Chapter 21

Trilby looked at the roof. Now officially a dangerous experiment. Officially evil. He lay bound on the floor of the cage. Sparky was gone. They let him go under the promise that he attend Pleakly's support group. He didn't say or even look at Trilby as he was set free, and this pained Trilby more than he could know. He hadn't said everything he wanted to say. On the mountain Sparky was vulnerable and he used that to his advantage. Sparky had carried him, trusted him fully, and Trilby had meant to use him. What Trilby hadn't counted on was that he had started to like Sparky legitimately. Which is why he saved him from Hamsterviel. Trilby almost regretted not leaving alone as he had planned. But Trilby had not known any family. Sparky was his first and only taste of what it was like to have someone care about him, and he had liked it. But that was over now. He was alone again. As it had been before. This was metaphorical. He was not alone literally, he had guards, a few experiments stood by the entrance to his tent- he had his own tent- to make sure he didn't escape. Trilby still thought he could. The experiments who guarded him were vulnerable like Sparky was. They were worried, scared. Trilby was built for deception. One touch and he would have their powers. But at that moment he had very little reason to escape. He only had one purpose, and he had done enough damage already. He could only bring more pain to the already struggling family around him. He could break it so easily. He shook his head. Just a voice… At the back of his head.

Sparky sat at the edge of the cliff, looking out over the waves. The familiar ocean, the familiar view. The lighthouse beside him now a twisted wreck. He sighed. He was no longer any kind of outcast. Now that most other experiments in the camp had wreaked havoc as he had- thanks to the sound- they were in the same spot as him- Worrying whether people would forgive them. So he was fine- accepted- they spoke to him like any other experiment. He was no different. But Trilby's betrayal of his trust. That had hit him hard. He thought he lost a family, only to find he had another, only to lose that one and get the old one back. He should feel the same as he did before, but he didn't. For a time Trilby had been his hope his motivation and inspiration. Now to find out it was a lie. It couldn't be that simple, but the facts were there. His purpose to drive families apart, his skill at perception and deception, abandoning Lilo and Stitch. Sparky felt ashamed when he remembered he had denounced his family. Trilby had single handed- driven his family to the point of collapse. He was evil. Cunning, deceptive. But deep down he still cared somehow. Against all reason, he still seemed to see Trilby as having made a mistake. He remembered he had made a mistake too. His calm carefree face lingered on his mind. The perpetual docile face which hid his plots and plans. Then when he looked Sparky in the eye and his face, contorted revealed his true nature, he seemed to regret it somehow. Like it had been a mistake. He sighed again letting the sea breeze wash over his face. His fur ruffled and birds flew in meandering patterns above the sea. His life was so much more complicated now since that day. The lighthouse, now an avid reflection of his being, twisted and confused, he stared at his simple past now a ruin at the edge of his mind. He had family to protect now. He had two families to protect now. Though he didn't think Trilby was in any kind of danger here, he still saw himself as responsible, obliged- the older brother.

"Sparky!" A voice pulled him back from his cavern of thoughts. "Sparky!" Turning Sparky noticed Nosey running up to meet him.

"Nosey, what's the rush," He hid his emotions behind a smile,

"So I was checking around… About that guy, Trilby right?"

"Why do you want to know about him,"

"There is something about him, he doesn't work for Hamsterviel. So, why did he do all the things he did? as a reporter it's my job to snoop." He smiled punching Sparky on the shoulder playfully.

"Not now Nosey,"

"What's wrong Sparky. Are you still worried about the stuff you did? It's all back to normal. Well as normal as it can be here."

"It's not that,"

"Then what is it you can trust me."

"I know… What Trilby was built to do… But I still believe… There is something else, more to the story." Nosey looked puzzled. He had deceived Sparky, what else was there to it. "Back on the ship, he meant to leave Lilo and Stitch behind, to break our family. So why did he save me, Nosey?" He turned to Nosey, his face had regained some of his old enthusiasm and strength. He felt conviction bristle in his fur, with it a feeling that he had not felt in a while. Hope.

"Were… were you two actually… close? You know it was lie, he said so himself."

"No, just because you believe something is a lie doesn't make it a lie. He lied to himself, not to me."

"Sparky… You're not going to free him are you?" Sparky turned there was a spark in his eye. "He's dangerous we know this, we're struggling to keep this family together as it is. If you free him you could be responsible for the total collapse of this family we all get captured, and forced to do what Hamsterviel wants. Understand?" Sparky walked up to the edge of the lighthouse, a bolt jumped to his fur completing the circuit.

"Nosey… Trust me… I know him, and if he wanted to escape he could, at any time,"

"Really!? Then why hasn't he?"

"Because he is unhappy." He took Nosey's hand, the electricity making his fur go spiky. He laughed. "He has no reason to escape, he has no hope… Like I was before," He felt the metallic plates of the lighthouse." The more unhappy an experiment gets the quicker it reverts to the original programming. I know this." He reached down picking up the remains of a bulb." He may be cunning and deceptive, and he may hide his true feelings behind a carefree face. But he can't hide the feelings he has from his family." He poked the light bulb with a glistening antenna.

"Family!?"

"He is in the same place I was. Trapped in a prison, without friends… or family…"

"Oh yeah I was meaning to apologize for that."

"Soon he will revert and crush the remains of our family, it's my turn to save him, my turn to come up with a plan." He smiled then, bright and energetic. All the melancholic thoughts dissolved, he would save his family. Both of them. He stood lifting the bulb. It lit as the power flowed through it the light was small on the wrecked lighthouse. Nosey was impressed. He patted down his now spiky fur.

"Yeah, Ok you've convinced me, and I guess I owe you so, I've got your back buddy, always. Oh, I was snooping in Jumba's tent and I found this, I think you should see it," Sparky floated to where Nosey was opening out a roll of paper. It was blue. A white outline, an experiment.

"Trilby?" he asked the ovals giving it away.

"Yeah, found it on the big creator's computer."

"Labels adorned the sheet, detailing his abilities, his adaptive capabilities, and unpowered deficiency."

"I already know all this,"

"I know but look at this," A scrawl of words at the bottom, it had been written in a rush and didn't appear too clearly. He read the words.

"Oh… I should tell him about this."

"We need to get him first."

"Good lets go save my little brother!"