Something was very wrong. Paul knew it from the moment he emerged from his tent.

He couldn't quite place his finger on it at first. All he noted was that it was unusually quiet. By which he meant that there wasn't the quiet talking between Brandon and Reggie that he had become accustomed to. Usually, he would find them chatting idly about nothing, well, nothing of even remote interest to him. He had made a point in staying well out of their little conversations least they try to drag him into them. His sibling attempted to do so anyway but was smart enough to back away when he grasped that Paul simply wasn't in the mood. This morning however, there wasn't even a discussion about the weather. Instead, as he came out into the daylight, he spotted his brother busy tidying away his tent. Brandon for his part was shaving silently.

That in itself wasn't all that surprising. The Pyramid King wasn't the type to indulge in constant babbling. They wouldn't be talking every single minute. It was more the distance that was between them which Paul picked up on. Most of the time, they would be sat near to each other around the fire. Now, the space between them was quite apparent. Initially Paul simply disregarded it but it was when Reggie spotted that he was up and about and didn't say anything that he realized something must be up.

Instinctively, he opened his mouth to cut to the point and ask his sibling just what had happened. Had he had another second then he likely would have asked. Fortunately, he caught sight of the Frontier Brain out of the corner of his eye. The man shook his head slowly, giving the message not to disturb Reggie. For a moment, Paul actually contemplated ignoring his father's silent warning just on principle. It was only when he noticed the violence of his brother's gestures: the way he was heaving the pegs out of the ground with his bare hands and then stuffing them back in his bag that he decided that maybe some caution might be better.

Instead, he opted for helping himself to some breakfast. It was obvious that Brandon had cooked. No doubt to try and calm whatever had taken over Reggie by shouldering some of the burden. He didn't know him that well then… Paul knew the only way his brother would calm down was if given enough time and space to himself. Given how hacked off he seemed to be, they might very well end up waiting for quite some time.

That naturally begged the question of just what had upset Reggie to such a degree. His brother was by any standards understanding and patient. True, like anyone he could get irritated but that very rarely actually turned to pure anger. More often than not, he would just brush something off with a pleasant smile. It took a lot to get through all that kindness and willingness to listen. It certainly wasn't anything that Paul had said last night. He'd done much worse and failed to bring out his sibling's darker side. That only left one culprit… Which itself raised the question, just what on Earth could Pyramid King Brandon have said to Reggie to get him into such a state.

In his mind, Paul already knew what had happened. Brandon had said something he shouldn't have to Reggie or maybe that the elder brother simply didn't want to hear. Knowing his sibling, he would have talked to their father last night, most likely after he had gone to bed. That was the sort of thing that Reggie did, always believing that somehow you could talk things through. More fool him, the young trainer thought to himself turning towards his brother, he should know the old man is not one for listening to others.

There were a number of possibilities. It was unlikely to be an insult, Reggie didn't care much what anybody called him. It could have been their mother but he doubted that his father would ever bring the woman up in such a way that would hurt either of his sons, even Brandon had his standards. It could have been Maylene, Paul supposed. Whilst just why his brother persisted in hanging around with that pathetic excuse for a gym leader remained a mystery to him, from what little he'd seen it was a slightly touchier than usual subject for him. That being said, he doubted that the Frontier Brain could have pushed him quite that far simply through some teasing. It would have had to be something which had angered him quickly as generally their father could sense when he was pushing things too far and would back off.

Very odd indeed.

Making things all the stranger and more awkward was the fact that Reggie's bad mood stuck. It lasted for hours. That was unusual. It was rare for his anger to last more than a few minutes. This one lingered and didn't even calm down much as they walked. He replaced Brandon up front, leading the way. A few times, Paul drew a little closer hoping to try talking to his brother and discover just what had happened to get him in such a state. Every time that he got even remotely close however, he found himself on the receiving end of a very hostile glare. It was enough to prompt him to back down without so much as a question. There were times when even Brandon's bravery and the pokemon trainer's stubbornness weren't enough…

Amazingly, this actually lead him to walk alongside his father.

"What the hell did you say to Reggie last night?" The boy asked quietly as they walked along.

"Something he didn't want to hear..." Brandon sighed looking down at his feet.

"I don't think I've ever seen him this pissed."

Naturally, he caught sight of the man's icy cold glare. Brandon always had disliked the use of vulgarities in his presence. This of course had led his youngest son to use them abundantly and at every possible opportunity. True, Paul did use them when they weren't always warranted out of spite but sometimes he found it more than a little irritating that his father didn't accept that there were times when they spoke louder than any other word. He found it hard to believe that the Pyramid King didn't swear. In fact, he knew that he did from time to time so just why he persisted in such an extreme reaction to even the most moderate curse was beyond his son.

"What?! It's the only word for it!"

Paul's raised voice drew the attention of Reggie. The look he gave them made Brandon's most fearsome glare seem like a loving and tender gaze. It was enough to prompt both of them to be silent once more. Whatever had gotten into his brother, Paul was most certain he didn't like. He was rather more fond of the calm and sedate sibling who you could do pretty much what you wanted to and wouldn't bat an eyelid. This guy was, frankly, a little too scary for his liking. Even the man who gave out the "Brave symbol" was keeping his distance. Both of them choosing to be quiet for a while longer before the aging Frontier Brain finally muttered:

"It's the only word for it..." Brandon reluctantly agreed.

At least they could both agree on that point. Paul knew better than to wait for explanations from his father as to just what had transpired between the two of them. Or rather anything more detailed than the little that he had already said. He would consider such matters to be confidential and to be between the two of them only. No chance getting much out of him.

If Paul stuck by his father that morning, it was simply to stay away of Reggie's way. There was no way he was crossing his brother when he was in a mood like this. Granted the proximity to Brandon was undesirable but at least in his mind if they stuck together then they were less likely to attract the elder sibling's ire. The Pyramid King must have been thinking something similar as he didn't do or say anything which could potentially have lead to more conflict. They were both smart enough to know to keep their heads down or at least he hoped they were. As time went on and Reggie's mood stayed the same, he found himself increasingly uncertain. To the point where he actually went so far as to break the silence between them.

"Okay, here's the deal. Neither of us, say or do anything to make him any angrier." He hissed under his breath.

"As opposed to trying our hardest to get on his bad side?" His father grumbled as a response.

"You know what I mean, crumby old man."

"Watch it!" Brandon warned him only just managing to contain his instinct to raise his voice.

"What?" Paul challenged forgetting momentarily about his brother.

Brandon gritted his teeth but managed to contain the answer which was so obviously waiting to be unleashed. The surprise good news about him was that he was a man who liked to be heard. Otherwise put, he yelled a lot. His "No"s were of course infamous and just why such a generally self-contained man shouted like that so much was anybody's guess. It did however mean that in situations when for some reason he couldn't raise his voice and deafen his audience, he found himself a little stuck. The man's expression was almost comical as he struggled with the urge to start bellowing. Finally, he let out a sigh, releasing some of the tension.

"Showing some respect wouldn't hurt you boy."

Respect… Everyone respected Brandon. They didn't necessarily like him but boy, oh boy did they respect him. He'd seen hard men, real brutes who normally couldn't wait to do anything but start up a fight and thought they were the centre of the world become quiet in the Pyramid King's presence. Sure, fear had something to do with it. Not everybody dared take on the Frontier brain, maybe that was why he handed out the Brave symbol on the rare times he was defeated. There was something else about his demeanour however which made others listen and it wasn't just because of that booming voice of his either. Whatever it was, it was something that he had never been able to mimic. Many of those who encountered him were intimidated alright but it wasn't quite the same.

In truth, it was the one thing that Paul envied about the man. His ability to enter a room and to make others fall silent.

Paul decided against arguing with the man. If only to try and avoid his brother's anger. He would leave Brandon with his precious 'respect'. Did the Pyramid King even respect his opponents? Paul couldn't remember feeling much of it coming from his father when he had faced him. Then again, he never bothered trying to hide the contempt he felt for his youngest son even in the latter's presence. Paul let out a heavy sigh as he walked along in silence.

"Your brother's temper was always harder to manage than yours." Brandon declared after a few moments.

"What are you talking about?" Paul raised an eyebrow. "Reggie almost never gets mad!"

"Yes but when he does, it's a nightmare to get him to calm down." The man let out a sigh. "Even as a kid, his temper tantrums could go on for hours."

Paul could actually remember them. He hadn't seen a really serious one in quite some time. Apparently being thrust into a position of certain responsibility had caused his sibling to mature enough to no longer be subject to his moodiness. For the most part at least, this was a typical example of just why you couldn't make such assumptions. He imagined that right now, all that was in his brother's head was pure rage. What was brief but brutal for both him and his father, lingered for far longer where Reggie was concerned. Brandon was right, even as a lad, he could remain furious for ages. Only the subject of his rage had changed.

Walking in complete and utter silence was something this little camping trip had gotten him used to. It was impressive how long the three of them could go without talking. It wasn't as if it even weighed very heavily on him. If anything, it allowed him to slip away to somewhere else and to almost forget about his current company. Simply closing his eyes for a few seconds was a welcome escape. He would have rather been pretty much anywhere else on the planet other than here right now with these two.

At least now Reggie seemed to have taken note of his own folly. There weren't many people on the planet who would have thought that something like this was a good idea and all of them bar one could probably be found in an asylum. With any luck, he would learn his lesson and keep his word about never trying to get them to talk again. Paul found himself wondering just why on Earth his brother had even tried to get them together again. Surely he was better off when they weren't talking. He didn't have to worry about what they were saying to each other for starters and he could enjoy the fact that they would be in a moderately better mood having not been fighting mere moments before. If nothing else, it must have been a pleasant rest for his ears.

Instead, he always tried to get them together. It didn't matter how much they resisted or tried to explain to him why it was a bad idea, he just wouldn't listen. Paul knew that it must have hurt him. It was plain to see every time things went south and one or both of them ended up storming out in a rage after exchanging words which a father and son really shouldn't. There was no mistaking the look of crushed hopes and an almost broken spirit as he watched them both leave. Yet, a few days later he would be phoning them up again and trying to organize another meeting. It was almost as if he liked getting punished.

Thinking about it. A strange sensation came over Paul. He couldn't quite place it for a few moments before remembering it as regret. He never wanted to hurt Reggie. It just sort of… Happened… Whenever he and his father were in close proximity. He tried to dismiss the guilt as a weakness which he would do well to get rid of. He had it coming, Paul argued in his own head, He knows he's going to get hurt but he goes along and does it again and again. Always banging his head against the same old stone wall, that was his beloved elder sibling in a nutshell, maybe one day his head would finally crack. Perhaps it just had…

The silence dragged on all day. Reggie's anger was perhaps a little less aggressive than it had been. The cold glares had been replaced by a quietness which best resembled a sulk as far as Paul could tell. Neither he nor Brandon were about to risk disturbing him and bringing out the rage again, that was for sure. Even dinner which the Frontier Brain cooked was held in complete silence. The surprise good news was that come tomorrow, they could begin climbing back down the mountain. That should lift their spirits a little, knowing that with each step, they grew closer to the final parting of the ways and a future without one another. At least that's how the young pokemon trainer liked to think about it.

Brandon went to bed early that night. Apparently, he saw no point in hanging around out there with his two sons for longer than he had to. That suited his youngest just fine. For an adventurer, the Pyramid King was a man of habit. You could probably have timed just how long it took for him to go to sleep proper. He always spent a few minutes writing in that journal of his. You could make out the faint light from his lamp through the tent. After that, the light would go out and he would drift off to sleep rather quickly. This all generally happened within the space of half an hour, usually less. Predictability could be a weakness if you knew how to exploit it.

Naturally, that was exactly what Paul intended to do. Despite the chill of the mountain side after dark. He made the effort stay awake and resist the temptation to retreat to the relative warmth and shelter of his own tent. Apparently Reggie felt the same way as he stayed out with him. He remained silent however, dismissing his sibling's initial assumption that he had been waiting for their father to go to bed so the two of them could talk in private. In truth, the pokemon breeder had no idea why his brother hadn't gone to bed yet. Maybe he was enjoying the fresh air although considering how cold it was right now, he found that hard to believe. As the minutes trickled by, the breeder still showed no signs of turning in. So be it…

Getting to his feet silently, Paul tiptoed his way towards his father's tent. He noticed Reggie's curious gaze following him but still he didn't say anything, not even as he silently opened the door. Good. It didn't look like he was going to encounter any opposition from his brother. That just left the old man to worry about.

Inside, his father was sure enough, fast asleep. Paul held his breath as he slipped in. His target was thankfully not very far away. It was tempting to simply run and to try and get in and out as fast as possibly. He didn't trust himself to be silent enough to not wake the man up. That meant treading slowly which prolonged the time he was in there and the chances of Brandon coming to naturally were greater. This wasn't the first time he'd snuck around like this though and he trusted himself to be able to do it again. He smiled slightly as he reached the man's bag, carefully lifting it so that none of its contents could potentially spill out and make a noise. Then, as quietly as he had entered, he made his way back to the door.

"What are you doing?" Was what Reggie said to him when he'd slipped back outside and zipped the door shut behind him.

"Going through Brandon's stuff, what's it look like?"

He should perhaps have been surprised that his brother was talking again. Apparently, all of his anger seemed to have vanished. It was replaced by that disapproving look which he tried to use and still hadn't grasped didn't work on his younger sibling. Reggie glanced over to the man's tent, as if he was expecting him to suddenly burst out of there. Always the bore, he remained at a distance however, his irritated look only becoming more pronounced as the crease in his brow deepened. It would take more than that to faze Paul whoever who turned his attention back to the bag and its contents, eager to get a little further away from where his father was currently sleeping so as not to risk waking him up.

Paul sat down near the fire, putting the rucksack down in front of him. He glanced over his shoulder, almost expecting to find his father there. Of course, he encountered only the darkness of the night. Turning away, the Pyramid King's eldest son cautiously opened the bag. The first few things were of little interest: clothes, a cup and some other equipment. Brandon was a man who tended to hide his personal belongings. His son knew that he would have to be quite careful with them if he wanted to put them back and his prying to go unnoticed at the end of all this. As he placed the things he wasn't interested in next to him on the log, his brother once more intervened:

"You shouldn't do that!" Reggie snapped keeping as quiet as possible to avoid waking the man. "That's Brandon's stuff."

"Oh shut it Reggie!" Paul snapped struggling to keep his voice hushed. "Don't you want to see what the Great Pyramid King's prized possessions are?"

"Not if they're dangerous!" The eldest brother hissed as a reply. "Paul you know he goes to all these ruins and stuff. Remember the stories he used to tell us?!"

"What? Curses? Ancient evil spirits?" Paul laughed coldly. "Oh please! Stories to send us to sleep at night."

"Or keep us up..." Reggie muttered shivering as he no doubt thought back to a few of them.

Paul simply shook his head dismissively, choosing to ignore his sibling. Reggie had lost his scary face. That made him easier to deal with. His little brother's idea of dealing with him was more often than not to simply ignore him, knowing that his sibling usually wasn't the type to back his words up with actions, made all the better by the fact that he wasn't exactly well-versed in tough talk either. Granted, given the latter's mood for almost all of today, he was a little more cautious around the pokemon breeder than he otherwise would have been.

Finally, he hit some pay dirt or at least he thought it was. Paul's face fell noticeably when instead of plucking out something interesting, he found himself grasping onto a harmonica. It would have been wrapped in a piece of cloth but as he had rummaged around, most of it had slipped off. He discarded it next to him along with the rest of Brandon's worthless belongings. To his surprise however, Reggie picked it up. He examined it carefully, turning it over in his hands. Slowly, a soft smile crept up onto the young man's features. It caused his brother to frown slightly, wondering what he could possibly find so amusing about an old musical instrument.

"I can't believe he still has this." As if by magic, he seemed to have guessed what his sibling had been going to ask. "Don't you remember? Man, when we were kids… We'd sit on his knees and he'd play it to us."

"How sentimental..." Paul muttered through clenched teeth trying not to think back to it.

"I wonder if he still plays..." Reggie wondered ignoring his brother.

"Hey, what's this?"

Paul pulled out a sphere wrapped in a thick green cloth. It was comparatively heavy, an odd thing to bring along on a camping expedition like this one. Curious, Reggie came over. Apparently, right now the ethics of poking through their father's stuff didn't bother him so much when it was something he was interested in. The youngest son placed the strange sphere on his lap before slowly and carefully removing the fabric around it. It was a large blue sphere, one which seemed to be pulsing slightly from time to time. They simply starred at it, wondering just what on Earth they were currently looking at. It was something strange, otherworldly… It unnerved the youngest brother somewhat.

"Registeel, I need your assistance!"

Paul had gotten about as far as thinking the "Uh" from "Uh oh" when he found himself being picked up by the scruff of his jacket. He let out a brief gasp as he was lifted up off of the ground. As he thrashed around in an attempt to free himself, one of his kicks landed squarely in the bag, knocking it over as well as all of its contents, spilling them over the floor. The orb fell. It came perilously close to sticking the floor. His father caught it, moving like lightning to ensure it didn't actually hit the deck. Seeking help, the pokemon trainer turned to his brother only to discover that he was in the same predicament.

"You idiots!" Brandon's voice bellowed. "Do you have any idea what you could have done?!"

He was angry, that much was clear. This wasn't exactly the first time that they'd gone through his stuff without his permission. Paul could recall doing it when they were both children. They would see if their father had some secret treasure lying around from some of his fabled adventures. Naturally, Brandon tended to be more than cautious where ancient artefacts were concerned and had never left anything lying around that could potentially be dangerous. Apparently, he must have thought that they had grown out of it. How mistaken he had been. It did cause his youngest son to wonder just what the orb was however.

The Pyramid King inspected it carefully. The pulsating seemed to be stopping now that he had it in his hands. Very carefully, the Frontier Brain wrapped it back up in the cloth which had initially surrounded it. He sat down on the tree trunk, resting it in his lap. The man made no effort to tell his pokemon to release his two sons. Instead, just sitting there in silence for a few moments. Despite currently being held in a rather uncomfortable manner, Paul didn't quite feel like interrupting the man's quiet reflection. He was a little concerned about the damage that he had potentially done and expected a full lecture to follow. He would listen only for as long as it took for him to discover just what the mysterious orb was.

"Do you realize what you could have done?" He muttered eventually anger seething under his voice.
"Uh… No!" Paul rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You never bothered mentioning that thing!"
"So you thought you'd play with it?" Brandon grumbled something under his breath, angry ramblings, nothing they could make out. "This happens to be Regigigas."

Now, having spent most of his life in Sinnoh, Paul knew a fair bit about its legends. People always seemed to be fascinated by them. Be it Dialga and Palkia or the Lake Guardians, they were everywhere from ancient temples to television shows and souvenir shops. Naturally, given their father's interests, they had been exposed to a few of the ancient secrets their pokemon world had to offer. They should have known better. Although the idea that their father would take the seemingly ridiculous risk of carting around Regigigas in his rucksack struck his youngest son as rather bizarre. Surely, it was just asking for trouble. Especially given how hyper-cautious the Pyramid King tended to be with such things.

"So why do you have him with you?" Reggie asked more curious than anything else.

"After he was awakened..." Brandon let out in a sigh. "I promised to protect him. I can't do that up here with you two."

Paul's gaze fell back upon the orb he had held. It struck him at that moment that he had had a legendary pokemon in his hands. Regigigas… Would it have been any different if he had known what the orb was? It was impossible for him to know now. He struggled to get his head around just how such a supposedly gigantic pokemon could be in there or just why it would accept to be dwell in such a tiny space in the possession of a man like Brandon. He had half expected the Frontier Brain to try and catch the legend so as to add to his little collection. With the benefit of hindsight, it was probably a good thing the man had woken up. Better that than they accidentally awakening the sleeping golem.

"We didn't know..." Paul muttered, there was a slight accusation for him not having told them but also an explanation there.

Brandon let out a sigh and shook his head as he carefully tucked the orb away, placing it in his bag once more. As if it could read its partner's mind, Registeel suddenly released both of the Pyramid King's sons allowing them to fall back down to the ground. Paul grunted as he landed on his hands and knees. He looked up to see Brandon getting to his feet and starting to collect his stuff which had landed all over the place. Still getting the distinct feeling that they were in the doghouse for this one, both of his sons elected to stay where they were. They sat up a little and simply watched their father.

"Sorry..." Came Reggie's quiet apology after a while.

"Yeah..." Paul reluctantly grumbled under his breath.

The action didn't go unnoticed by Brandon. The man froze. His gaze falling upon his youngest. Paul looked the man straight in the eyes. He wasn't about to repeat himself. The man had heard him. If he expected anything more then he was wasting his time. After a few seconds, he went back to picking up his stuff. Once more, both Paul and Reggie remained completely and utterly silent in order to avoid any more of the man's anger, as justified as it might have been in this circumstance. The Pyramid King more allowed himself to fall down than actually sitting. It was neither graceful nor dignified and allowed both of his sons to know that he was severely hacked off.

"You haven't tried a stunt like that since you were knee heigh." He muttered through clenched teeth. "Just what were you thinking?! You know the life I live! If nothing else, it's an invasion of my privacy!"

Both boys looked away down at their feet. Paul finally dared to cast his father back a look. It was a strange thing but without really understanding why, he explained himself. It went without saying that it was something he almost never did. Generally, in his mind, he didn't owe the Pyramid King even the ghost of the curtsey. He didn't know why it just slipped out. He almost hated himself for it, for being so weak and justifying himself. What puzzled him the most was that he wasn't too sure just why he did it. No matter how he tried to understand his own reasoning - not that there had been any conscious thought that he had been aware of - he found himself unable to do so.

"I was looking for that journal of yours. I wanted to see if you had any of mom's drawings."

Brandon fixed him with an odd look. It wasn't anger so much as confusion. No doubt he was wondering just what after all these years would cause his youngest to express such an interest in one of his mother's hobbies. After so long, he had never once brought up the woman in his presence unless it was to try and make some sort of barbed point. Paul didn't feel like explaining why he had wanted to see the drawings. He just wanted to the man to know that that had been what he had been looking for.

Without looking away, Brandon reached back into his bag and pulled out his journal. Carefully, he opened the front page. His gaze travelled over to the papers which seemed to captivate his attention for a few moments. Then, very slowly, he handed his youngest son the drawings. Paul accepted them a little uncertainly. For some reason, he hadn't quite expected to be given them. He had imagined that Brandon would be more possessive of them, especially considering what he had caught them doing mere moments before.

It was strange for him to look at the pieces of paper and think that some years ago, it had been his mother drawing them. They were good. They varied a little in style, although he couldn't tell if that was an intentional artistic choice or simply the result of her gaining practice and experience as the years passed. Some of them represented people, there was one still-life and most of them seemed to be pokemon of one kind or another. He could still see some of the marks of lines which she had drawn and then rubbed out. A few of the sketches even had some color added to them. There was little doubt that the artist responsible had spent many hours doing them and put her heart and soul into them.

Paul found himself wondering if like him, his mother had found something appeasing about the act of drawing. Had she seen it as a hobby which she enjoyed doing? The skill, technique and effort she had evidently put into it seemed to indicate that she had. He wondered why his father had picked these drawings in particular to keep with him as he did. Presumably, there were many others. He doubted that this was everything his mother had ever done. There had to be some others elsewhere which would imply that a selection process had been made somewhere along the line. It begged the question of which ones met his father's criteria.

"Who's this guy?" Paul asked nodding in the direction of a young man whom his mother seemed to have drawn several times.
"That…" Brandon contemplated the picture. "Would be me."

Paul had guessed as much. It was hard to imagine who else his mother would have drawn. It was perhaps the oldest of the drawings. Its paper showed the signs of age and of having been folded several times for many a year. He was younger, much younger. There weren't many photos of him from the time. So to be able to lay eyes upon even a sketch of him was something of a strange experience for his sons. Reggie also leaned over, eager to see just what the Pyramid King had looked like at that age.

"I must have been in my early twenties." He told them noticing their interest.

"Good to see I'm not the only one in the family to have a ponytail." Reggie replied with a somewhat teasing smirk.

"What can I say? A folly of youth..." Brandon muttered looking away for a moment, he might even have been blushing. "Your mother saw to it that I lost it shortly afterwards."

"She didn't like it?" The eldest brother raised an eyebrow genuinely curious.
"I don't know about that." The Pyramid King rubbed the back of his head where once the ponytail would have hung. "-but she set it on fire and I couldn't be bothered regrowing it afterwards."

The two sons simply starred at their father for a few moments. Paul found himself looking at the drawing of the young man and trying to picture the ponytail on him. Hm… Maybe his mother didn't like longer hair. No, that couldn't be it. She'd had long flowing dark locks, he could recall that much. Perhaps it was simply when it was worn by men which brought out her inner pyromaniac. As far as he could recall, she hadn't tried to set light to anyone else. On all accounts, she'd been a calm and kind individual, not the sort to take a flamethrower to the man who would be their father in later years. Although frankly, her youngest couldn't hold it against her. Indeed, he found himself sympathising to a degree.

"It was an accident." The man assured them after a few moments.

Paul decided to leave it at that. There were some things which he felt no explanation could ever possibly satisfy him. Just how anyone could possibly set fire to someone else by accident was beyond him and not something he particularly wanted to know more about. Instead, he turned back to the drawings of his father. He looked vaguely moody in a few of them, a perpetual frowner, even back then it would seem. A few however showed him to be smiling slightly. It was by pure chance that Paul caught sight of a little note at the bottom.

"Jerk?" He asked his father.

"It's what she used to call me." The man chuckled slightly. "Once sent a letter addressed to me as such."

"And it got to you?" Reggie asked chuckling slightly.

"Yes." He nodded slowly, a most definite shade of pink. "Different times."

It was an amusing thought. He had trouble imagining his mother writing such a letter and found himself wondering if there had been any real animosity there or if it was simply her way of teasing him. If someone else were to write to the Pyramid King in such a way nowadays, well- He didn't know just who would be stupid enough to do so – but it most definitely wouldn't end well. He wished that he could remember the relationship between his two parents. It was all too far away now and he had been too young to really notice it at the time. He just remembered them being together.

They sat there for a few moments in silence. The embers from the fire were still glowing but the flames themselves had begun to die down. Paul continued to contemplate the drawings for a few moments. It took him a moment to notice that there was some writing on the other side of the paper. He turned it over. He discovered a note. The words were faded. They were in a neat and tidy hand, no doubt from long ago. He would have started to read them were it not for his father's gaze which he sensed upon him.

"These yours?" He asked the Pyramid King.

"Your mother sent them to me. It's how she used to write her letters." Brandon told him.

"Same way as she gave you that journal?" Paul continued his questions.

"No. That was more of a gift." A soft smile graced the man's face.

"Did mom ever write anything in there?"

"A few things but she was young, you might not recognise her handwriting."

Paul was pretty sure that he couldn't have recognized his mother's handwriting in most circumstances, let alone from her younger years. That was something which would probably mean more to his father. He had known her for longer after all. The youngest of the sons, cast the pictures one last glance before tentatively offering them back to the Pyramid King. He accepted them silently, slipping them back inside of his journal. There they would remain no doubt for a long time to come, just like they always had.

Silence settled in once more. They could feel the anger slowly dissipate. Fighting amongst themselves was something they had all gotten used to. As unpleasant as their conflicts could be, they had grown to known them well and recognise the various stages of them. This was the "cooling off" stage. It was best to say nothing and what little did pass between them had to be polite and innocuous. Given that Paul didn't trust himself with being able to come up with anything which fit into either category and so opted to remain quiet. Brandon however, it would seem had other plans:

"Give me that!" He demanded gesturing at the harmonica.

"What? Are you going to play?" Paul asked the man as he handed it over.

"Me? I haven't played this thing in years boy!"
"Make a change?" Reggie piped up.

The man let out a heavy sigh as he contemplated both of his sons. Paul didn't care too much if he played or not but he wasn't about to demand that the man remain silent. If Reggie requested it, given the mood he had been in for the best part of the day, the youngest wasn't about to risk provoking him further. For a moment, the Pyramid King seemed undecided. He was no doubt still a little irritable and frustrated by them going through his stuff. It looked as if he might very well be about to refuse. Then, slowly, without speaking a word, he took the instrument to his mouth.

Initially, Paul simply planned on heading back to bed. He didn't need or particularly want to listen to his father playing some rusty old harmonica. The time would be better spent resting.

As he left however, the sound of the first few notes of music hit his ears. It was a simple tune but one which he felt that he had heard before. Without wanting to, he found himself sitting on a porch he hadn't set foot on in a very long time. He could see his father sitting there on an old wooden chair with Reggie on his knee. His mother was there as well. He was sitting on her lap. He could almost feel the warmth of the woman as she held him close as they both listened. It was nothing spectacular but seemed to carry something calming with it. Whatever it was, it caused him to remain rooted where he currently was. Reluctantly, he turned around to face his father and sat down.

Paul closed his eyes, taking advantage of the music to think about other times which he had almost forgotten. It felt good to escape for a few moments...