It seemed like it might not storm after all- the rumbles of thunder had faded. It hadn't gone away, but it was further in the distance- Lucas needed to listen for it to realize that it was still there.
Claus was calm now- he was humming under his breath as he strode along the path.
Lucas, following along behind him, was still worried.
Lucas wanted to help his brother…he wanted to help Claus, but he didn't know how- he couldn't remember what had happened-
Claus changed from humming to singing- softly at first, then louder.
"Paradise Special's pulling into the station
Hurry up, gotta get on board
Adventure is the ticket to our destination
Hurry up now
Don't take it slow-"
Oh- Lucas remembered this song. Mom sometimes liked to sing it when she was cleaning or working. It was a happy energetic song, which was probably one of the reasons why Claus liked it so much. It was one of his favorites.
"Here we go on down the tracks
Paradise Special's moving down the tracks-"
What was a Paradise Special, and why did it have tracks anyway? Lucas remembered their mom being asked that by both him and Claus, but she could never really answer it- she'd turned to give them a confused look, then frown into space for a while- sometimes so long a while that they'd get scared and shake her so that she came back- sometimes she'd wince like she was in pain and shake her head. Always, she'd apologize and say that she wasn't sure.
"Half the fun of travel's
Just the getting there
Lighten up and enjoy the show-"
Now thinking about travel, thinking about tracks, something niggled at the back of Lucas's head. Briefly, he shut his eyes and focused on it.
It sped away from him so fast, leaving a bad smell behind, roaring down the pieces of metal laid out on the ground, creating a path for it.
"Now we're going in style
Let's start wearing a smile
Life keeps getting better all the time-"
Oh- a train. This song was about riding a train. Probably a nicer train then the one that he was remembering.
They must've seen a train at some point during their adventure. They'd probably seen a lot of different things on their adventure. Lucas hoped he remembered them soon- and not just because he'd be able to help Claus once he remembered what had happened to him.
The village was just a small place- the world was much bigger. Lucas wanted to remember what he'd seen of the world. It could be scary sometimes, but it was also exciting and sometimes even wonderful. It wasn't a bad world.
But when the journey was over, they'd go back home to Tazmily, of course. Tazmily was the best- it was a place where you could relax because you knew you were safe, and that your friends were all around.
"By this time tomorrow we'll be so far away
If there's one thing that I know
Yeah I know
We won't be back
Paradise Special's never coming back-"
A sick twisting feeling in Lucas's stomach- why? Claus hadn't changed the lyrics any- they were always like that. But maybe he was feeling it too- his voice changed slightly on the last word.
Claus slowed a little- Lucas, not expecting that, bumped into him. They looked at each other, smiled at each other without having to say sorry, and kept walking.
"Just relax for a while" Claus kept singing, a little quieter, but sounding more content- his hand reached for Lucas's and he took it.
"Watch the world goin' by
Just as long as we're together we'll be fine
We'll be fine
Takin' the Paradise Line-"
They swung their hands together as they walked- Lucas hummed along as his brother sang.
"Wave your troubles goodbye
Leave your sadness behind
We can ride away forever you and I
Yeah forever
Takin' the Paradise Line
Takin' the Paradise Line
Takin' the …Hey Lucas, look." Claus said, stopping and pointing.
The trees were becoming less common, thinning out- and there in front of them- sand.
Claus hurried up, eager to see what lay ahead of them and Lucas followed at his heels.
Don't let him out of your sight! Don't let him disappear!
It was a desert.
Lucas felt something in him twist- he didn't like deserts all that much. He wanted the trees back-
Claus surveyed the surrounding desert and sighed. "At least it's wide open." he muttered, "so nothing can sneak up on us."
"Yeah, that is good." Lucas agreed as they stepped forward-
A sudden sound, like thunder, pounding footsteps shaking the earth beneath them-
Both twins cried out and clutched at their heads-
Turning around as they stood on the bridge, seeing metal flashing in the moonlight-
Tears stung at Lucas's eyes- he heard Claus cry out- it sounded far away-
The roar seemed to shake the earth beneath them-
Lucas shook his head, trying to clear it, trying to get to Claus-
The sudden presence of their mom's hands, one on each twins' back- "Goodbye Claus. Goodbye Lucas. I love you." and then she pushed them into the river.
Screaming for her, they could only watch as she turned to face the Mecha Drago.
Lucas found himself on his knees, tears escaping- he shook his head angrily- he didn't have time to cry! He had things to take care of right now! When everything was over, he and Claus could visit Mom's grave (or maybe make it so she didn't have a grave at all, if the Dragon had the power, he hoped the Dragon had the power) together and they could cry then- but right now, they had a job to do.
Lucas stumbled to his feet, wiped at his eyes- anger and grief warring within him.
Where was Claus?
Claus was flat on his back, staring at the sky, mouth moving soundlessly.
"Claus!" Lucas cried, rushing to his brother's side, "Claus! Claus, look at me! I'm right here Claus! Claus, say something!"
Claus shuddered suddenly- as if he'd been hit by lightening- before crying out.
"Claus!" Lucas called- feeling so helpless, hating it.
Claus blinked- shut his eyes, opened them again- they darted around frantically before landing on Lucas.
His mouth opened- moved silently before whispering "Lu- Lucas?"
Lucas flung his arms around his brother. "Yes, it's me! Are you okay?"
Claus shuddered and hugged his brother back. "Mom-"
"Yeah, this place looks a lot like that place." Lucas said sadly. "I saw it too- I remembered how she died- she was killed by that thing." Claus stilled in his arms and Lucas continued talking, "it was a drago, but…wrong, somehow."
"I hate it." Claus said suddenly, tonelessly. "I hate it I hate it I hate it-"
"Claus!"
"It killed Mom-" Claus looked up at Lucas- and his eyes were back to the way they'd been in the forest when Lucas had found him lying on the ground- hurt eyes- eyes that didn't match…one green eye, one red. Seemingly unaware of the change, Claus gazed up at him, his mismatched eyes begging him to understand- and Lucas did understand- that was one of the problems.
"It did kill her- I don't like that thing either…but Claus, that thing- it was sad too. It didn't choose to become what it did." Lucas hesitated then added "Dad told me that after he beat it…the baby came out and licked it."
Claus's mismatched eyes searched Lucas's face- then dropped thoughtfully. "…he wanted to protect his mommy too." he whispered softly.
"…Claus?"
He shook his head and stood up, pushing Lucas away. "…nothing. Let's go see the Dragon."
"Are you sure you're okay?"
Claus paused, then slowly turned to face Lucas. His eyes flickered, then returned to normal- matching eyes, green as a forest full of sunlight. "…I don't feel so great." he admitted softly. "But …we gotta do this, right? We have to go see the Dragon…so let's do it."
Lucas nodded slowly, and they got up and started walking together again. Slower, this time, at least a little bit. For a while, Lucas watched Claus carefully- and Claus was aware of him watching but said nothing- didn't hide away from his gaze.
After a while, the heavy silence lessened, and both twins felt that everything had gone back to normal- as much as it could until all this was over.
They reached a cliff, and gazed over the edge of it at the land that still lay before them.
"It looks like we need to head over to that canyon over there next." Claus said after looking over the area.
"Must be, there's nowhere else to go."
"But wouldn't you know it?" Claus groaned. "It's so small and cramped looking- it looks like it'll be a pain."
"Yeah, I really don't want to go in there either." Lucas admitted. "With those high walls, it looks like it might get dark too."
Claus nodded, then turned back to his brother with a sigh. "Come on-let's get it over with, right?"
Lucas nodded and the twins left the cliff and continued on the path to the canyon.
At the bottom, where the path from the cliff met the level ground, there was a pile of bones.
The twins stopped and stared at it.
The bones sat there, alone in the sun. They weren't stretched out, showing the shape of the person they had been. Instead, they were piled, one on top of the other.
Lucas stepped closer, quickly followed by Claus.
He knelt down and studied the bones carefully, but they held no answers- only sat there motionless, no clothes or possessions or anything left to give any clue to who they had been.
"Is it…" Claus trailed off.
"Yeah…" Lucas said softly, "these are definitely human bones." he stood up, and both twins stared down at the pile of bones that had been a person- wondering who they'd been, what their family had been like, how they'd wound up here, alone in the middle of nowhere.
Then Claus snapped his fingers. "Hey Lucas- isn't all of this coming out of our heads? Doesn't that mean that nobody really died here?"
"Oh, that's true!" Lucas said, brightening- and then he frowned again. "But still…there must be a reason why they're here…" he looked around- and then noticed something. Peeking out from behind one of the rocks by the pile of bones- was something blue.
Lucas stared at it- memory flashed- a scrap of red cloth and a pair of blue shoes, tucked away together, carefully, lovingly, in the top drawer at home-
"Lucas!" Claus's voice, suddenly worried- his brother's hands on his shoulders, shaking him- "Lucas, what's wrong?"
"Claus-" Lucas gasped and gulped for air, hands darting to his twin's shoulders to make sure he was real.
"Lucas, what's wrong?"
Lucas didn't answer- couldn't answer- couldn't say anything. He just flung his arms around his brother and clung to him.
He was alive- he was okay- he was here-
"You're so weak."
Both twins froze.
"You're both so weak." the voice giggled-
Lucas felt shards of ice chasing themselves all over his body.
Claus was looking around- jerking his head all about, trying to find the owner of the voice-
Struck by the same thought at the same time, the twins turned and stared at the pile of bones.
They looked the same…
A satisfied sigh from the creepy voice. "You're weak and you're stupid- you're just toys for me to play with… and I'm tired of playing with you."
The sound of metal against rock- the twins turned in time to see a gleam of metal as it went darting between nearby cliffs and ledges and then disappeared.
And the ground shook beneath them, threatening to knock them off their feet, away from each other- grabbing onto one another, to keep from falling, to keep from being separated-
Hands emerged from the ground- thrusting up into the air- dead hands with the bones gleaming through- coming up all around, surrounding them-
"Claus-"
"I see them too." the older twin interrupted as hands clutched at the earth, pulling themselves up.
They were rotting- the smell hit the brothers almost before they saw them- most of their hair was gone, revealing nearly empty skulls- eye sockets as empty as a fresh dug grave- tattered clothes, barely granting any modesty-
"Lucas?" the question was calm, but Lucas was aware of Claus trembling, just a bit, in the corner of his vision. "Have you ever seen anything like these guys before?"
One shook its head- mouth hanging open, it stepped towards Lucas.
He felt horror and pity for it- a him, maybe? He felt disgust and something else too- he felt almost…drawn to them...
"I don't know." he said softly as he bought up his bat. "Let's just be careful-"
It lunged at him- Lucas gave a startled yelp and swung his bat into it- the impact knocked it back, but only made it stumble, didn't make it fall.
Behind him, Claus grunted as he made the same discovery. "You okay?" he yelled as he batted the zombie away.
"Yeah, I'm fine!" Lucas shouted back as he fended another one off.
More hands thrust up through the ground- more zombies joined the fight.
"Claus, we can't keep this up!" Lucas shouted as he finally beat the first zombie- beat it so it lay in the ground and didn't move anymore. "There's too many of them!"
"I know!" Claus yelled as he smashed what remained of another zombie's skull, "I'm thinking!"
Lucas swung his bat- there was enough space that he felt safe in quickly glancing around, also trying to think of a plan- and then he saw two zombies- standing on top of the rocks, lifting a heavy rock above their heads- and right underneath them was-
"Claus, look out!" Lucas shoved his brother out of the way.
The rock crashed right behind them- off balance, they fell to the ground-
Lucas got to his knees and struck out again, knocking one of the zombies away, but another one of them reached out and clumsily wrapped its hands around the bat-
"Hey, give it back!" Lucas tugged fruitlessly on his bat- only succeeding in pulling the zombie closer- he could almost smell its breath. Lucas shuddered-
And then the zombie yanked the bat forward, pulling him off balance as he yelped- and then another wrapped its arms around him, and another and another, trapping him and pinning him-
"Lucas!"
Are they hugging me? Are they pulling me apart? Lucas wondered dizzily. He couldn't even squirm, they were holding him so tightly- another one grabbed him and put its hands over the only uncovered places- Lucas's eyes and mouth.
"Lucas! Hey, leave my brother alone!" Claus's voice sounded far away- the zombies only seemed to press closer to Lucas- almost cuddling up against him- "I said, leave him alone! PK thunder!"
A boom so loud it seemed to shake the earth- the hands covering his eyes and mouth were ripped away- Lucas inhaled with a gasp.
He could see Claus standing there- staring- almost looking shocked- before his face grew determined and he swung the bat- down- to the right- up-
His vision still blurry, Lucas thought he saw something- something dark and black- overlapping his brother-
"PK thunder omega!" Claus shouted.
Four strikes of lightening came racing away from Claus- each one hit a zombie, knocking it away from Lucas and turning it to ashes.
PK- psychic powers- Claus moving like that- a barrier burst inside Lucas's mind-
Claus might be the strong one, but I'm not going to be weak and hold him back either!
"PK flash!" Lucas yelled, locking his fists shut in determination. It wasn't as strong as Claus's attack- it didn't take out four, only one- but it did push them all back, and Lucas was free.
"PK thunder omega!" Claus cast again, and the lightening took out three more of the zombies, giving Lucas enough cover that he could grab his bat and move back to where Claus was.
Claus met him halfway. "Lucas, are you okay?" the question was asked as the brothers went back to back, facing the still large amount of zombies surrounding them, and it was accompanied by the older twin's free hand reaching out and grabbing his.
"Thanks to you, I'm fine." Lucas squeezed his brother's hand back- he wanted to turn and give Claus a smile and reassure him, but he had to focus on the zombies, because he was not going to let them hurt his brother- and wait… "PK defense up!"
He could feel Claus twitch as the psychic energy covered him. "Lucas, what was that?"
"It should help keep you safe-" and then the zombies surged forward again.
"PK thunder!"
"PK flash!" his attack didn't do as much as Claus's- he needed a stronger attack- wait- didn't he have-
Claus grunted behind him.
"Claus, are you okay?"
"Yeah- actually- that didn't hurt as much as it did before…"
"Good, it's working." Lucas said, relieved.
"Yeah-" Claus agreed, sounding a little impressed, before his voice turned focused and ordering "Now cast it on yourself."
"Actually, I think I have a better idea. PK defense up omega!" the protective energy covered them both now.
"Okay, I guess that works. Now, let's take care of these guys-"
"Wait Claus-" Lucas grunted, frustrated, as more zombies threw themselves at them- "This is taking too long- don't we have another attack?"
"PK thunder!" Claus growled in frustration as two of his lightening strikes missed. "What do you mean, another attack?"
"There's an attack- it's really strong, and it targets all the bad guys, and we both have it- I can't remember the name of it, but it has something to do with something important- something important to us- to everyone- do you know what I mean?"
"No- but it does sound familiar."
The mob of zombies shifting around them, readying for another wave- the twins shifted, preparing themselves too- and then Lucas's eyes fell on the speck of blue he'd noticed before- it was a blue shoe, lying by the rocks, empty and abandoned-
Lucas stepped back- pressing himself into his brother's back, needing to make sure he was really there-
"Lucas?" Claus asked, worry and love clear in his voice-
Love-
"Claus! It's love!"
"What?" Claus asked, confused, then grunted as he began fending off another attacking zombie.
"Our attack- the strongest one!" Lucas shouted, bashing another zombie in the face.
"Our strongest attack is named love?" Claus repeated in disbelief.
"You know it is Claus! What's more important than love?"
Claus froze for a moment- then nodded. "Okay- together then-"
"PK love!" both twins shouted together.
The psychic attack exploded outwards- it smashed into the zombies, knocking whole rows of them away and turning them into ashes.
"PK love omega!"
Their strongest attack at the strongest level- it wiped out all the remaining zombies and left the twins alone, standing there, panting.
"Is that all of them?"
"Yeah- yeah, I think so."
Lucas looked around, making sure, before starting for the blue shoe.
"Lucas? What are you doing?"
Without answering- without having an answer- Lucas reached down and picked it up-
Alone in the house, so wrong for the house to be so empty, lying alone in the bed and hugging the lonely pillow to him and pretending it was Claus-
Lucas shuddered as he realized he was hugging the shoe like he was hugging the pillow in the memory.
"Lucas?" he turned to see Claus behind him, staring at him worriedly.
Wordlessly, he held out the shoe. Claus gave it a confused and careless look before looking back at Lucas- and then slowly turning to look at the shoe again, suddenly realizing that-
"Hey, that looks just like…" Claus switched his weight around, and stood on one leg, bring the other up so he could study the shoes he was wearing and compare it to the shoe Lucas was holding.
They were exactly the same.
The twins stared at it a moment- not knowing what it meant, not knowing if they wanted to know what it meant.
Slowly, Claus lowered his leg to the ground, standing on both legs now. "Lucas, I got one of my memories back."
"You did? That's great Claus…" Lucas trailed off as his brother kept staring at the ground. "…Claus?"
"I went after it- I wanted to kill it…Lucas? Did I avenge Mom?" he looked up for the last part- their eyes met, and Lucas swallowed.
"Claus…"
"I didn't, did I?"
"- couldn't find him anywhere." Dad said shortly, carefully placing the two shoes down with the others-
"…no, I don't think you did." Lucas said softly.
"…he wanted to protect his mommy too."
"You said that before too…what do you mean?"
"…the baby drago…I'd only managed a couple attacks before it came…he cried and then he got in my way- I tried to go around him, but he was quicker than me…he head butted me…I think I fell…" Claus turned and looked over the edge of the cliff- stared at the sky and the land beneath them, before crying out in rage and kicking a rock so it skittered over the edge. "Ugh! I hate being so weak!"
"You're not weak."
"I couldn't protect Mom- couldn't even get revenge for her-"
"You protected me." Lucas insisted as he stepped up next to his brother's side, grabbing his wrist- suddenly scared. "We both failed to protect Mom, but we've gotten stronger now- you protected me, just now- if it hadn't been for you, they would have killed me."
Claus slowly turned his head and stared at Lucas. Lucas stared back. Finally Claus sighed, loosened his grip on the bat a little and hugged Lucas. "Thanks- you're the best little brother ever."
"Dummy, you're only five minutes older than me." Lucas said affectionately as he hugged him back. "But you're still the best older brother ever."
"Keep telling yourself that toys."
The boys broke apart at the sound of the voice, tightening their grip on their bats-
A slight sound from beyond the cliff edge- rocks and peddles clattering against one another- cautiously, the boys moved towards it.
"Catch me if you can toys- you don't want me to get to the Dragon before you do, do you?" the voice called tauntingly, then coughed and giggled.
The voice seemed somewhat off- somewhat distorted. But it also seemed familiar. The way they talked, the words they used, even the way it was distorted- Lucas was becoming more and more convinced he'd heard this voice before.
The boys prepared to look over the edge.
The rattling of rocks and pebbles started up again, louder- the twins looked over the edge to see something silver- a machine of some sort, Lucas realized with a chill. Its multiple legs were moving it too fast to get a real good look, and then it vanished into the mouth of the cramped path between the rocks they'd noticed before.
The twins stared after him a moment, then-
"That was the pig king you know." Lucas said softly, still staring at the canyon as he stood up. "He was the one behind everything- what happened to the islands- what happened to the village- what happened to Mom- he's behind it all!"
This feeling again- hate welling up inside him like a volcano- threatening to explode him- Lucas wrestled with it, desperately pushing it away-
Footsteps behind him- he turned to see Claus at his shoulder- staring at the dark canyon mouth. "He's…the one behind everything?"
"Yes." Lucas said quietly, hands clutching white knuckled at his bat, just for something to hang onto, "Porky is the one behind everything that went wrong."
Silence.
Lucas looked back at Claus- his eyes were too far away, like Mom's when they tried to ask about the Paradise Special…
Tentatively, but less tentative then he would've been before, Lucas reached out to his brother and placed one hand on Claus's shoulder.
Claus jumped slightly and turned to look at him.
"We have to go on." Lucas said simply.
Claus stared at him- then his face grew firm and he nodded.
They started down the hill, and then, together, the brothers entered the darkness of the canyon.
OoOoOo
Note to self- stop finding excuses for characters to sing.
On another note, chapters one through four have been...tweaked a bit. Nothing major has been changed, it's more like I underlined some important details.
Also, thank you to all of you who reviewed. It's a great feeling to get online and see that someone's commented on your story and that they told you how much they liked it. I hope you all continue to like where I go with this(crosses fingers hopefully).
