him to end up where I did. That bleakness…it was almost too much to stand. Do you know how close I was to ending it? Just taking some pills and going to bed one night, and never waking up? I wanted to, so badly."

Miu sighed. She hadn't realized that Cole was suicidal. "Cole, I have a question."

"Yeah?" he responded.

"What on this Earth is worth anything to you? Be honest."

"Oh God, there's so much…and you never really stop to think about it.  I took so much for granted: my family, you, the sunsets and sunrises, swimming in the ocean. Did you know that when I was a kid my parents to Nick and I swimming every summer? It was so peaceful back then. I wish it could be like that again."

"How much would you like to wager that the very same things are important to Nick? That he's fighting to win back that peace for the future? Isn't that what you wanted to do?"

"I'll tell you what Miu, I'll go back to headquarters with you and see if I've changed my mind by then. No matter what, I think I need to talk with Uncle Shinya about his plan for winning this war. I need some reassurances that he knows what he's doing."

Relief flooded Miu. "Ok, Cole. Let's go back."

*

Aki sighed and put down the phone.  Shinya had just called in his weekly update with some very disturbing news.  Cole had gone missing, and Nick had shown up at Headquarters eager to join the Space Knights.  The twins were so much alike, more so than they would admit to themselves, and now both so much in danger.  She'd wanted to spare them this fight, which is why she and D-Boy resigned command ten years ago, when the twins had gotten old enough to know what the fight meant.

They'd been born mere minutes apart, yet Cole always acted the elder, looking out for Nick.  Aki had never asked her son why he had joined up, but she had her suspicions that it was to protect Nick from the immediacy of the war.  By alienating his brother, Cole had hoped to keep Nick out of battle.  Up until now, it had worked.  But now both of her sons were warriors, like their father.  She didn't know if she could bear losing them as she'd almost lost D-Boy so many times.

She and D-Boy were going to have a long talk about their future.

"Aki," said a deep, soft voice from behind her.  She whirled into the arms of her lover, her confidante, her husband.

"D-Boy.  I'm so worried about them.  We tried so hard to keep them away from this…"

"I know, but it's the path they have chosen, and I think now, more then ever, they need our support.  As parents and as warriors."

"It's just not fair.  They don't realize how much they stand to lose.  I hoped that our disapproval would be enough to dissuade them from this life.  But…I guess it's time to face up to the fact that they've made their choice.

"You're right, D-Boy."  Aki laughed nervously.  "You're always right, you know.  They need us to be there for them."

"Right.  I'll call Shinya back and let him know we're on our way."