continued from Fear

"Yin! Yin, get up!"

Groaning, Yin buried her face under her pillow and half-heartedly waved her hand in hopes it would smack her brother and make him leave her alone. What time even was it? She only knew it was still way too early, so whatever Yang wanted would have to wait.

"Yin, wake up already! You gotta see this!"

But because it was Yang, of course it wouldn't be that easy.

Groaning, Yin sat up and threw her pillow at what she hoped was Yang's face. Except that she was still half-asleep and Yang wasn't even anywhere close to her bed anymore, instead staring out the window and motioning her to come over. "Yang, I swear if you don't have a good explanation in the next five seconds-"

"Is Yuck running off in the middle of the night good enough?"

"What?" Now wide awake, Yin basically pushed her brother away as she looked out the window. It was a triple full moon outside, silent save for the sounds of crickets, cicadas and the occasional frog. And under the three moons' light, she had a perfect view of a figure in a familiar black hoodie quietly struggling to open the dojo gates. "What is he-!?"

"Shhh, you're gonna give us away!" Yang pulled his sister down and out of view. After a few minutes of silence, he poked out his head from behind the windowsill to check that Luck hadn't overheard. Yin saw him narrow his eyes as he gripped the windowsill tighter. "This is it, sis. Undeniable proof that he's up to something evil!"

"Yang."

"I know! It's like the 8th time I've said it, but my gut is telling me I'm right this time!" Quietly stepping away from the window, Yang began rummaging through his things, putting on his own hoodie and grabbing the camcorder and some batteries from his nightstand. "He thinks he's sooooo lucky, having everyone fooled and making us look like idiots, but let's see how long his 'luck' lasts THIS time-"

"Yang."

"What?" He stopped inspecting the camcorder to look at her, and whatever he saw on her expression made him sigh in exasperation. "Really? You're still defending him? Yin-"

"You didn't see what I saw that day, or hear what I heard." Yin had taken to sitting by the window, not taking her eyes away from the yard. From there she could see what was once Luck's garden; the green rabbit had suddenly stopped tending to it without any explanation, and by the time Yin had taken it upon herself to save those poor plants, many of them had already wilted beyond repair. And it started happening the next day after that visit. "Yang, you didn't hear the way they talked to Luck. It was horrible!"

"Well, duh! They're bad guys!" Yin looked away for a second to glare at her brother; after she had told him what she'd witnessed, he'd actually been legitimately concerned for a minute...before falling back on mistrusting Luck all over again. He'd even insisted on NOT telling Master Yo at all ("He won't believe us anyways!"); "So they had a disagreement; as if villains actually get along when working together! That only means Yuck's plan is falling apart, which makes it the perfect time to-"

"You're not listening to me!"

"No! You're not listening to ME!" Alarmed, she briefly checked on Luck to make sure he hadn't heard Yang's outburst - and somehow, he didn't. Yang was now grabbing her arm, forcing her to look at him. "He's tricking you AGAIN, and you're just looking the other way just cuz he's nice to you! He's even got you feeling bad for him, after everything he did to us! To YOU!"

"Will you stop bringing it up?!" Yin pulled away from him, refusing to look him in the eye. Brett, Terry Otter, all of that was in the past and it could stay there for all she cared. "Have you considered that I am NOT being tricked, because Luck is not tricking me, because he's a good guy? And that you're the only one who refuses to see that?"

There was a clicking sound, and both rabbits turned to see the padlock on the gate fall to the floor as Luck finally made his way out the doors. Yin watched him go with a sinking feeling in her stomach, before turning to her brother who stared back at her accusingly.

"Then how do you explain running off in the middle of the night without telling anyone?"

Refusing to answer - and NOT because she didn't have anything to answer with - Yin looked at the doors again, as if expecting (hoping) that Luck would return. But he didn't, and she knew that with every passing second, he was getting farther and farther away.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a splash of yellow. A sunflower in its pot, sitting right beside her on the windowsill. Even with Luck's garden a shadow of what it once was, that sunflower had remained on its spot, beautiful and radiant as ever, like nothing had ever changed.

"Fine." Yin grumbled, looking through her dresser for her own hoodie and pointedly ignoring her brother's grin. "But only so I can prove you wrong."

It took a couple of minutes for the two of them to track down Luck; for someone sneaking away from the dojo, he wasn't moving particularly fast. Through open streets and narrow alleyways, past closed stores and silent houses, the twins zigzagged after the former villain all over the town. But no matter where they went, Yin still couldn't figure out for the life of her where Luck was going.

At least not until they were on the outskirts of town, right towards the badlands. And - the sinking feeling in her stomach worsened - the only place of interest in the badlands was-

"The Night Master's lair!" Yang whispered behind her as the dark, spiraling towers of the castle appeared before them. A flash of blue, and his flaming sword materialized in his hand; "It all makes sense now! It was all a trick to get us to lower our guard so he could become the new Night Master!"

"H-hold on a minute, there has to be a reasonable explanation!" She argued against her brother (against herself, against the growing doubt gnawing away at her heart); "If it really were a trick, he wouldn't need to go through all of this just to get to the lair! And-and Eradicus reclaimed the place, so it's not like the title is up for grabs anymore!"

"Then he's gonna sell us out to Eradicus! He's already worked for a Night Master before!"

"Yang, could you STOP IT with your crackpot theories-!?" But before she could finish, something caught her eye. Somewhere beyond the Night Master's lair, between boulders and pillars of rock, a soft, orange light flickered like candle flame. And from the shadows it cast, one looked too much like a small, hooded figure.

Both rabbits looked at each other with surprise before Yang's face hardened with determination. Without waiting for an answer, he ran in the direction of the light with Yin trailing behind him, the weight in her stomach getting heavier and heavier. Running past the castle, they snaked through the rocks as they zoned in closer and closer on the orange light.

Please. Please don't let it be that. Please please please-

"YUCK! COME OUT AND FIGHT US, YOU COWARD!"

There was a yelp as the shadow cast by the light twisted across the rocks, and a second later a familiar figure cast in warm light jumped out from behind a boulder. He threw back his hood, revealing aquamarine fur and panicked orange eyes; "Yin? Yang!? You're not supposed to be here!"

"We're exactly where we're supposed to be: stopping your evil scheme, you….you…" Yang had stepped forward to face Luck with his sword, but the moment the hood was removed the blue rabbit's expression had become more annoyed than angry; "You're still wearing that thing?"

While Yang was annoyed, Yin grimaced; from the nose down, Luck was wearing a white facemask with a smile drawn over it. He'd been wearing it for days now, ever since he'd stopped working on his garden, again with zero explanation. Not that she needed one.

"Keep smiling, no matter what. But not too much in your case; there's no comfort to be found in those ghastly teeth of yours."

"Seriously dude, it looks stupid!"

"I'd rather look stupid than look scary, but that doesn't matter!" Luck retorted as he adjusted his mask, looking nervously between the twins and the boulder he'd jumped out of, where the orange light was coming from. "What are you guys doing here?! Did you follow me!?"

"Why? Does it bother you?" Yang had taken an offensive stance again, walking closer to Luck with his sword pointed at him. It only made the other rabbit step back. "Worried that we'll ruin your evil plans once again, Yuck?"

"It's Luck. And for the last time, I'm not planning anything evil!" Luck whined exasperatedly, hands raised to shield himself from the sword's blue flames. He looked over Yang's shoulder at Yin, his ears lowering as he put two and two together; "Yin…?"

"I'm only here to prove to Yang that you're not doing anything wrong!" She stood beside her brother and forced him to lower his weapon, ignoring his glare. She was focused on Luck, looking for any sign in his expression, in his eyes, any sign she fervently hoped not to find. "You're...not doing anything wrong, are you?"

Luck didn't reply right away, his eyes darting towards the light. And Yang seemed to take that as an invitation to push him aside and head towards it himself. Caught between surprise, frustration and fear, Yin swore under her breath and chased after her brother, briefly glancing over her shoulder as Luck struggled to catch up and stop them; "Wait, no! I can explain!"

"We're done listening to you, Yuck! It's over! We're putting an end to this-" But Yang stopped in his tracks, nearly making Yin crash into him. And once she regained her footing, she stopped in place as well to stare, the dread that had been building up being completely cut off by confusion. "Uh...what IS this, though?"

Behind the boulder had to be about a dozen lit candles, along with several burnt out stumps of wax, all set up in a crude semi circle. Inside it, she saw what she could only describe as random junk; what seemed like a metal helmet of some kind with blue strands sticking out of it, a purple piece of plastic with two red arrow-shaped buttons and a black scrap of cloth, all laid to rest against a smaller, weirdly shaped rock.

A rock carved in the slender shape of someone that brought too many bad memories.

"The Night Master? As in, the first one we fought?" Yang gasped beside her, and she yelped as she barely dodged his sword the moment he turned around to point it at Luck behind them. "It's worse than I thought! You're not planning on becoming or joining a Night Master; you plan on bringing one back!"

"What? No! It's not what it looks like!" Yuck pleaded, trying to get past the sword and towards the items to no avail. "Guys, please just let me explain!"

"Explain what, that you're keeping a weird shrine to your old EVIL boss!?"

"It's NOT a shrine! Well, kind of, b-but not THAT kind of shrine!"

While Yang and Luck kept arguing with one another, Yin took it as a chance to take a closer look. The statue was indeed carved in the shape of the former Night Master, standing tall and seeming like it was sneering down at her. And the more she looked, the more she recognized the other items; the piece of plastic she recalled as part of Luck's - Yuck's - shrinking belt, and the cloth she couldn't tell for sure but it seemed to be the same material as the Night Master's robes.

Worst of all was what she had believed was a helmet. She turned it around with her foot and found herself looking back at Brett's dented head, mouth hanging open and empty holes where his eyes used to be.

They were all items tied to the Night Master - and to the rabbit once known as Yuck as well. Seeing them all piled up like that against the statue, surrounded by candles, made her realize what this all really was. And looking around the rocks - the debris - around her made her realize where they really were.

"This is where we last fought him. And this isn't a shrine," she whispered, staring back into the dark of Brett's eye sockets, "It's a grave."

A candle beside her was blown out.

Yang and Luck fell silent behind her. Then there were footsteps, and while she didn't turn around she still noticed a blur of aquamarine sitting right beside her.

"I can't expect you guys to understand." Luck whispered, reaching out to roll Brett's head over so that Yin didn't have to look at his face anymore. "He tried to destroy you. He was your enemy to the very end, and it wouldn't be fair to ask you to...forgive him."

To Yin's left, she saw a blue blur sit as well. Yang placed his sword next to him, no longer lit with fire but still holding it tightly.

"It's funny, really." Yin turned her head; Luck was staring at the stone Night Master, looking up at its cold sneering face with a strange expression she couldn't name. "I know that he was evil. I know that he probably just used me, and that if he saw me now he'd hate me, but maybe if I had been there for him, if I hadn't died-"

Luck's head turned slightly in their direction, and Yin's heart clenched painfully at the sight of him smiling sadly, even underneath his mask. "It's a selfish, awful thought, isn't it?"

In a way, Yin felt like she understood how Luck felt. The Night Master had deceived, terrorized and attempted to destroy them at every turn...but to someone like Yuck, he probably meant what Master Yo meant to her and her brother. And if Master Yo had been taken from them in that same manner (and he nearly had, several times)-

No. She didn't even want to imagine what it'd do to her.

"Dude." Yang interjected, leaning over to look at Luck over Yin; "It's….not like he's dead, is he? I mean, he and Coop disappeared but Coop was able to come back!"

"It's been almost a year; if the Night Master had come out like Coop did, don't you think anyone would've noticed?" Luck's smile faded, his tone suddenly turning completely deadpan; "I'm an optimist but I'm not naive."

He looked back at the statue, and lowered his head; to Yin it almost looked like he was bowing in respect. "But despite everything, he was still my master. And he deserved closure."

"So, uh...this is what you're here for?" Yang asked cautiously, jumping slightly as the wind blew another candle out nearby him. "To pay your, uh, respects?"

Luck didn't answer for a while. Yin looked back at her twin with concern - he only shrugged back - and did a double take when he suddenly stood up.

"Something like that."

When he looked over his shoulder at the rabbits still sitting down on the floor, something in his expression made Yin feel uneasy. He was smiling behind his mask again, but it wasn't the same sad smile as before on any of his usual smiles. It seemed harmless on the surface, but something underneath...unsettled her.

"I mentioned that I wanted him to have closure. And so he did." She watched him raise his hand, eyes widening as it glowed with magic; the flickering flames of the candles froze in place with his movements. "Now it's my turn."

He waved his hand, and Yin and Yang had to jump back as the flames flared out, twisting and intertwining into a vortex of fire around the Night Master's statue and its offerings. Yin watched in shock as the flames consumed it all, eating away at rock, plastic, metal, all like it was firewood.

It was over as soon as it started. By the time the mystical fire died out nothing remained of the makeshift grave save for burn marks on the ground and the singed remains of the statue, unrecognizable beyond repair.

"Luck! W-why did you do that!?" Yin turned to the green rabbit in horror as he wiped his hand on his uniform. Yang watched the remains of the grave with the same shock she felt, taking a step closer and jumping back with a hiss when it singed his foot. "You just said the Night Master was important to you!"

"And that was true- well, kind of. The Night Master was definitely important to Yuck, but he can't be important to me." There was no sadness in his voice anymore; it had become unusually calm, in a way that made her feel anything but. "Not anymore. If I want to be a good guy, I can't have someone like him distract me from my goal."

"It would be a shame for all of your efforts to go to waste, all because of such fleeting distractions."

When he turned around, the sweet and gentle smile he gave them behind his mask made Yin's blood turn to ice.

"We should go back now, don't you guys think?"

The trekk back to the dojo was a long and quiet one. Luck had taken the lead with Yin and Yang trailing behind him, not a word exchanged between them. Even when they finally arrived and the gates were closed behind them, neither twin said anything when Luck wished them good night.

Even back in the safety of their room, neither of them said anything as they got ready to go to sleep. Yin noticed Yang open his mouth a couple of times only to regret it, looking visibly disturbed.

Not that she could blame him.

It didn't take that long for him to fall asleep, but hours passed and even as the new day finally dawned, Yin remained wide awake in her bed, her blue eyes fixated on the windowsill and her heart beating loudly against her chest.

One of the sunflower's petals fell, blown far away by the morning breeze.