As always, I have taken forever in updating this story. Two and a half years. This story is my way of being able to relieve stress and I like writing from time to time but I also think it is a great example of why I'm not a writer and should stick to one shot collections. I do however check in from time to time to read other peoples stories. I am really into Amiss Assumptions and Alternate Endings series of Kitty. M. Smith's. I also still follow The Last Voyage of the Legacyby vincentthetpfan.

So if you've been someone who's stuck with me for a long time, it means a lot. If you have been following since the story was called Here and Now, this chapter is the start of new plot. The last chapter is where I ended the old version before I decided to reboot it before it was complete.

If you're someone who liked my story A Magic of a Winter's Snow and is a fan of Megamind, you should defiantly check out the one shot I wrote for that. It is rated M so don't go there if you're not old enough or aren't into reading things like that.

Disclaimer: Everything from the original Treasure Planet movie belongs to Disney.

The thing about family disasters is that you never have to wait long before the next one puts the previous one into perspective. ~Robert Brault

Chapter 8: The Real Struggle Begins

It had been a morning like any other morning that started off with self loathing, for all of the lies and deceit that completely defined who he had become, and hatred for all the people who made him that way. He had spent all of his life from the time he was five as a liar and a coward. It surprised him that he was still capable of feeling things like happiness, compassion, love, and most of all hope. The last one was harder that the rest, but he was slowly beginning to feel like hope was a possibility after losing faith a long time ago.

Recently though, a new feeling had surfaced: Bravery. It was a small word that he had never given any thought to. It seemed so simple on the surface to fight, what was bad' but underneath it wasn't. It was complex and difficult to fully grasp what bravery actually was. He always assumed it was to not be afraid; at least it's what he had always been told. He couldn't remember a day of his life that didn't start and end with fear. He realized something on this journey that shook the very foundation of the reality he had come to understand, something his brother had understood as a small child. Bravery is really the courage to fight against your fears. Fear itself will always be there. His brother found that bravery when he became his protector. It's easiest to find bravery defending the people you love. It's also why it took him until now to figure that out. He never had someone to love that needed protecting until recently.

Jake contemplated the new found revelation in silence as he walked back to his cabin. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he noticed to the door slightly ajar. He crept slowly to the door and peeked through the crack to see the other Doppler twin and the Hawkins boy. Buy the looks of the room it seemed that they had found out about everything. They hadn't been careful about not touching anything or getting caught. Those two idiots were practically volunteering themselves to become the next murder victim. There was no undoing what they had seen, they were as good as part of the fight now. To be honest he could use their help, but this was sloppy and they needed to be taught a lesson or two. Without waiting anymore, Jake threw the door open so hard it slammed into the wall causing everything to rattle.

"What do you think you are doing in here?" They seemed to be frozen in place. No response came so he slowly started to corner them. His movement seems to trigger the fight instinct because they both tensed up and their faces carried looks of defiance and anger.

"What is all of this, what sort of sick operation are you a part of," Darren asked through gritted teeth. Jake looked at him for a minute, trying to assess how much of a fighter he was, before answering his question.

"I'm not part of the operation; I'm just as much of a victim as your brother." His answer is calm but now it lacked the British accent. Darren wasn't sure what he meant but when he spoke with a different accent, he knew he had been part of the lie the entire time. He lunged at him without a second thought only to find himself thrown to the floor. Before he could recover Jeremy was on the ground next to him. He stood up and lunged again. He threw punch after punch and a kick every now and then only to have been blocked or dodged every time. He went for his next attack but Jake hooked one of his feet behind his legs and kicked them out from underneath of him sending him back to the floor. His opponent knelt down on the floor next to him and then landed his fist on his left eye, hard.

"Now, you're going to lay there for a minute and listen to me. I'm not proud of the part I have played in this, but I am just as much a puppet to them as your brother or any of the thousands they've experimented on over the years, just in a different way." He didn't look convinced to Jake, but it got his attention.

"I'm working on a way to stop him and help your brother but you can't just go and expose him, it will only make things worse. His operation is so much larger than the people he has on this voyage with him. If you want to beat him the entire system that he's a part of has be stopped. To do that we need the element of surprise, which means we can't expose him yet." He didn't say anything so he let him up.

"The meeting is almost over and I have your mess to clean up. Come back tomorrow at the same time. Your sister already knows about this. We can explain it to you when we have more time. For now you need to keep your mouth shut." They left silently and remained that way the rest of the day.

The next morning, after the morning meeting had started, Darren and Jeremy had made their way back to Castington's cabin. Dylan didn't trust anything that had come out of Jake's mouth, but the he had clearly outweighed, out skilled, and out smarted him when they fought. He already had one black eye and didn't need another. He was given the opportunity to leave and so he took it and used that time to come up with a better plan to expose them. But, first he would hear out the traitor's nephew before executing anything. He couldn't wrap his mind around what was happening. His sister knew, or at least that's what he had been told. He could have lied to her or him or both.

All he really knew was his brother was hurting and he couldn't do anything and he just felt small. It was clouding his judgment and he went in half cocked yesterday and that's why he had his ass handed to him. He found one little shred of hope and grabbed onto it for all it was worth and didn't stop to take a step back and examine it properly. His father told him that love was the most powerful and driving of all emotions. It was never clearer to him than now just how powerful the love for his brother was and nothing was going to stop him from saving Dylan.

He had just reached the door when it opened before he could even knock. He stepped into the room silently before the door closed. After sending a cold glare at Jake he observed he was the last one to arrive and went to stand by his sister daring the young man to come any closer to her until he explained everything.

"Everything. I want to know everything."

"Just about your twin or would like to hear the entire horror story."

"Start with Dylan and then the rest."

"Your brother is an experiment of a biochemical group called VEX Corp. They have been dosing him with a biochemical they are testing called Vocivine, derived from the Latin word vocivus which means to be empty or void. The chemical basically forces the brained to slowly stop all emotional processing and anything connected with it. The original theory was that this drug would force a person to become just an emotionless version of them self. I'm not sure what they would have wanted it for back then, but after finding out that it was far more complete than originally assumed, VEX Corp found an entirely different use for it."

"What do you mean, 'more complex'?"

"It does inhibit emotions, but when a person goes to sleep the side effects kick in. Sleep is the minds way of decompressing and compartmentalizing. It allows for the conscious to rest and the subconscious takes over to sort the day out. As the night goes on the drug wears off and the emotions start to return but in an unstable manor because the brain's natural chemicals have been interrupted. It takes many months to for the damage to become apparent. One day of the drug does almost nothing, but continue to layer it on and you slowly make it worse. After a while, the patient will start have nightmares when the mind can no longer deal with both the foreign chemicals and emotional instability. As the nightmares get worst the brain will do the only thing it can and slowly shut down all memory and emotions. This leaves only physical and basic survival instincts. This makes a person a blank slate and ready to reprogram."

"Reprogram for what."

For the first time sense he arrived his sister spoke up.

"Whatever the programmer wants to program. In the case of VEX Corp, the perfect solder. VEX Corp has been developing this for decades. Don't you remember grandfather talking about Vocivine. When he was a Commander in the Navy this drug was pitched to the Military Defense Committee when it was called Lacertive. He was one of the highest board members at the time."

"I remember something like that. Wasn't it suppose to help solders keep calm it times of intense pressure."

"Yes, but it worked that way because of the lack of emotions they would feel when taking it. They lacked fear, but also things like compassion and empathy and would often kill the enemy without caring."

"That's right. Didn't Grandfather say it was immoral to send people into the battlefield without the ability to think for themselves, that it was important that they felt emotions for people that died, both enemy and ally, because all people deserve to be respected equally upon death. A solder may be ordered into battle but they should never be stripped of the ability to choose to take a life without the ability to understand what that means."

"At first, many people though he was being cruel to suggest denying the opportunity to fight without fear, suggesting that he wanted people to be afraid when they entered battle. After a while the real dangers of this drug started to surface and before the military could put into use, the project was shut down for the cruelty and immorality of the drug."

The room lapsed into silence for a moment and then Jake finally spoke up.

"That drug was developed thirty-five years ago. The version of it that exists now is much worse."

"So how do I help my brother?"

"We've been working on a plan to expose VEX Corp. When that happens then we will be able to help Dylan. He isn't entirely gone yet. His mind has stopped connecting to the outside world to help cope but hasn't completely gone blank yet which means we can still save him." Looking down at his watch he saw that they were out of time.

"The meeting will be over soon so we have to stop. We can talk again tomorrow."

They left in silence back to their respective cabins and amidst the heavy atmosphere nobody noticed the beanie that had fallen out of Darren's hoodie pocket between the bed and the dresser.