"Once upon a time, there was a boy with red hair who lived in a tower all by himself."

"I have red hair."

"Yep, you do Claus. And the reason he lived all by himself was because a…a mean person- a bad sorcerer had taken him there and told him to guard it for him.

And because the boy didn't remember where his home was or even what his name was, he did what the bad guy said, because he didn't know what else to do. He lived all alone for years, until one day, a blond boy, just the same age as him, showed up on the doorstep of the castle. When he saw the red haired boy, he hugged him happily.

"I've finally found you Claus!"

The red haired boy- whose name was Claus, even if he had forgotten it- was confused. The evil sorcerer had made him forgot everything, so he didn't even know his brother- but even though he didn't remember him, he still felt drawn to him.

Because of that, he didn't do exactly as the bad guy had told him. The bad guy had told him to kill anyone who came near the tower. Instead, he told Lucas that he couldn't come in.

At first, Lucas was fine with that- he didn't care about the tower, what he wanted was for Claus to leave and come home with him.

But because of the lies and things that the evil sorcerer had told Claus, he wouldn't leave- and when Lucas kept insisting that they were brothers and that their family was waiting for them, Claus ran inside the tower…Claus, what is it?"

"…that isn't how it happened. That isn't how we…"

"That's okay. You can use your imagination and change things when you tell a story. It's called being creative. Mom used to do it all the time when she told us stories, remember?"

"…yeah…just a little. Sometimes she'd tell us silly stories… like the tigers who got turned to butter."

"Yeah, I remember that one! And then the mom in the story used the tiger-butter to make pancakes!"

"…and then…we kept asking Mom if she used tiger-butter to make pancakes."

"Yeah, and Dad had no idea what we were talking about and he got so confused, remember?"

"Yeah… what happened then? In the story?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! Claus went and locked himself instead the tower- Lucas couldn't find a way inside, so he sat on the doorstep and waited.

The next day, when Claus opened the door, he was still there.

"What are you doing?"

"Waiting for you!" Lucas jumped to his feet and faced his brother.

"…go away."

"No way! You're my brother and I'm never going to give up on you!"

Claus shut the door and ran back inside."

"…remembering…sometimes it makes the head hurt."

"Yeah…and sometimes it makes the heart hurt too.

But after that day, every time Claus opened the door, Lucas was there, waiting for him, never leaving. But because he never left, he never got anything to eat."

"That's not good. The body requires food."

"Right. And that's why, one day, Claus opened the door and Lucas stood up to talk to him- and then Lucas fainted.

Claus panicked a little bit- at first he thought Lucas was dead, but then he realized that he was still alive- and then he heard his stomach growl and realized what he needed. So he carried him inside and managed to wake him up a bit and fed him- and then Lucas went back to sleep, happy that his brother was finally beginning to remember him.

Because what Lucas had noticed and what Claus only then started to realize as Lucas went back to sleep, was that the shock of seeing Lucas fall like that had awakened some of his memories. He still believed a lot of the evil sorcerer's lies, but he remembered Lucas and their parents now. He had even called his brother by name when getting him to eat.

While Lucas slept, reassured by his brother's care, Claus stayed awake and worried. The sorcerer had told Claus to guard the tower- would he consider this disobedience? Would he punish him? Worse, what if he punished Lucas?

Claus worried and thought- and then he came up with a plan.

One of the reasons the sorcerer had told Claus to guard the tower was because of all the magical items he'd stashed there. So Claus went into one of the treasure rooms and came back with a magical collar that would zap Lucas every time Claus said the word 'zap'.

Claus put the collar on Lucas's neck and was satisfied. With this, the evil sorcerer would see that Lucas was not a threat, right?

When Lucas woke up, he wasn't happy with the collar being around his neck, but what scared him most of all was the two of them being separated again, so he didn't complain much either."

"Lucas is a good boy."

"…Lucas isn't that good. But Lucas really loves his family and his friends, and wants to protect them more than anything…

Anyway, the two brothers lived together after that.

Claus kept patrolling the tower (even though Lucas was the only one who'd ever come there, and he'd only gone there because of Claus), and Lucas cooked and cleaned. And they were happy together."

"And they lived together happily ever after?"

"Yes, but not yet. There were some things that they had to do before they lived happily ever after."

"Like what?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow, okay?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Yep. You've been working too hard again- you need to go to sleep. But I promise I'll finish the story tomorrow, okay?"

"…okay."

"Goodnight Claus. I love you."

"Goodnight Lucas…love you."

OoOoOo

Was originally going to be part of "With these hands", but I couldn't find anywhere to put it in, but I liked it too much to toss...(shrugs). So here it is!

Concept is: While being the Commander, Claus captures Lucas. Lucas isn't happy about being captured, but is too busy being happy about being reunited with his brother and worrying about Claus to be very mad. Lucas manages to shake some of Claus's memories loose, but not as many as he'd like. And one night, Claus has trouble going to sleep, so Lucas tells him a bed time story.

And I'm really supposed to be preparing for my trip right now...

Thank you for reading, and please tell me what you think!