The rocks towered above them, and the sun beat down on them, no longer friendly the way it had been before.
There was no sign of the Pig King.
Lucas wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Lucas? Did I avenge Mom?"
It was probably a good thing Claus had silently used his right as the oldest to walk first, so that he didn't see Lucas shudder.
Tazmily was where they lived- Tazmily was a nice place to live- but Grandpa lived further away, in the mountains. They'd just turned ten- they'd had their birthday party- they'd gone with their mom, gone to visit Grandpa- they'd explored, they'd run around and shouted- they'd played with the Dragos.
On their last day there, Mom had gone outside to send a messenger pigeon to Dad- she'd turned to come back inside when the bird was gone, but then she'd stopped, listening to an unfamiliar noise. Curious- with worry suddenly coming up- Lucas had gone to the door and called to her.
She'd turned around and smiled at him. "Don't worry sweetie, I'm sure it's nothing."
And then, on the way home-
"Goodbye Claus. Goodbye Lucas. I love you."
Lucas shuddered again.
They'd spent some time- a long time- in the river and then pulled themselves out and hidden in the woods. And then the villagers had found them, and Dad had followed on their heels. Shaking by the fire, only half aware of what was going on around them, wanting to wake up and realize it was all a bad dream but unable to- frozen as Dad was told what had happened to Mom- frozen as he lashed out with the burning piece of wood and then Lighter knocked him out and the villagers had all carried him away…
Tessie had taken them back to the house- she'd stayed with them until they'd fallen asleep- at least, Lucas thought she had. He kept opening his eyes and then shutting them again, and he thought he slept in-between…
When Lucas had woken up, Claus had been gone. Tessie hadn't been there either. He'd rushed out to find him- he'd run into Tessie as she'd been coming to check on him, and she'd told him that she'd seen Claus by the cemetery. For a moment, he stupidly could not figure out why Claus would go there- and then Tessie said that everyone had buried Mom while they'd been sleeping. They'd buried her while Dad was locked up and he and Claus were sleeping and Grandpa was far away- they'd buried her without any of her family there to tell her goodbye and to tell her how much they loved her.
Tears escaped from Lucas's face and he swiped at them. At least these were quiet.
Who was in the wrong here? Was he being too much of a crybaby, or had the villagers been wrong in burying their mom so fast?
Well, when it came to crying…it wasn't bad to love your mom, Lucas knew that much for sure. And it wasn't bad to miss her when it would be a long long time before he saw her again. So maybe he was crying a little too much, but crying in this situation didn't make him bad- it made him normal.
And as for the villagers burying Mom…well, they did hold the funeral itself later- had everyone gather all around the grave, with people saying good things about Mom and what a nice person she was, and Mr. Jonal talked about how everyone died eventually and how you needed to move past it or something- Lucas hadn't been able to listen, all his attention taken up by that big grey tombstone looming over him…
Where's Mom? She can't be in there- she can't be. Mom is so very alive, such a very alive person- there must be some mistake. Mom must still up in the mountains somewhere- she must be lost and alone, wondering where we are and worrying about us- Claus will find her, they'll find each other and Mom will keep him from doing anything stupid, and they'll find their way home and then we'll all be together and everything will be okay again-
He'd been so deep and lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed Dad had come until he put his hand on his shoulder.
And then he'd asked about Claus.
After talking to Tessie, Lucas had run to the cemetery- had found Claus standing there, staring at the tombstone.
"I'm going to avenge Mom! Dad can't do it, so I will!"
At first, he'd asked Lucas to come with- but Lucas had tried to talk him out of it, had insisted that the monster was really big and strong, and there was no way they could kill it by themselves. Claus had gotten mad at him- they'd fought and yelled at each other, before they'd started crying again. Lucas had done it first, but Claus had done it too- Claus was still angry, even when he cried. When Lucas realized that Claus wasn't going to change his mind, he'd said he would go with- he didn't want to go, he still thought it was stupid, but he didn't want Claus to go alone either- he wanted to stay with Claus, and besides, the two of them were stronger together, so they'd have a better chance of beating the monster together, right?
But Claus was mad at him because he'd argued with him- he didn't want him to go with him anymore. They'd argued some more, but Claus still wouldn't change his mind- he made Lucas promise not to tell anyone where he'd gone- and then he promised he'd be back soon, promised to come right back after he'd avenged Mom…and then he'd left.
When Grandpa had asked him where Claus was, the answer just slipped out. He'd broken his promise, but he hadn't meant to, so it didn't count, right?
But the important thing was that they knew where to find Claus. Since his slipping up led to them getting the answer sooner, he hadn't felt too bad, until Grandpa started yelling at him.
He'd known it was a bad idea, had tried to tell Claus that it was a bad idea, but it hadn't really hit him how stupid an idea it really was until Grandpa started yelling at him. Overwhelmed, about to cry again, he'd run back to the house- at least Boney was happy to see him.
Later, Dad had come back with just Claus's shoes. He'd stayed only long enough to get some supplies before leaving again.
Standing alone in the doorway, the house empty behind him, Lucas had stared after him, watching Dad's big back walking further and further away…
That was as far as Lucas could remember.
What had happened after? How had Claus come home? Claus had to have come home, right?
"Hey, Lucas, I think I see the end to this place!" Claus called excitedly.
"Really?" Lucas asked, perking up.
Claus was right. The canyon ended, and it led out into a patch of green in the middle of the desert- there was even a small lake, which Claus happily jumped into after taking off his backpack and shoes, and Lucas followed him.
It was nice to rest- to just float peacefully in the water. Even Claus was taking it easy, letting his energy build itself up again.
"Hey, those things we were using earlier… the things we used to fight the zombies…do you remember how we learned them?" Lucas asked, after they'd relaxed for a while.
"The PK things?"
"Yeah, those. Do you remember how we learned them?"
Claus shook his head, sending water flying off his hair. "Nope. When I saw those monsters grabbing you, I just got so mad- and I got really scared, thinking of all the ways they could hurt you- and it just- I just- I just knew how to do it, suddenly. What about you?"
Lucas shrugged. "When I saw you doing it, it just sparked a memory of doing it- of seeing you do it and then doing it myself- I don't remember how we learned it. It must've been something we learned on the journey."
"Must be." Claus agreed, relaxing back into the water and shutting his eyes, content not to think about it anymore.
Lucas couldn't shut off his wonderings that easily- but his memories didn't seem to come back by him thinking about them, only by being prodded by things happening in this strange dream-like land of Magicant. So maybe it wasn't doing any good to keep wondering?
After relaxing a while longer in the lake, the boys got out, not worrying about drying off, letting the sun do that for them. They ate a little more- they did eat the cookies this time, and they were just as delicious as expected. They weren't like Mr. Mike's at all, not that they would have told him that, since it was nice of him to offer them cookies- they'd only told him that they weren't really tasty once, when they were too small to know better. Mom had scolded them and explained it to them, telling them to think about other people's feelings before they spoke. They'd never done it again after that. Mr. Mike hadn't seem to have forgotten though. He still always referred to his cookies as 'slightly unclean and not very tasty' every time they were brought up.
After eating, the brothers packed up and started walking again. The hot sun still seemed to be mad at them, beating down on them- and it was so quiet, not like the forests. The only sounds were that of their own footsteps, muffled by the sand that their feet sunk into, and that of the wind, tossing the sand around, biting at their eyes and sometimes even tricking them, making them see things that weren't there.
A couple times Lucas spun around, sure that he saw someone there- his mom, his dad, Grandpa, Boney- but each time, it was a trick of the sun and the sand.
He could tell that it was happening to Claus too- he would stop, jerk his head around, stare- once he almost ran after whoever he saw, only stopped by Lucas flinging himself at him and wrapping his arms around him.
"It's not real Claus!"
Claus tensed, as if about to try to break away- then loosened his muscles- not relaxing, not really, but not fighting him either.
When they started walking again, Lucas made sure to hold tightly to his brother's hand- and on his side, Claus squeezed it once before turning his attention back to the desert in front of them.
Lucas was really glad when more rocks showed up. It wasn't like before, like being surrounded by them, but there was one big wall of rock, so that only one side was open to the wind.
They were walking along, Claus in front still and Lucas looking up at the rock wall above them and then at the seemingly endless desert stretching out to the side of them, wondering if any creature lived here at all- they sure hadn't seen any- when Claus suddenly stopped.
"Hey Lucas, look." Claus said, pointing.
Lucas looked- and smiled. "Duster! Kumatora!" he called, scampering towards them.
The two turned towards him, smiling, turning away from the rock wall. Happy to see his friends, Lucas barely noticed the wall branching out in front of them, opening up into a cave.
"Hey Lucas." Duster said easily.
"Hey!" Kumatora gave him a quick hug as he came to a stop in front of them. "How are you doing?"
"Good- hey, you guys look….kinda different." He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was- a lot of little things, maybe. Duster's nose was a tiny bit too long, Kumatora's ears were slightly too large-
Kumatora rolled her eyes good naturedly as Claus slowly approached. "You can thank your brother for that." she said, loudly enough for him to hear. "No offense Claus, but you really need to get a clue- we're not the bad guys here."
Claus stared at her a moment, confusion written all over his face, then turned to Lucas. "Do we know them?"
Lucas almost rolled his own eyes. "Yeah." he said, reminding himself that it wasn't Claus's fault that his memory was all messed up, "We know them. We all went on an adventure together, remember? When we pulled the needles, they were there-" struck by a thought, he spun around to face them. "Hey, is that how you're here now?"
The two of them shook their heads.
"We're not even here, not really." Duster said.
Both twins stared at that, and Kumatora laughed at their expressions as she took up the explanation. "We're like the boatman you ran into earlier, and like the people in the sunflower city- the real Duster and Kumatora are still in the real world, waiting for you to show up."
"…oh." Lucas said, disappointed but understanding now.
"So you're not going to come with us either?" Claus asked, not sounding disappointed at all.
"No, we just showed up to help you with this puzzle." Duster said, gesturing to something covering the mouth of the cave.
Claus peered at it curiously, then walked closer.
Kumatora waited until he was engrossed in it, running his fingers all over it, before stepping closer to Lucas. "That's the main reason we came." she told him quietly. "But it seems like memory problems are catching and we wanted to make sure you didn't forget us too."
"I haven't-" Lucas protested, but Kumatora crossed her arms and just looked at him, making a face that was eerily like his mom's when he'd done something bad and she was disappointed in him.
"Lucas, I'm sure you and Claus went on a lot of adventures together- but Duster and I never did."
"But…I remember. I remember going on an adventure with you guys."
"That's because you did- the person who wasn't journeying with us was Claus."
Lucas felt words coming up choke him- he shoved them away- "But why would I go on an adventure without my brother?"
Kumatora looked sad. She uncrossed her arms and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Given the choice, I'm sure he would have wanted to go with you, just like how you wanted him with you- but things went wrong."
Lucas looked over his shoulder- Claus was still absorbed in the puzzle, talking about it to Duster, who was leaning over his shoulder, listening to him patiently.
Lucas knew that after leaving to fight the Mecha Drago, Claus had gotten lost- but he had to have gotten home, because they had-
"But Claus had to have been with us!" Lucas exclaimed, suddenly remembering. "He had to have been, because I was with you guys when I pulled the needles, and Claus pulled the needles too…" he trailed off at the look on Kumatora's face. "Wasn't he?"
She shook her head. "The two of you did both pull the needles- but you were doing it separately. There were times when the two of you…well, you were both in the same place, but never for long. This trip through Magicant has been the first time the two of you have really been together for a long time."
"Hey Lucas! Come look at this!" Claus called.
"He sounds excited." Lucas said softly.
"He is- after all, he gets to go on an adventure with you now, after all. An adventure with just you and him- isn't that what the two of you always talked about? Anyway, I suspect one of the reasons he wasn't too fond of us was because he feels we stole his place by your side."
"Some adventure." Lucas mumbled- the sense of failure that he'd had upon waking up in Magicant was creeping back again. "Claus is hurt and I don't know how to help him- the Pig King…well, he's probably just a manifestation, but he's running around in here too- and Mom…"
Kumatora's face softened with a smile- she hugged him. "It'll be okay Lucas, it'll be okay. I have faith in you."
"Lucas!"
"Coming!" Lucas called as Kumatora's arms let go of him and he stepped back. He looked at Claus, meeting his eyes, silently promising that he'd finish up soon, then turned back to the memory of his friend. "Something bad happened to Claus, didn't it? Something-something worse than getting lost… I wanna help…but I can't remember and I don't know how-"
"He's your brother and you love him, right?"
"Of course!"
"Just start there. The memories will come back on their own if you let them, so for now, just love him."
Lucas looked at her a moment- then smiled and nodded. "Thanks Kumatora."
She waved her hand in the air dismissively and grinned. "Let's go see what has your brother so wound up, okay?"
Lucas nodded again, and they returned to Claus and Duster at the cave entrance.
Claus watched them with a slight frown. "What were you guys talking about?"
"Uh…"
"Your birthday." Kumatora said sweetly and only smiled at the confused look Claus gave her. "So, what's got you all hyper?"
"It's this- doesn't it look like some kind of maze?" Claus said, pointing to it after one last confused look at Kumatora.
Lucas stepped forward and ran his fingers over it.
It did look like a maze…there were raised lines, running parallel to each other, going straight and then curving, etched deep into the rock. There were strange pictures surrounding the lines, some with little figures- and there two figures at the top, colored, unlike the rest, and sticking out slightly. There was a line between them, the biggest and thickest line of all, starting between them and then going all the way down to the end of the maze.
Lucas put out his hand onto the closest one and discovered that the figures moved. He moved the figure- an armor wearing figure- perhaps a knight of some sort- back and forward.
"Okay…" Claus said thoughtfully, "so we can move them…where are we supposed to move them to?" While speaking, Claus reached for the other figure- the blue one- and tried to move it. He smiled with satisfaction as he found that yes, it did move.
Suddenly, a thought struck Lucas- he looked down at his red and yellow striped shirt and then at the red figure beneath his hand, then turned to stare at his brother's blue and yellow shirt and at the blue figure beneath his hands.
"Lucas? You okay?" Claus asked.
"Huh? Yeah…just…" Lucas trailed off as he looked back and forth, and Claus frowned as he followed his line of sight until it hit him.
"Hey Lucas, you don't think these things represent us, do you?" Not waiting for an answer, he spun and faced Duster and Kumatora. "Hey, those things don't actually represent us, do they? Right?"
Kumatora shrugged. "Who knows? But remember- this is Magicant, made from the deepest parts of the two of you. They just might represent you."
Claus looked from them to the puzzle, then at Lucas and then back all over again. "But…the figures are separated- we're not separated!"
"No." Duster said gently, "You and Lucas aren't separated anymore." Claus opened his mouth, probably intending to respond to the 'anymore' thing, but Duster beat him to it. "See how both figures are at the top?"
Both twins turned and studied it.
"…you think we should try moving them down?" Lucas asked.
"Well, you can't move them up." Kumatora pointed out.
"Well, that's true." Claus said with a sigh. Both twins positioned their hands on the figures and began moving them down…
For the most part, it was a fairly simple puzzle- guiding the figures through the maze. But when nearing the end, Claus ran into a problem.
"How do I get out of this stupid dead end?" he grumbled, looking around.
Lucas paused in his own explorations and looked over to see what his twin was up to.
Claus waved him off with a sigh. "It's okay, I've got this."
"You sure?"
He nodded, frowning, not taking his eyes off the puzzle.
Lucas didn't respond- didn't move away-he traced the path of his brother's figure with his eyes- "There!"
Startled, Claus looked up and followed his brother's finger.
"If you go back here, and then go left instead of right, that should take you right to the end."
"Oh- yeah, you're right!" Claus exclaimed happily- then started to pout.
"What is it?"
"I wanted to solve it myself."
"Oh…I just wanted to help you, since you always helped me… whenever I got scared or anything, you were always there for me."
Claus stopped pouting but he still looked dissatisfied- and then he snorted and looked annoyed and amused at the same time.
"What?" Lucas asked.
"Weren't we talking about this earlier? About no one being perfect and everyone having weaknesses?"
"Oh." Lucas said, and chuckled. "Yeah, I guess we did."
"Well, bro-" Claus reached up and put his hand on the figure and moved it where Lucas had showed him, "how about we finish up this dumb puzzle and go onto the rest of this adventure, okay?"
Lucas nodded, smiling- and both brothers moved their figures to the bottom and pushed them so they were side by side, together at last- and there was a rumbling and the wall shuddered, before being sucked backwards and disappearing.
"We did it!" Lucas shouted, pumping his fist in the air.
"Yes!" Claus cheered, throwing both fists in air.
"Nice thinking Lucas!" Kumatora said.
Duster nodded, and said nothing- but he seemed just a bit amused when he glanced at Kumatora, like he knew what she was up to.
Claus seemed to know what she was up to as well- he gave her a very halfhearted glare before turning to Lucas with an awkward but real smile. "It's a good thing you're here, Lucas- if I'd been here alone, that puzzle would have taken forever to solve!"
Lucas chuckled softly, embarrassed and happy, and smiled.
"No, really." Claus insisted, "You're a lot better at that sort of thing that I am."
"…thanks, Claus." Lucas said softly.
Claus shrugged, awkward and still smiling.
Lucas turned to his friends- or the manifestations of them. "…we're going to go now…you sure you aren't coming?"
"We aren't real, remember?" Kumatora asked, patting his head teasingly.
"Is that why you didn't try to help out much with the puzzle?" Claus asked.
"Pretty much." Duster said, "This place is created from you, so you two need to be the ones to get stuff done- whether it's fighting monsters or solving puzzles, it needs to be done by you two."
"You guys are the ones the Dragon is waiting for." Kumatora added, "Not anyone else- so go wake up the Dragon!" She put one hand on one shoulder of each of them, smiling, before playfully shoving them in the direction of the cave.
The boys waved and entered the cave.
"See you later!" Lucas called over his shoulder.
Duster and Kumatora waved back, and then the brothers turned a corner, and they disappeared from view.
"You know, they're not that bad." Claus commented when they were out of earshot.
"Of course! They're my friends!" Lucas said indignantly, then realized something. "Claus, don't you remember Duster either?"
"No. Why?"
"Because he and his dad live in Tazmily too, not far away from where we do. I mean, Duster's dad sometimes sends him on long training trips, and sometimes he'll sleep during the day and do stuff at night, so he's not there all the time, but when he is there, sometimes we follow him around. We aren't really supposed to, but he never gets mad- he's always really patient with us…are you sure don't remember him?"
Claus nodded, looking slightly uneasy now.
"But it does sound familiar right?"
"Well, a little. I still can't remember though."
"Oh…" Lucas fell into worried silence.
Claus had set out to get revenge for Mom- and he'd gotten lost- he had to have gotten lost, otherwise he would've come home, just like he said he would. Lucas had known that going after the Mecha Drago was a bad idea- he wished he hadn't been right. He'd told Claus it was a bad idea, but Claus hadn't believed him and he'd gone without him… and then he'd gotten hurt and now his memories were in even worse shape than Lucas's.
Maybe after he'd gotten hurt, Dad had found him and brought him home, but he'd been hurt so bad he had to stay home while Lucas went on the adventure? No, that couldn't be it- because Claus had pulled some of the needles too. Maybe he'd pulled some of the needles while lost, and then he'd gotten hurt, and then Dad had found him and brought him home. And then Lucas had gone to finish what his big brother had started. Maybe that was it.
But Kumatora had said that this was the first time they'd been together in a long time…
"Lucas, are you okay?"
Lucas lifted up his head to find Claus staring at him.
"What's wrong?" Claus asked when he saw the look on his face. " Do you need to stop and rest or something?"
"No, I'm okay…I'm just trying to remember…Claus? You don't remember anything about pulling the needles or what happened after you left to try to avenge Mom, right?"
"Yeah…why? Are you thinking about what those guys said back there? About us being separated?"
Lucas nodded.
"Well, maybe they were wrong- I mean, I'm sure they wouldn't lie to us, but maybe they were wrong."
"…I don't think they were wrong…maybe that's why we can't remember much. Maybe there aren't many good things to remember. Claus?"
"Yeah?"
"…don't ever leave me behind again, okay? When you left…when you left to avenge Mom, you left me behind…even though I wanted to go with you-"
"No you didn't- you didn't want to go."
"No, I didn't want you to go. But when you insisted on going, I wanted to go with you. I didn't want you to go, but I thought it would be better if we went together instead of splitting up. But you were mad at me for trying to talk you out of it, so you wouldn't let me go with you…" Lucas trailed off - Claus was staring at him, surprised. "It's not that I didn't want to go with you- I just knew it was a bad idea, and didn't want you to go at all." Lucas resisted the urge to mention how he was right about how it had been a bad idea.
The surprise was beginning to fade from Claus's face- now he was looking more thoughtful. "Well, I guess you were right…" hearing him admit didn't make Lucas feel any better- "but I don't see why you're worrying about it. We're together now, right?"
"Yeah, but…" Lucas hesitated over his words and came to a stop, focusing only on his brother and the words tripping up inside of him.
Still puzzled, Claus stopped and waited for him.
"…Kumatora…she said that even when we were pulling the needles, we were separated…that this is the first time we've been together in a long time…what happened? Why didn't we pull the needles together-"
Pushing at the memories in his head- the memories about Claus refused to give, but the needles-
It glowed, sticking out of the ground like a magical sword from one of Mom's stories- it glowed, warm and pulsing and when he wrapped his hands around it, he could feel the heat- he pulled it- the earth shaking beneath his feet- a voice, calling to him from far away- a heartbeat, echoing his heart as it beat- the geyser of red steam rushed up in front of him- Slowly, the shaking stopped, and the world went back to normal. The voice remained a little longer- reaching for him plaintively- in his mind he reached back for them- recognizing the loneliness that was so much like his-
"Lucas!" Claus's hands on his shoulders, shaking him. "Lucas, look at me!"
Lucas- shaken out of the memory- shuddered before flinging his arms around his brother.
"Lucas, are you okay? What happened?"
"I'm fine, Claus. I just-" a note of triumph entered Lucas's voice. "Claus, I got one of my memories back."
"You did?"
Lucas nodded, grinning, then grew serious as he started examining the memory. "It was about one of the needles- it was really short and vague though- it could've been any one of the needles."
"So it's not helpful, huh?" Claus asked, somewhat disappointedly.
Lucas was silent a moment, then asked "Claus, did you hear a voice when you pulled the needles?"
"A voice?"
"A quiet voice. Small- almost like a child's. but I think they did start getting a little louder as time went on…like they were getting closer… Claus? Are you sure you don't remember?"
Claus looked away, focusing as he folded his arms. "I can kinda see a fuzzy picture of them in my head- I remember standing over one- I don't really remember any more, but…earlier…you said something about a dragon?"
"Yeah. The Dragon is sleeping underneath the island, and pulling the needles is supposed to make him wake up. And whoever pulls the needles passes their heart onto the Dragon."
"…okay. A sleeping dragon- pulling the needles wakes him up…" Claus shut his eyes and focused.
Lucas waited for him-he wasn't surprised when his brother's eyes opened and were mismatched again, only briefly, before flickering and returning to normal.
"…I don't know Lucas- I don't really remember- but I think you're right. If the reason we're here is because the dragon is waiting for us because he wants to meet us, it only makes sense that he would try to reach out to us while we were waking him up, right? And Lucas…"
"Yes Claus?"
"Well… even though we were separated before, we're together now, and we're going to stay together from now on, alright?" Claus said comfortingly-he even hugged Lucas as he said it. "So don't worry, okay?"
"Right."
"And just to make sure that you know it's true-" Claus continued on, "We're going to promise using the secret handshake."
The secret handshake?
Silently, Lucas stuck out his hands and solemnly the twins performed the secret handshake that only their parents had ever seen.
"Brothers forever." they whispered together- then smiled.
The only time they'd failed to do their secret handshake when making a promise was when Claus had left to fight the Mecha Drago.
Somehow, it seemed right that they did it here, now…like doing it now made up for not doing it then.
The twins continued on, heading deeper into the darkness of the cave.
OoOoOo
Parts of this chapter I don't like. Other parts I do. (headdesk). Of course, it's not like I'm ever totally happy with any chapter I post, so...
Ah, Kumatora. She's not actually one of my favorite characters, but I do like her and every time I throw her and Claus in the same place I'm amused by the result. She, along with Duster, will also make an appearance in the last chapter, so look forward to that if you like them.
And the Dragon- yes, the Dragon will be an actual character in this... not that they're going to be showing up anytime soon.
Thanks to those of you who have reviewed so far. It's great to know that people are reading this and it's good to know what they're thinking as they read.
Please continue to read and review, and I hope you enjoy where we go with this!
