Hi everybody! This chapter is one of my favorites - it's the twist that I've been waiting to reveal this entire time. (And, just a warning, there is a curse word in it - it's a metaphor, in a religious sense, but it's a curse word nonetheless, so I thought it would be good to warn you.) Enjoy!

(Disclaimer - see Chapter 1)

Chapter 12:

Something They're Not Telling Me

I felt myself slip as I reached out to Lucy, suddenly ensnared by Bad Cop's ropes. Before I could help myself, I fell from the Kragle, into the hands of a robot.

"Intruders must be turned in," it said, putting me down and tying me in similar ropes. I couldn't believe it - I was so close to saving the world, and yet so far.

After a few minutes of waddling, the robot pushing me forward, I arrived at the Think Tank, the others tied up next to me, being watched over by Bad Cop. The doors opened to reveal the entire crew of Master Builders imprisoned in black capsules, their heads touching glowing robotic arms - the whole picture looked like something out of a horror movie.

Vitruvius was lying facedown on the ground, President Business looming over him. I tried to remember the last time I had seen him - had it been however many days ago, when he had been talking about Taco Tuesday on my television? It seemed like so long ago - and President Business looked so different.

His boxy, unnatural hair had been either covered up or replaced by a large, pointy helmet with coffee cups as horns. A tie-shaped cape adorned his back, and humongous stilt-like armor functioned as legs.

Vitruvius looked up - well, I won't say looked up, since he couldn't see, but his head turned in my direction.

"Emmet?" he whispered, incredulous that the Special could mess up.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"Good work, Bad Cop," President Business said. "Robots, destroy this old man!"

He pointed at Vitruvius, who balked.

"Did you just call me old?" he said.

President Business nodded. "Yep."

"Well, junebug, I prefer the word -"

Before Vitruvius could finish his sentence, President Business picked up a round copper disc the size of his head and flung it at Vitruvius.

It hit Vitruvius's neck, and his head fell to the floor.

"No!" I yelled, waddling over to his head, which was rolling towards me.

"Emmet," he whispered. "There's something I need to tell you."

"About the prophecy?" I asked. "I know, I'm doing my best, but -"

"It's made up," he said.

The whole room went silent.

"I'm sorry, what?" I replied. "I thought I heard you say the prophecy was made up -"

"I did, Emmet," Vitruvius said. "I made it up - it's not true."

My eyes widened.

"But - but then that means...I'm not the Special…"

"Emmet, listen," Vitruvius said, his voice growing softer and softer. "There's something else - something that I've been hiding from you for too long."

What was he talking about? Was there something the other Master Builders weren't telling me? I looked at Vitruvius with wide eyes, waiting for an answer.

He opened his mouth to speak again, but his words - and his breath - caught in his throat. His glowing white eyes suddenly lost their glow and turned an endless black.

"No," I whispered. My eyesight was becoming blurry - I wasn't sure what it was, but a large possibility was the tears pricking my eyes, threatening to come out. I felt someone walk over and put their hand on my shoulder - I looked up to see that it was Bad Cop, a grimace on his face.

"Well, let me pick up the slack!" President Business said cheerfully.

Wait...what?

I looked up at him.

"So...there is something they're not telling me," I said.

"Oh, yes," President Business said. "Something huge."

"Then what is it?" I asked. I knew it wasn't the best idea to ask him, out of all people, but my thirst for knowledge was blinding me just as much as the tears.

"Well…" President Business said. "One among us was born with the talent of being…" He took a dramatic pause.

"Being what?" I asked.

"A Master Builder," President Business said.

My shoulders slumped. I had been expecting something like this from the very beginning - in fact, I wasn't sure how it wasn't obvious.

"It's you, isn't it," I said.

"Well…" President Business said. "Yes, I'm a Master Builder, BUT...there's another in this room."

I looked around. The only other person I could see was Bad Cop.

"Wait...Bad Cop's a Master Builder?" I asked.

"Well...yes, him too, BUT there's one more!"

I thought for a second. I waddled in a circle, seeing who else could be a possibility for a Master Builder.

I turned back to President Business.

"I got nothing," I said.

"Isn't it obvious?" President Business said, yelling at this point. "Other than me and Bad Cop, who else who isn't outwardly a Master Builder is in this room?"

I looked around one more time.

"But there's nobody else!" I yelled back. "There's nobody else in the room except -"

My voice caught in my throat as I realized. Suddenly, Lucy's story, the emptiness of the mind world that I had visited, everything - it all made sense.

"Except me," I finished. "So then I'm a…"

"You were a…" President Business corrected.

"Fine, I was a…" I said. Time stood still for a second as I admitted it.

"...a Master Builder?"

President Business nodded.

"But that can't be true…" I said. I turned to Lucy. "He can't be -"

"He's telling the truth, Emmet," Lucy said, staring at President Business. A small tear was running down her cheek - she's thinking about her boyfriend, I thought. She's thinking about...me?

"You were one of them, and they kept it from you," he said. "You disappointed them, so they took your memory and your powers, and they kept us apart, made it so we couldn't be friends anymore. I took Bad Cop with me and left their group, and two weeks later the Kragle was gone - finally under my control. You became you - dull, boring, anything but special. And now we're both fighting this battle again. So I'll give you a choice, Emmet."

I looked at him, not sure whether to be suspicious or pleading.

"You can stay with them, the traitorous bunch who never told you who you truly were, and you'll all perish at my hand - or you can join me. They will still die - but you'll live with me, and you'll prosper under my new world."

Well, this was not what I was expecting. Now, the decision wasn't whether to embrace being a Master Builder or not - it was a matter of life and death.

I looked back at the others in the group. Lucy was there, and so were Benny, and MetalBeard, and Batman, and UniKitty. They all looked at me, wondering what I would do with hopeful faces and tears in their eyes.

To be honest, I didn't know what to do.

I mean, these people were my friends - I didn't want to do anything that would hurt them. I knew it would break their heart if I abandoned them - and it would break mine, too. But no matter what, they were going to die anyway - the main difference was the endurance of my lifespan. As a general rule, I prefer not to die - and yet…

Finally, I knew what I needed to do.

I looked straight at Lord Business.

"No," I said.

He raised an eyebrow. "What did you say?" he said slowly.

"I said no," I said again. "These are my friends - I would never do anything to hurt my friends. And…"

I hesitated, knowing that this was something I could never take back.

"And I'd rather die with them by my side and have lived in my not-so-perfect heaven than watch them die without me and live in your perfect hell, Lord Business."

I heard Lucy gasp behind me.

"Oh...I see how it is," Lord Business said. "You and your friends don't deserve to live in this world - in MY world! It's about time you join them - in the inevitable prospect of death. Robots?"

An army of robots marched into the room, escorting my friends to capsules in the Think Tank. Lord Business picked me up himself, using ropes to tie me to one of his relics - a large square box in the center of the room.

"Bring me the Sword of Exact Zero," he said. He was handed a sharp grey knife, a little larger than the disc he had used to kill Vitruvius.

"Got you now, Brickowski," he said, making a swiping motion near my back. When I looked behind me, I saw him holding the Piece of Resistance, waving it around like a red matador flag.

"You know, this would be good in my relic room - WHOOPS!" he said, throwing the Piece against the window. The glass cracked, and the Piece fell through into the bottomless pit of oblivion. I could just barely see it fall out of sight, into the void of pink and green - and really, the universe should know. Pink and green never go together.

"Computer?"

"Yes, Lord Business?"

"Set the electric shocker to a hundred Mississippis," Lord Business said.

"Affirmative," the computer replied.

"You're very lucky, Emmet," Lord Business said. "You're going to have just enough time to see the Kragle at work - in your hometown…"

"NO!" I screamed, trying rapidly to squirm my way out of the ropes binding me. It didn't work.

"And Bad Cop?" Lord Business said.

"Yes, sir?" Bad Cop asked.

"You've been very loyal to me, and you've been very helpful in tracking down the Special - but you are a Master Builder, and I can't risk a change of heart - plus, there's nothing else you can really do for me."

"What do you mean, sir?" Bad Cop said.

"I'm leaving you here to die," Lord Business said. "It's nothing personal - it's just business. Lord Business."

He let out an evil laugh as he left the room. After a rumble from above, the screen lit up with at least seven different feeds of Bricksburg, and my friends - including some of the people from the construction scene - being frozen in time, helpless to do anything about it - as I watched, horrified and just as helpless as them.

"Emmet?" Benny said. "You'll...you'll think of something, right? Like you always do…"

I was too heartbroken to tell him that I couldn't. The Piece of Resistance was gone, along with every hope of stopping the Kragle. All of my friends were trapped, with death inevitably ahead. I was going to have to watch my hometown, the entire village of Bricksburg, frozen in place by that infernal Kragle. And Vitruvius…

A lump built in my throat as I thought of my friend - his adventurousness, his clumsiness, his...his strength...all gone, never to be seen again…

And then I heard a murmur behind me. I turned around - and I saw something I was not expecting to see.

Thanks for reading the chapter! I hope you enjoyed it - let me know if you guessed any part of the twist!

Feel free to review, but please no negative reviews or cursing. (And please, NOTHING POLITICAL!) Thanks!