Sorry this took so long. I hate exams. Here, we get to meet a new person…who could she be?

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The sky was the perfect shade of blue on that May day. Inside of the forest, people gathered and sat down to wait for the eclipse to happen, and not looking out of place at all were Alfred and Matt. The twins sat on a red checkered blanket eating a lunch, Kumajirou the "albino Siberian husky" and Tony the "mutt of a Chihuahua and German shepherd" at their side happily munching on some sandwiches.

"So, when does this thing happen?" Alfred asked, spread out on the blanket. He lay back, letting the sun caress his face.

"The weather website said around noon." Matt said, looking at the watch on his wrist. "It's 11:45." Alfred groaned.

"A whole fifteen minutes? That's so boring." Just then, a crowd of people began to enter the forest. "What the hell are all these people doing here?"

"They're here to see the eclipse, Alfred."

"I know that, but why are they coming here?" Alfred said quite loudly. A little girl ran by the twins and stopped dead in her tracks and stared at Tony.

"That's a weird dog." She said, moving her head to one side to stare at him. Tony looked her straight in the eyes, and barked.

Hey, after all of this time Alfred claiming he was a dog and keeping him on a leash when they went out in public, why not act like one?

The girl screamed and ran off as Alfred laughed. "Nice one, Tony!" He reached over to high five his little green comrade.

"Alfred!"

"Matt! Look, let's find somewhere else to go; these people are freaking me and Tony out." It was true; the little creature was about to unload a whole can of Modern Warfare on these people, Russian phrases included.

Matt sighed. "Fine, but if we miss this eclipse because you wanted to be a baby about being around people, don't come crying to me when the world ends."

"Don't worry, I will."

Matt shoved his twin as they gathered up the materials and headed deeper into the forest.

Down the rabbit hole, one may say.

They walked along until they reached an empty clearing. The grass we a perfect shade of green and the forest encircled them all around, showing the path they took to be the only one in the clearing. The trees were like tall green giants looming in the distance, watching, and waiting, for something to happen. Here, the sun looked like it was almost in the center of the field. Alfred ran ahead and stuck his arms out wide.

"Dude. This place is perfect!"

"I know. I wonder why no one else is here…" Matt put the blanket and basket down, along with Kumajirou.

"What do you expect? Canadians are stupid." Kuma said, looking up at Matt.

"You know, you're legally Canadian." Matt said down at his bear.

"I know. But who are you?" Matt sighed, and checked his watch again. 11:55. "Alfred, get your ring out! Matt unclasped his necklace and kept it in his hand as Alfred slipped off his ring.

Within five minutes, the eclipse began.

It was beautiful, the moon and sun in harmony once more. The moon moved quickly across the surface of the sun until each was blocked out. For some people this once and a lifetime experience was quite breathtaking; we earthlings are able to see the sun's great rays stretching into the sky and lighting up the darkness.

Blinded by for a second, each boy put his treasure in front of his face until it lined up perfectly with the eclipse.

"Hey, check it out! They're glowing!" Alfred said with a smile. It was true; Alfred's ring was giving off a brilliant gold glow while Matt's necklace was giving off equally bright silver light.

For a moment, nothing happened.

"Well, maybe we have to mimic the eclipse?" Alfred suggested. A funny feeling in his stomach made him inch closer to his twin.

"We could try." Matt moved so his necklace covered Alfred's ring. And just then the glow of each object began to glow wildly, colors entwining to create a ring of light around the objects. The light flickered and sparkled until one beam hit the right tree, the one directly in the center of the field, and suddenly, a path opened directly in front of the twins.

"Whoa." Alfred said, moving his hand down and moving the ring away from the necklace. The eclipse began to fade away, and so did the path.

"Come on Matt!" He ran ahead into the path, not stopping for anything, not even his brother's cries of "Wait! Stop! You don't know where that goes!" But Alfred couldn't stop, he wanted to, but couldn't. He kept running and running, like something was pushing him to run. His surroundings blurred around him as he moved faster and faster trough the lush green path, heels digging into the Earth.

And when he suddenly stopped, he tumbled to the ground, to the dirty Earth, where he lay panting in the grass. Suddenly, he began to laugh. Uncontrollably, and he couldn't stop!

"Oh…Matt…that was great!"

Matt looked over at his brother for a second, confused as to running at inhuman speeds was funny, but then he started to laugh. They were laughing so hard that they didn't notice the figure staring at them with a smile on her face on the tree trunk five feet away.

Huh, strange.

"Oh, you boys are so silly! Why are you laughing?" The girl asked, standing up and walking over to the boys. They both stopped laughing hard enough for a moment to look up at the figure.

This time, it was Matt's turn to ask who someone was. The figure let out a tinkle of a laugh and then sat down on the tree trunk again. She looked around, left, right, up and down, and then she stuck her hand in the tree trunk and began to grope about for something. Matt and Alfred exchanged a look.

"…Um, miss?"

"Shhh!" She hushed. Alfred frowned. Who was this fruitcake?

"Got it! Take that Europa. I knew it was on my lands. But no, she had to be all 'It's at Easter Island, it only shows up once a year! That's why the figures were built because they have to watch over the instrument! '. Blah, blah, blah. Siblings can be so stupid sometimes, no?" She gazed at the boys, deep blue eyes smiling. She looked at the thing in her hand, the yam shaped object shone pure silver in the light.

"Who are you?"

"Huh. I'd like to tell you, but Asya would murder me, we don't exist anymore."

"What do you mean-"

She started to play whatever the object was. The melody soft but sweet in the air, and suddenly, animals came out of the forest, peeking out from bushes and trees. Astounded, Matt and Alfred stood up and watched.

When the song was over the woman pulled the instruments away from their lips and smiled. "Just as I remember it." She sighed.

"So, how are you boys?" She crossed her legs and put her hand on her chin. Alfred nudged Matt.

"Alright, we'll play along: we're fine, how are you?" Alfred said with mock care. The woman frowned and pursed her lips.

"Don't talk to me like that."

"Look, ma'am? I'm sorry for my brother's actions, but quite frankly, we don't know what's going on." The woman stood and ran to engulf Matt in a hug.

"Oh my little Canada! You're just like I imagined!"

"Hey, get off of him you crazy broad!"

"LET ME HUG HIM." She said glaring at Alfred as she pulled Matt in closer.

"You're just like your father, so kind and sweet and considerate. And then you have to go and knock up a poor girl and leave her for the wolves!"

"E-excuse me?"

"Oh, wait, ha! TMI. Can't tell you yet!"

Alfred frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "Why not?"

The woman frowned and looked down for a second. "Look, everything will be explained in time. For now, I need you to do this: take the ocarina. Keep it safe, give it to no one, and protect it with all that you are. At midnight tonight, the keeper of the night will come and give you more instructions. Okay? Please, stay safe. " She turned towards the sun and inhaled.

"I love the smell of Earth in the morning." The wind picked up for a second, flowing through her short blond hair and making her smile. Her toes curled into the dirt and she turned to face the boys.

"I wish I could tell you more, I can't." Tears peeked out of the corners of her eyes. "My time is up here…for now…" And she disappeared.

Clasped in Matt's hand was instrument. Both boys stood in shock for a moment; what did she mean? Just then, the path opened once again. And again, both boys felt compelled to run through the forest path again. By the time they got out, the sun was fading into the night sky, and somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled.

"Weird."

"Very."

The sky darkened.

"What should we do now?" Matt said, turning to his brother. Alfred bit his lower lip.

"I say we throw the stupid thing away and go back to our normal lives. This whole thing is…crazy. I mean, random women with music instruments who can't tell us anything? The keeper of the night? That strange path that we both ran into without even thinking? You have to admit, that's weird, even for us. What's going on?" Alfred said the last bit to no one in particular. Something tugged at his pant leg and he jumped about four feet in the air. Turns out, it was just Tony.

"Look buddy, even I don't know where we went." The alien cocked his head to one side. "Don't give me that look."

"Matt, I'm done. I'm not staying here to wait for some beast to come and eat us. I'm going back to your place, sitting down on the couch and watching the hockey game that's on tonight!" Alfred began to walk away. "Coming?"

Matt turned to face the moon for a second as he fingered the necklace in his hand. What did it have in store for him?

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Back at Matt's house, the two lumps sat on the couch, watching the game go on and on. They had snacks and soda, and they had been talking all night long about what had gone on, what they felt. They laughed as Alfred cracked open another beer, and Matt glance up at the clock. 11:58. Alfred saw his brother and gave him a light tap on the shoulder.

"Nothing's gonna happen Matt. Don't worry about it!" Just then, the power flicked off for a moment.

"Very funny, Matt!"

"That wasn't me." Suddenly, the temperature dropped. It was extremely cold in the room now, much colder than it usually is in Matt's house. Alfred drew his jacket closer to him.

"Alfred? Is it cold in here or…" There was a knock on the window. Both boys glanced at each other, for a second, worried.

"Very funny Matt!"

"Alfred, that wasn't me." Matt said tiredly. Why did he get blamed for everything?

"So what was it?" Simultaneously, they turned around to face the big picture window behind them.

And what they saw made them scream like little girls.

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