Breakfast was omelets, prepared the way only Hinawa could make them, not undercooked and not overcooked, and just a hint of sweetness.

While they were eating, Claus and Hinawa talked happily, as if they'd forgotten that the twins would have to leave soon.

Lucas didn't say much-he responded to questions and he smiled at whoever looked at him- he was committing details to memory, soaking up the happiness and peace the way a sunflower soaks up the sun.

They lingered, all of them, over their food, eating slower than they usually would, especially Claus, who tended to eat as fast as he could to get out and play quicker…

Finally, everyone's plate was clean, and they ran out of things to talk about.

Claus stared down at his empty plate, then lifted his head- eyes only slightly bright- and smiled hugely at their mom. "Mom, I think you're the best cook in the whole world."

Hinawa smiled back, her eyes also a bit wet. "Oh Claus- you shouldn't say that- there's lots of cooks more skilled than me."

"No, he's right." Lucas said softly, causing both of them to turn and look at him. "In-in the whole adventure we've been having, I haven't met anyone who cooks as well as you."

"Lucas…Claus…" she hugged both of them tightly. "You're good boys, both of you- so kind and strong. I'm so proud of both of you."

Claus sighed, happy then sad. "We should go now, shouldn't we?"

Hinawa sighed too, and gently brushed his hair back. "Your supplies are all ready…so, whenever you are…" she trailed off.

Lucas hugged her tightly then made himself let go, back up and smile. "I love you, Mom."

She smiled at him- before she could respond, Claus hugged her tightly too, and then backed up quickly, so he and Lucas were standing side by side, and swiped quickly at his eyes before smiling too. "Love you Mom."

"I love you both."

She didn't walk them to the gate- she watched them from the tallest tower, with the highest window. Many of the people followed them- they were as cheerful and friendly as before, but they seemed to unnerve Claus for some reason- he pressed closer to Lucas when they came close.

Lucas wondered about that. Claus was always the strong one, the brave one- but there were other things to think about- Lucas was fairly sure that some of the townspeople had snuck extra things that they thought would be useful into their backpacks.

It was hard, but he managed to keep from looking back until they reached the gate- when they reached it, Lucas and Claus turned and waved at the castle- they really had no way of knowing if she could see them or not- but Lucas thought he could see movement in the highest window- as if she could see, and was waving back.

The villagers were waving goodbye too, shouting things like "Good luck!" as they did so.

Claus nodded- Lucas thanked them- and then the twins turned and left the city behind.

They were deep in the forest before either of them could bring themselves to speak.

Lucas knew that Claus would get upset if he brought up the fact that he was crying- and he didn't really feel up to talking about the fact that he was crying too.

To distract himself, he tried to think about other things. About how the sun looked, peeking through the trees surrounding them. About how Claus looked, striding ahead of him, hands darting up to his face once in a while, wiping away tears he was pretending not to shed. About how the Franklin badge Lucas had pinned to his shirt flashed in the sun.

Eventually, the forest ended- and they came upon a river.

The twins stared at it briefly, and then Claus turned to Lucas. "We have a map, don't we?"

Lucas nodded and dug it out of the backpack- he spread it over a rock and they studied it.

They probably should have studied it back in the city of sunflowers- but that would have delayed their departure and the more that was delayed, the harder it would have been to leave…

"We must be here." Claus said thoughtfully, pointing at the map.

"Yeah, you're right…it says it's called the 'River of Sticks'." Lucas read off the map. "Weird name for a river…"

"That's because it's the river of no return." said a voice from behind them, causing both twins to yelp and jump in the air.

The man was standing at the edge of the river, in a boat- he laughed at them- it was more of a cackle, really. "That's right boys." and he cackled again as Claus spread his arms protectively in front of Lucas. "Once you cross this river, you can't go back- if you turn back now, you can return to the castle of sunflowers and stay there happily with your mommy." he sneered at them- the hat pulled low over his face, the twins couldn't really see anything except the gleam of his eyes. "Wouldn't you like that? You'll never grow old, never have to do anything scary, never experience any pain ever again- wouldn't you like that?"

Lucas couldn't see his brother's face- but he could feel him, shaking, ever so slightly- suddenly, he knew what he had to do.

"No, we don't want that!" He yelled, pushing past his brother. He planted his feet apart and pointed his finger at the strange man's face. "What we want is to wake up the Dragon! The Dragon- he's been asleep for a really long time, but it's okay now- we're going to wake him up, and he's going to be our new friend and we're going to work together to protect everyone and fix everything the Pigmasks messed up! And as for being with Mom- that's what Heaven is for anyway! It's not like we're never going to see Mom again- we just have to wait a while, that's all. Besides- we have people counting on us! If we don't wake up the Dragon, the whole world will be in trouble! We can't go back- we're needed!"

The man burst out into a loud cackle, startling Lucas- he recovered, angry- about to respond, he clenched his fists- but Claus beat him to it, leaping in front of him again, arms spread protectively.

"Don't laugh at Lucas, he's right! Without the Dragon, the world's in real trouble!"

The stranger didn't cackle this time. Instead, he just cocked his head to the side- studied them a bit. Like he wasn't quite sure what to make of them after all.

The twins stood there, silent for a moment, studying him back- then Claus spoke. "How do we get across the river?"

"You'll need a boat."

"You have a boat." Lucas pointed out.

The stranger pretended to be surprised. "So I do!" he smirked at the boys. "Tell you what- if you boys really believe all that junk you just said- I'll take you across the river, free of charge. But are you sure you want to go, knowing you can't come back?"

"We're sure." the twins said at the same time.

The boatman smiled- and suddenly didn't seem so creepy anymore. "Then I'll take you. Get in."

"Cool, a boat ride!" Claus whispered to Lucas, grinning a bit.

Lucas nodded and smiled back- and they climbed into the boat- and the boatman pushed off.

The ride down the river was mostly uneventful, but the river was fast enough that it kept Claus excited- he moved from place to place, taking in the sights and the speed of the boat…

Lucas just sat back and watched his twin run around- enjoyed how happy and exited he was.

For some reason, it felt like it had been a long time since he'd seen Claus like this- but he didn't know why. Claus was like this all the time- enthusiastic and energetic- he plunged right into things while Lucas hung back and studied the situation first- of course, that sometimes was a good thing- if you jumped into a situation without looking it over, you might find yourself in over your head- of course, if wasn't good to just watch and do nothing either. That's why they were stronger when they were together.

Lucas shook his head. The day was warm- the sun was caressing and gentle, like a hug from Mom- so why was he feeling cold?

Claus seemed to be feeling it too- he turned to look at the sky, no longer smiling-

The sky was darkening- clouds were coming out of nowhere and covering the sun.

"Do you think it's going to storm?" Claus asked, only loud enough to be heard.

The boatman snorted as he shifted course. "How should I know? This is Magicant, remember? It's created from your hopes and fears, from what's inside of your hearts and minds."

The twins cast another, slightly more anxious look at the sky- and the boat stopped.

"We're here." the boatman announced, swinging his pole around in a grand gesture.

This side of the river had even more trees- looking at it, Lucas thought it looked like a maze- a single path was ahead of them, reaching through the closely pressed together trees.

"Looks kinda like the places in Mr. Wess's ghost stories." Claus said quietly.

Lucas nodded, and then turned back to the boatman. "Thanks for the ride."

The boatman shrugged. "Not a problem. It's why I'm here after all."

"Oh." Lucas flushed. He still didn't quite know what to think of the whole "realm made from your mind" thing.

"Well, I'd better leave you to your adventure- good luck with the maze." And he cackled at them one last time before pushing off and disappearing down the river, back the way he came.

The twins watched him go- once he was out of sight, Claus turned to Lucas. "I don't know whether I like him or not."

Lucas shrugged, a tad helplessly. "I don't really know- but he came from our heads, so…"

"And isn't that weird? I mean- this looks like the normal world. And if he's from our heads, what does that say about us?"

Thunder boomed, and both boys jumped and looked at the sky.

"We'd better hurry." Lucas said nervously.

"Yeah." Claus agreed, and the two of them headed into the forest.

The trees pressed so close together at some points that they couldn't walk side by side, they had to go single file- Claus always hurried a bit when they came to those parts, so he would go first and Lucas would follow.

Eventually, Claus got tired of the silence and asked "Hey, what do you think the Dragon is like?"

"I dunno." Lucas answered, hopping over some stones, "but I bet he's feeling lonely after being sealed away for so many years."

"Yeah, probably. Hey, do you think the dragon will give us rides?"

"Huh?"

"Don't dragons have wings and fly?" Claus asked reasonably, turning to stare at his brother.

"Yeah, they're supposed to…" Lucas thought for a moment about flying- and had a sudden flash of memory- hanging tightly to something long and thin- feeling his stomach lurch as he looked down at the faraway ground, but also feeling his heart leap with the beauty and with the thrill of flying…

Lucas found himself smiling at the fond memory- he hurried to catch up to his brother. "You're right Claus! When we find the dragon, we should ask him if he can take us for a ride!"

The trees thinned out a bit now- they came to a hill and climbed to the top of it.

"Can you see anything?"

"No." Claus sighed, disgusted. "What about the map?"

"Huh…it's kinda hard to read…there's supposed to be some sort of place here that we're supposed to go to- but it's hard to tell where we are on here and how far we are from it…"

Claus groaned. "How are we supposed…" he trailed off.

Lucas looked up. There was a weird look on his brother's face- he looked frozen-

"Claus?" his voice came out quieter than he wanted- his brother didn't seem to hear him, didn't move. Lucas tried again, louder this time. "Hey, Claus!"

He jumped as if he'd been hit- the lightening came again as he hit the ground, causing both twins to jump.

"Hey Claus, you okay?"

Claus shuddered- shook his head- and then faced Lucas, a slightly sheepish look on his face. "Yeah- just, for a moment- I thought I head something."

Lucas turned to look at the woods. "Maybe it was just an animal-"

Rustling noises cut him off- Lucas paused, uncertain- there was a flash of something- something bright and silvery- something mechanical moving through the trees- it giggled and coughed, and then it was gone.

Lucas stared after it a moment, wondering if he'd actually seen it or just imagined it- he turned to Claus-

His brother was on the ground, curling into himself, hands on his head, eyes squeezed shut, breathing raggedly-

"Claus! Hey Claus!" Lucas dropped to his knees and flung his arms around his brother. "Claus, it's okay! It's okay! That thing's gone, it went away!"

This was wrong- this was all wrong. Claus was the brave one, the one who comforted Lucas, not the other way around- why was Claus so afraid of something that they hadn't even seen? Lucas's sick feeling increased- he pushed his thoughts away, hugging his brother tighter and began rocking back and forth.

"I believe the morning sun

Is always going to shine again-" he began.

A slightly breathless laugh came from Claus- who was shaking a little less. "Your singing is horrible, Lucas."

"Just because I don't sing like Mom." mumbled Lucas- he was embarrassed, but Claus was talking, so that was good- "are you okay?"

Claus groaned. "I thought I was…sorry, that kind of pathetic, huh? I don't know why I spazed like that."

"It's okay…but Claus- what was that thing?"

In his arms, Claus tensed then relaxed. "…I don't know, Lucas…I don't know."

Lucas turned his head and looked at the woods. "It's a bad guy, isn't it? Someone we fought before, but forgot when we came here-" Claus shuddered "Sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" Claus pushed him away- not roughly- pasted a sick smile on his face, "I'm fine, see?"

"…you look like you're going to throw up."

Claus crossed his arms, now just looking annoyed. "Gee thanks, Lucas. Look, let's just go find this stupid place and get out of here." he turned to stomp off.

"Claus!" Lucas called, exasperated and hurt, "it's not bad to have weaknesses- it's how you deal with them that's important!"

Claus paused- stayed still a moment- then slowly turned to face Lucas.

Lucas stepped forward, slowly. "…if you go off and try to do things and fight when you're feeling sick…you'll just get hurt and that won't help anyone, it'll just hurt you. It's not like I think you're weak or anything, because I know you're not…it's just that you have weaknesses, just like everyone else- not even Mom and Dad are perfect, you know…I just don't want anything to happen to you…"

For a moment, Claus stared at him…and then he smiled, somewhat reluctantly. "You don't…think I'm weak?"

"No- I know you're not weak."

Claus sighed- he looked away, at the path ahead, and then back at Lucas. "I'm okay- really. But it's been a while since breakfast- so if you're hungry…we could sit down and rest and eat."

Lucas nodded, happy that he'd gotten through to his brother- and they sat down and dug out their food out of their backpacks.

Lunch was sandwiches and water- and while the silence wasn't awkward, both twins were rather quiet.

They were doing it again, Lucas realized…eating slowly so as to not have to go on so fast.

Claus was eyeing some wrapped cookies.

Lucas wasn't really brave- but he didn't want to be afraid of what lay ahead either. Of course, he didn't want to move on until Claus was ready…

Claus was still eyeing the cookies.

"I think we should save them for later."

"Really?" Claus looked regretful at Lucas's nod, and sighed as he put them away.

Lucas wanted to ask him if he was scared- but he'd assured him that he knew he wasn't weak- and while fear wasn't weakness when you didn't let it keep you from doing stuff, Lucas wasn't sure that Claus would take it that way…Claus never wanted anyone to think of him as weak, he wanted everyone to think of him as strong- and recently he'd been sensitive- what had happened? Something had happened, hadn't it?

That was why they were feeling the way they did- why Claus was acting the way he was.

In Lucas's head, things floated just out of reach- but they floated close enough to let Lucas know that he was right.

He'd put his backpack on absentmindedly as he thought about this- Claus was waiting for him at the bottom of a small hill.

Something had happened to Claus- that was why his memories were in worse shape than Lucas's, and that's why he was acting like this…

Something bad had happened to Claus…

Lucas adjusted his backpack and walked up to his brother.

"You ready?" Claus asked, Lucas nodded, and they continued on.

OoOoOoOo

You know what would be really awesome? If you guys reviewed. I intend to finish this story (I don't like leaving things half done) but it would give my motivation a major jump start if I knew that people liked this.

And, on the other hand, if people spotted flaws in my story and pointed them out to me, I could do my best to fix them.

In other words, please review. It would really make my day.