Chapter 29- The End of an Era

Cyrus craned his neck round to see who had disturbed him, but all he had time to see was a light-blue clenched fist slam painfully into his jaw. He immediately reacted by standing up and dropping the screwdriver to tend to his mouth.

Marie was proud of herself for such an accurate punch.

When Cyrus had let go of his neck, Randall had taken a big gulp of air and rubbed himself tenderly. He tried to get to his feet but the lack of oxygen had tired him out. Randall gave up and lay on the ground breathing heavily while Cyrus nursed his own bleeding mouth.

"Ou ocked me ooth out!" Cyrus gabbled, holding up a single sharp gnasher.

"Serves you right," Marie said matter-of-factly. She then knelt down to help her twin.

"Randall?" she asked timidly. "Say something." Her twin brother opened an eye and replied.

"Ow."

"Come on, let me help you up." Marie gently took one of Randall's arms and wrapped it around her neck. With a lot of exertion she managed to lift him up onto his fours, him wincing in pain all the while. Cyrus looked at the two of them in disbelief, then at the screwdriver that lay on the floor. His eyes became watery as, for the first time in his life, he admitted to jealousy. Although she was usually nice to him, he was envious of what Randall had with Marie.

When they were young, even when they were at the orphanage, Marie always looked out for Randall and vice versa. Whenever an argument occurred between Randall and Cyrus, it was true that their mother and father stuck up for Cyrus, branding Randall a trouble maker.

But Marie didn't.

Whatever had happened, she had always fended for her twin. It was like there was some sort of a connection. Cyrus had always loved Marie and given her a lot in life, but sometimes he felt that she hadn't returned it. Even when Cyrus knew how unpopular Randall had been at school compared to his own hoards of friends he was really quite pleased with himself, but, in a way, he somehow always managed to feel lonely.

He wanted what Marie and Randall had; that special relationship. You could have all the friends in the world, but to have a sibling you could share everything with was worth much, much more. Instead, he had a sister he loved but didn't love him back, and a brother he despised. A brother that, if it wasn't for Marie, would be dead by now.

It was then that the realization and the madness of what he had done came home. Now, he had lost the trust of his sister forever and made his brother hate him even more. Cyrus slowly shook his head.

"What have I done?" he murmured, smoothing back his fronds in an attempt to clear his mind. And with that, he turned, ran out the room and fled the building, not to be seen by either of his siblings for years to come.

Chapter 30- Leaving the Lab

"Hey Randy, are you going to be OK?" Randall looked up at his sister and smiled lightly.

"I'll be fine." Taking his arm off Marie, he coughed and responded to his sister's concerned expression.

"I'll be OK, honestly." He stood without any support determined to pay no heed to his throbbing head and aching arm. His vision shook slightly as he took another deep breath. Marie kept an eye Randall as he steadily made his way to the corridor.

Mike and Sulley, who had been damaging and harming the machine as much as possible so it couldn't be reused, shattered but proud, walked up to Marie and Randall. They were both sweating so much it was as though there was a mini Niagara Falls right in front of their eyes. Marie smiled, restraining herself from getting into a laughing fit that she knew she wouldn't be able to get out of for at least ten straight minutes.

"Been working out then, guys?"

Mike tittered, breathing so hard that soon all the air in the room would be sucked into his gaping mouth.

"What.makes you.say.that?" He then bent down, smiling and resting his hand on his knees.

"Come on, you guys. Now's not the time to relax. We've got to get out of here," said Randall, trying to be brave but visibly in distress, mentally and physically. Sulley thought of something important that had been neglected.

"What about the other hostages?" Randall answered.

"We can just call the CDA. They'll arrest Waternoose and whoever else was involved and find the hostages. We can just leave it to them." Suddenly, the sound of several Scream Canisters crashing to the floor resounded around the room. The four-some turned their heads in the direction of the noise. It was Waternoose.

"Oh no you don't," he said, half stumbling to the ground. He was still having the side-affects of Sulley's punch. "I'm going to stop you, whatever it takes. I've got henchmen. They'll be able to stop you. You won't be able." From then on, everyone switched off from his threats.

"I guess we had better get out of here then, before he really comes to his senses," Marie suggested. Sulley nodded.

"Yeah. Let's go everyone." Sulley ran to the corridor with Mike on his tail (NOT literally) and Marie was lagging behind to assist Randall. He was still shaken because of what happened but what he, along with Marie, was really troubled about was Cyrus. Admittedly, they had not had a very good relationship but, when you go down to the basics of it, they were still brothers. Randall was worried.

What if Cyrus was going to do something stupid? It would be his entire fault. Even Randall noticed the look on his brother's face the second before he had left. It seemed devastated, to say the least. Randall was assured slightly by the fact that that Cyrus had always seemed to get the best out of a situation, no matter what happened. Maybe he had just gone to try and start afresh. But one question still remained unanswered.

What had Cyrus been doing when he went on those "walkabouts?" But Randall was unaware that he was going to have to wait years before he found out.

Chapter 31- Initial Shock

The small group opened the stiff door of the secret hideaway and stepped into the main level of Monsters, Inc. for the first time. But Marie had seen it all before as she was brought down to the lab.

"Let's go, you guys," she urged the others, but they stood stock-still. Randall was enormously excited; he was in his future workplace. Mike and Sulley looked around in amazement at the luxurious carpets that lined the hallways and the exaggerated pictures of previous CEOs that hung on the freshly painted walls. Whoever had done the décor certainly had a very good sense of style.

Sulley was the first to get over the initial shock. He took Mike's hand and began to drag him along the hallway. Randall stayed where he was as though he was frozen in time. This was really quite a surprise since he actually felt like jumping around in exhilaration, but his injuries didn't allow him to. Marie understood why this place meant so much to Randall; their father had worked there beforehand, after all. She had had the same reaction, but after she had gotten used to the fact that she was presently in the building that her departed parent had worked in, she had become reasonably composed about it.

But, for Randall, it was different.

This was where he wanted to work. He could just imagine it; marching into Monsters, Inc. every morning, being welcomed by his dozens of loyal friends who gave him incessant amounts of respect, and then walking into the Scarefloor to see his own picture at the top of the board with a hefty number beside it, at least twice the quantity of those below it. These thoughts and visions excited Randall, making him enthusiastic to explore but, for some reason, his feet didn't seem to want to move. Marie tried to make her stubborn brother shift.

"Come on, Randy. Look, I know how much you love Monsters, Inc. and how much you want to work here, but we've really got to get a move on." She clutched his hand, pulling him forward. Randall came back to earth.

"Sorry, Marie. It's just that-"

"Don't worry, Randy. Now, let's go." The twins darted down the hallway chasing after Mike and Sulley. Once they had disappeared from sight, an evil chuckle could be heard from within the darkness.

"You want to work at Monsters, Inc. then?" Waternoose said, a plan taking shape in his mind. "We'll see about that."