Chapter 3: Metal
Like they were doing the conga, Selene was first followed by Chandra behind them her was the twins. Selene bodily took sharp turns in the dark, she never bothered to light a match and set in her lantern. Chandra knew it would attract anything that saw the flickering of the flame. Keeping a hand on the wall Selene felt her laboratory as her hand went through the curtain. She then slipped through and stayed by the walls, Chandra bent her body to follow her sister, when she immediately stopped Chandra felt her heart race as she heard her sister's breath sped up. Chandra murmured something she hoped to ask what was wrong, her voice was so caught up she wasn't sure if she even said that. Selene slowly pointed her hand towards a dark figure beside her worktable. All of their eyes stared as they saw a figure moving in the dark. Selene watched as it picked up little pieces of junk and stared at them, she knew they were staring at it's back side if it's eyes were staring at them they would have been attacked.
Just then the figure moved it's hand and hit a cord attached to the table, Selene had a heart in her mouth when she heard the sound of the generator booting up. Just then the fluorescence lights that were flickered since never used turned on, revealing the figure in front of them. The creature had a long tail made out of tin foil rolled into a tube, a sharp pen looking thing at the edge of it's tail. The whole body was shielded by a government flag, just thinking of the chancellor made Selene raged. Just then it's whole body turned around revealing a scissor/razored mouth sitting upon 4 beady red eyes. Selene felt her grip on her sister tightened as she stared at the monster watching them, It made a squeeble sound as it came closer to them, it tried to circle them only to be blocked by the wall, Selene knew that her sister couldn't fight turning around seeing her sister's blue eyes reduced to a small dot in her eye, her hands up to her mouth and her mouth in a closed scream, she never did scream but just seemed like she would. Selene would have rolled her eyes only if they weren't in trouble. Selene dug in her pocket and pulled out match, she took it and scratched it off the wall showing the creature that she had a weapon, if only she could use it, It was in perfect shape and she just finished working on it today. When the creature knew it was in trouble it squealed at them and lunged closer, Selene pushed her sister out of the way, without turning around Selene commanded.
" Get out of here bring one boy to go with you and flee to safety" Chandra nodded and grabbed 3 the closet twin behind her. Together they ran through the darkness, as they ran Chandra stopped to catch her breath 3 would look behind her to make sure they weren't in trouble. He turned around to face Chandra and see her in a panicked state, her arms trembling as she steadied her breath, her face covered in sweat as he heard her sob quietly to herself. 3 glared as he saw a red light glowing through the hallway, he could hear the sound of flames going off on items. He stood beside Chandra who was in catatonic state, without hesitation he grabbed her under the arms and held her close, her eyes so small in panic she would have no idea that 3 was holding her, so close either. 3 ran as fast as he could towards Chandra's bedroom. He pulled her in and sat wedged between the cracks of the wall. He saw that Chandra was slowly coming out of her disturbed world, as soon as she turned her head and saw that they were the only two in the room she grabbed 3's robe and leaned closer to his face. Panic was dominate in her eyes and her face was turning pale, even in darkness 3 could tell because even as a human his eyes were the strongest organ he had.
" Where's Selene? Where...where? 3 tell me please" Chandra pleaded, she fell towards his knees and her head rested right in the small triangle. 3 didn't want to tell Chandra that her sister didn't want her to fight, he felt her tugging at the robe he wore and traced wrinkles that weaved between the cloth. He still heard her sobbing and slowly he leaned his face down and cocked his head, he couldn't help but smile they were so much alike. He took a piece of her blond hair and twirled it within his fingers, he missed his old eyes they allowed him to analyze very many items with his human eyes he could only see what humans saw, just a strand of blond hair attached to a skull. It was soft and a couple of dead ends were tangled within her hair, he heard Chandra calm down a bit and stop tugging so hardly, slowly as if being controlled, 3 put his hand around her face, he felt the embrace of her cheek. It was so soft to touch, such a feeling thrilled him through his old metal hands he could never feel anything at all, yet it was such a soft feeling he tried to catalogue it in this mind but he knew it would never work at all. Besides his brother wouldn't appropriate that he found something without him. Speaking of his brother how was he doing? Selene kept him to fight though he was worthless in a fight like himself. As he stood up he felt Chandra tug on his robe, looking down she smiled at him half asleep was her expression. He knelt back down and touched her face as he was scared that she would pass out. He smiled sheepishly at him and knelt into his chest, she looked up once again.
" Can I have a hug...I'd feel so much better if you did" she whispered, 3 could something arising in his face. Was it warmth? He put his hand on his cheek and it felt warm to him, he couldn't tell what it was but he turned to see Chandra's awaiting stare, He smiled as he put his arms around her and pulled her close, he felt this from his brother whenever they had playful fights and hugged afterwords. This was different it was a girl hugging him and he didn't know how to react, just then he heard a scream coming from Selene's workshop.
Selene was riding atop what she called " The winged beast" she had a hold of her new invention, the electrical whip, it sizzled and crackled as she whipped it around the beast. The beast squawked at her and Selene smiled deviously. 4 was cowering in the corner shaking, he really wished 3 was there to protect him from the beast and from the manical sister Selene. Selene smiled as she jumped onto her broken in half work table and ran towards the beast head on, aware of all the razors it'd held she jumped in front of it and wrapped the whip around it's mouth, frying the scissors at high temperatures and prying them shut. The beast was just a merely broken toy airplane now, it fell only to hit it's head off of the ceiling. Selene smiled as she jumped onto it's head, she knew where the engine was she knew it all along where it had been hidden. She smiled evilly as she took her whip and jammed it between a crevice in it's back, hidden by the drape of coarse. As soon as she heard a huge snack then an explosion came onto the monster blowing it in different place, in the aftermath Selene was thrown into the air as well. The dust arose in her office making it hard to find what she landed on, whatever it was it was soft and very comfortable. When the dust cleared she found herself in the arms of......arms of......
4?!
Selene jumped out of his arms right away and brushed herself away from invisible dust on her clothes. She scowled at him in return 4 glared at her they both turned away from each other and did there own thing.
" You know you were no help at all" Selene said though blushing because of the incident, she found it actually, well she wasn't sure of how to react to him catching her.
" Well sorry I usually cower over beast, NOT confront them head on" 4 had tried to hide a smile, he actually found it comforting that he fell right into her hands, like destiny sat her there, maybe there was more to her then meets the eye. She probably uses her mean demeanor to hide what she really is, a lot like him. He found it amazing how much they were alike. Selene dug around the spare parts of scrap that the beast had of gave away. She smiled as she turned up a bunch of scraps that seemed amazing to her. 4 got the satisfaction of seeing her smile so brightly, Selene then turned around and saw that the fire had started to spread a lot more now, she took the bowl of water and splashed it dousing it altogether. Selene then turned towards 4 and walked past him, but she cocked her head towards the hallway. 4 understood he too was worried about his brother.
When they walked into the hallway, Selene put an arm out to stop him, she was not amused by what she saw. In the hallway holding tightly onto her, 3 was holding onto her sister, her sister's eyes closed tightly and currently not aroused hopefully. Selene came over and picked up her sister. When Chandra saw her she gasped, Selene raised one eyebrow and stared at 3.
" What did I say if I caught you touching her?" Selene wasn't afraid to show her teeth, like fangs or maybe that was just 3's overactive imagination.
" That I'd get it cut off but what does that even mean?" 3 asked, he turned to his brother who was shrugged in response.
Selene gave them an obnoxious look, shook her head and turned to her sister. Chandra was holding onto her hand and looking upset, Selene never addressed her about this, instead she came up and held onto her sister's shoulder.
" We have to leave this place"
" Huh? Why?"
" It's not safe anymore God knows how that creature got in here, I just heard movements from my glasses invention. I then turned the lights and ran to your room, and if theres one machine there's bound to be more, and I don't want to be sitting ducks waiting for the next attack we might not be as lucky as this time" Selene stated, she flipped a loose piece of hair from her face and continued.
" I want you to pack your belongings and then grab a shower right quick, I'll keep these guys busy as you get ready, that's all I need is them sneaking peeks at you" Selene hated these boys with a passion that words couldn't express, 4 was okay but 3 touching her sister just crossed the line.
3 knew it was thrown directly at him, via indirectly of coarse. He glanced down upset while 4 cradled him close noticing his change in expression.
" Of coarse Selene" Chandra started to pick up her magazines and rolled her cot into a sleeping bag, Selene took a pair of spenders she kept in her pockets and started to sew them on to make a backpack, she watched as her sister walked into the next room to grab a shower. She kept one eye on 3 who sat with his brother, none of them dared to speak to one another. Selene wasn't in the mood and 3 and 4 were naturally quiet people anyways to begin with. Selene finished sewing on the straps, she stood up and eyed the twins.
" Alright, I'm gonna go grab my stuff, nobody move and nobody gets hurt" Selene thought she made a stern warning as she walked to grab her stuff. As she passed the shower room that was closed she wondered towards the door. She opened the door to see her sister sitting on a cender block as the rain water converted from cold to hot with another one of her inventions, she just sat there not moving or anything, she just watched as the water sunk into the holes of the drain. Selene closed the door and walked into her workshop. The whole place was trashed with the huge machine still lodged in the middle of the floor, she stumbled her way to her cot, rolled it up and stitched together a pair of suspenders, she found them in a blocked off way filled with rocks at the end of the closet. She stitched them quickly and grabbed a couple of loose bolts that she could find, she threw them into her pants pocket and ran towards Chandra's room.
3 and 4 were still in their same spots, there eyes followed nervously as they watched Selene sit down and wait for her sister to finish. She sat in front of the twins so that she couldn't see them, just a look at their faces made her angry in rage, the image of her sister cuddling so bluntly into a man made her think of her mother. Selene stood up as she saw the shadow of her sister loom across the floor. Chandra gave a pass as she walked by, she could feel it. Selene walked in the shower room, and closed the makeshift door. She threw all her clothes in the farthest corner and pulled on the pulley to start the shower, the bucket tipped into a small plastic bag which had a heater in it thanks to her, it then dripped in small steady drops onto her face. Putting her hands through her hair she pulled the two ribbons out, her hair flowed towards the back of her knees, she had long hair that she couldn't be bothered to cut, she watched as the knot in the rope was slipping closer to the funnel, once the knot hit the funnel the shower would turn off. No big deal just took a little longer to get more heated water. When the knot hit the funnel a little bell chimed, Her hair was partially wet as she threw on her grey dress, she put her vest on her arms and clipped it with a small black tie. Throwing her hair in two loose ponytails, she tied the ribbons around them tightly. She opened the door and walked into the the room, Chandra was sitting down tracing fingers through her hair, she never said anything to Selene at all. Selene threw on her backpack and motioned for Chandra to do the same thing. Chandra stood up and threw on their backpacks and they both turned towards the boys.
" Alright you may have to take us to your old hideout" Selene addressed.
3 and 4 led them towards the old library, Selene stayed on alert as she saw the world that they had been open into. Chandra looked around at the once wondrous sights she never saw before in her life. 3 and 4 held onto each other and looked around frantically, they were much bigger now and could attract unwanted attention from the machines. Every time they stopped and turned around Chandra would shake her head half heatedly, they couldn't turn back Selene wouldn't allow it. 3 and 4 saw the church's tower as it was silhouette in the early lights of the morning. Beautiful oranges and white translucent clouds puffed across the skies. 3 and 4 smiled as they knew that no one would recognize them at least not in this form. 3 pointed ahead and showed them the church.
Inside the church there was not very much left exclude one or two church benches left. Chandra sat down on one of them while her sister Selene was sitting beside her. 3 and 4 went frantically searching for the others, they checked everyplace until they remembered the throne room upstairs. They stumbled up the stairs, when Selene was sure no one was watching she turned back into the caring older sister.
" Why were you so quiet?" Selene asked, Chandra sighed as she turned to face her sister.
" When you were in the shower they found of a picture of.... her. They asked me about her and I told them about our lives and her, they seemed to understand so I stopped telling them when you came in"
Selene's calm expression turned into rage again, she held onto Chandra's shoulders and gritted her teeth so loudly you could hear a clamping sound as teeth hit teeth.
" You told them about MOM?!" Selene's voice peered through the empty walls. Chandra closed her eyes and jumped at Selene's quick mood change.
" And why do you even have a photo of that bitch anyways? Burn it when we get the chance" Selene commanded.
Chandra felt tears well up in her eyes, she balled her hands into fists and lunged towards her sister.
" She wasn't half bad, remember on birthdays she'd come and visit up and talk to us and everything?"
" Are you blind Chandra? She was the one who put us in that Godforsaken closet and left us there without food, clothing or love and your trying to stand up for her just become once out of a year she'd actually come and visit us? And for what? Like 5 minutes at a time? She'd then doll herself up and go out to hoped she get banged by some poor bastard on the street, we'd be left with guards to tell us about the outside world and everything remember that? Well I do literally hope you'll open your eyes and see for the world for what I see it as too, I can't believe that women, I would have committed suicide in the womb if this was the mother I was brought apon"
Chandra's eyes snapped open in rage like her sister.
" Selene!" was all she could reply with. Chandra and Selene both looked up to see 3 and 4 stepping down the stairs looking at them solemnly, Chandra had told them the story of their mother and what she did to them. It was a pretty heartless thing to do, leave your kids in a closet since they were 3 and never bother with them again. 4 understood Selene's point of view with being enraged he would be too. 3 understood why Chandra still loved her mother, she brought her into this world and Chandra was optimistic she never looked at the world negatively. Chandra looked downwards while Selene stared darkly at them.
" We...er found the others" 4 smiled as he eyed his neck. A bunch of things were visible on his neck but Chandra nor Selene could see them. As they came closer Chandra's mouth dropped into a smile and Selene was token by surprise. There on their shoulders were small little dolls moving around, many of them which were looking at the girls with such looks that Chandra felt uncomfortable. One by one each one of them jumped onto the floor at their feet. Each of them looked up at them, 3 and 4 sat down behind them and smiled, 3 pointed at one which a hat on it.
" This is 1, he's the eldest" 4 pointed towards one with one eye with buttons on his chest.
" This is 5, He is our inventor, we'll 2 used to be our old inventor" 4 said saddened as the girls saw the stitchpunk looked depressed, angry 3 slapped 4 on the face.
3 then pointed towards one with a key around his neck, he had striped clothing and had one eye bigger then the other.
" This is 6 our visionary"
The next one 7 pointed to glared upwards at them, Selene just glared back at her like a mirror almost, 3 and 4 both chuckled as 4 introduced her.
" This is 7 she's the only female and our defender and warrior"
7 just glared at 3 and 4 and they looked down upset.
3 pointed towards a bulky stitchpunk, he had a huge scissor blade on the back of him strapped with a huge magnet as well.
" This is 8 he's also another defender as well"
They then pointed towards one with a zipper on his chest.
" This is 9 he's like a curious guy almost like us"
Chandra smiled kindly and nodded to each of them. Selene was still in shock that there were dolls walking around, she stared dumbfounded towards the twins but shook it off.
" Where were you guys?" 7 said turning towards the boys, both of them looked down and looked at each other. " And why are you human?"
" We don't know we went to the talismen and it turned us into humans, we then found Chandra and her twin sister Selene" 4 explained.
" And you can talk too? Your voices sound like your 13 and 14 year olds" 7 added.
" Well I think we are" 4 said looking around himself. 3 did the same thing they were still curious about everything. 7 looked at them both before smiling kindly.
" I'm just glad your home safe"
" Well I'm not with 4 humans running it will attract the machines here" 1 Selene and 7 glared at him.
" Well were else can we go?" Selene added, 1 then pointed towards the old library that they passed, Selene turned to him.
" Listen here you rag doll, there is no frigging way that I am going there by myself" behind her Chandra saw 7 chuckle at Selene's anger.
" Not by yourself, with the others, it is 3 and 4's old hideout they'll take you there" 1 replied. Chandra was just confused with where they were staying, Selene was angry along with 7 who agreed to come with them. 3 and 4 picked up 7 and 9 who came with them as well. They all walked to the library.
It was a long day, after making room for sleeping on the floor, Selene ventured out to find food along with her new found friend 7. Chandra smiled they were a lot alike, she turned around to see that 3 and 4 were looking around at the books, Chandra read a couple to them and remembered them well. She remembered her sister telling her many made up fairytales when she was younger, she smiled when she found 4 had fell asleep. By the time Chandra had finished her 6th book she looked up to find that Selene had come back with many goodies, by this time it was about 5 o clock. Selene had lost her way around many times but never ran into any machines. She made each of the sandwiches and she went back out to go find 7 who was still scouting. When she returned back with 7 it was about 8. The day had passed by quickly to all of them. 7 had laid down and so did Selene after they got calmed down. When they were all asleep Chandra went to put the books back. She turned around to find 3 still up and looking towards the night sky.
Chandra came over to him to find that no one trace of exhaustion was on his face. Chandra sat down beside him and smiled, she then murmured softly not to wake up anyone.
" Can't sleep?"
3 shook his head. He then stared at Chandra but found it hard to even stare into her eyes.
" What's word that keeps reappearing in everyone of those fairy tales that you read to us today?" 3 asked, his hands twitching nervously like he was pulling delicate strings under glass vases.
" Princesses? Prince? Evil witch? ummm that's all I can think off" Chandra replied while she scanned her mind for reappearing words.
" No thats not it none of them were" 3 then stood up and went to retrieve the book that Chandra just finished putting away. When he came back he always pointed to the last page, where the prince found the princess and they would about to partake in a kiss. Chandra was still looking at the page looking for the clue to appear out of nowhere.
" This word" was all 3 said as he pointed to one word at the end of the page. The word that he was pointing too was the word kiss. Chandra looked up at 3 and was still confused, until 4 said in a voice that seemed to be cracking a bit.
" Well...what is it? And what is that picture they always show at the end?"
" Well when the prince finds the princess, he finds her unbelievably beautiful and he kisses her and they get married and like the book ends, they lived happily ever after" Chandra responded, that should have answered his question.
" Yes but what is a kiss? Do they stare into each others eyes? Touch noses or something like that?" 3's face lit up as he thought he understood. Chandra chuckled softly as she knew he still wasn't sure of himself.
" No no a kiss is when someone gets touched on their lips" Chandra explained again, 3 cocked his head and had a sly smile. He then put a finger on Chandra's lip and looked carefully at what he was doing, when he stopped he took his finger and looked at it.
" So I gave you a kiss?" 3 smiled proudly, he then kept looking at his finger. Chandra shook her head in frustration.
" No you didn't what I meant by touch was by lips, two lips touch together and that forms a kiss, it's just something you do to show your in love" Chandra said as her heart raced up, she wasn't one to talk about relationships.
" Oh" 3 said as he kept looking his fingers, he then stared towards Chandra's lips, her eyes were closed as she slowly started drifting off into slumber. 3 swallowed a lump in his throat and shifted closer towards her, Chandra was still half asleep by the time that 3 had came face to face with her. He slowly leaned in, the only way he could learn about what she meant was by cataloging it within his mind, still his heart or whatever it was that pumped the blood through him was racing faster. His breathing become more vivid by every inch of personal space had deterated. He slowly felt their noses touch and his breathing became cut off. His hands wanted to grab her and kiss her like that. Usually when he cataloged he didn't care how reckless he was so why was he worried about something when he was learning. Even though it was a useless fact he wanted to know, why did every story end this way? Slowly his fingertips brushed her cheeks, the feeling her received when he first touched her had made him jolt and make his body work faster. Even though his body ached to try it his body remained frozen in place, beads of sweat danced down his face and hit her face like crystals. He moved closer but was to worried that she would awaken and wonder what he was doing, he pulled back abruptly. He tried again, he could feel his lips brush hers until he heard something in the distance. As he turned around he saw a bunch of smoke coming from the direction of the cathedral.
This story had an alternite opening, it was called Awakening Moon and heres why. In Sanskrit Chandra means moon and Selene is greek for moon as well. I was on Behind the name and went on names for twins and picked these two. I pick a lot of names of that website it's like my life, btw did you notice at every romantic moment 3 and Chandra have gets interupted? First with Selene second with the fire.... oh well it'll be coming soon hopefully if I manage to balance my school work and writing that is.
Wish me luck that I can
1995penguin
