"You!" the girl snapped, clenching her fists. "What'd you do with him? Where's Lucas?"

Lucas hadn't wanted him to come on this mission. Lucas had wanted him to stay in the room with him- or least on the base where he was close by- but catching the Ultimate Chimera was important. Lucas had agreed that the Ultimate Chimera would hurt people if it was allowed to run loose and that it needed to be stopped.

The girl- one of the ones that had kept Lucas with them- stepped closer. "Hey, answer me! Where's Lucas?"

Claus didn't know what they were doing in these woods, didn't know what they wanted in the woods, but he wasn't going to let them get away with it.

"I took him to a safe place. You'll never get to him there." The sword pulsed in his hand.

Before, they'd almost beaten him. If he hadn't faked his defeat and then rescued Lucas from them, he might've lost. But before, Lucas had been defending them and now Lucas was safe at the base. Also the dog- Boney, their dog- had been with them too, helping them. He wasn't here now. Where was he?

"And what are you planning to do with him?" the man- Lucas had called him Duster- asked. He was calmer than the girl but his body was tense and ready for action.

"I'll keep him safe," Claus said, surprising himself by telling the truth. "You didn't keep him safe. It was so easy to take him away from you. He's safe with me now. He'll stay safe with me for forever."

The man seemed confused- one eyebrow raised as he stared at Claus- but the girl was enraged. She began striding forward, PSI dancing around her fists and Claus quickly pulled the sword up in front of him. Before he could do anything else she stopped.

At first Claus thought she had realized that they couldn't win and was about to do the smart thing and surrender- but then she spoke.

"That badge- you stole it." She looked up and meet his eyes then, and the anger transformed into pure rage. "You thief!"

"I'm not a thief," Claus growled, the fingers of his free hand automatically reaching up to wrap around the Franklin Badge. "Lucas gave it to me." Lucas had pinned it on his jacket himself and asked him to be careful. Lucas had also tried to convince him to leave the troublemakers alone, but Lucas was sweet and naive like that.

The only response the girl gave was a scoffing sound before she called out "PK Ground!"

The ground rippled underneath him. Claus stumbled and lost his balance, but activated his wings before he hit the ground and recovered it.

Claus knew he wasn't supposed to feel emotions- that he was supposed to suppress them and not allow them to control him. The technicians told him that at every checkup. But at this moment, anger was welling up inside him like an unstoppable spring.

"It doesn't matter where you took him, you stupid jerk!" the girl cried, pointing at him. "We'll definitely find him and rescue him. Just you wait!"

"You won't. I won't let you." Claus dropped to the ground and transformed his arm into the cannon mode. He would not let these people- these people, who didn't protect Lucas and who were interfering in Master Porky's plans- take Lucas away from him.

"…you're a real piece of work, you know that?" the girl asked, voice low as she glared at him. She and the man both braced themselves for battle.

Claus dashed forward.

The man tossed the wall staples at him and Claus dodged, barely avoiding them. Right on the heels of that came a PK Freeze- luckily, it wasn't at full strength. Claus covered his face with one wing, letting it take the brunt of the attack then whipping it away, shaking the ice off it, and lifted his cannon arm.

Now it was their turn to dodge, avoiding his shots as best they could. They all missed, but one shot hit close enough that the impact knocked the girl off balance and to the ground.

"Kumatora!" yelled the man then grunted as he flung himself out of the way of another shot from the cannon arm.

The girl was getting to her feet, glaring at him. "Hey, leave him alone! PK Fire!"

Claus barely ducked in time and the fireball soared over his head, blindly him briefly.

Before the light was done fading, she was dashing towards him, "I won't let you hurt my friends anymore!"

He swung his sword but she dodged it nimbly and shot under his sword arm, driving her fists into his stomach, one after the other.

He choked and fell back but recovered in time to stop her from landing another blow by shooting her point blank with the cannon.

She screamed and flew backwards.

"I won't let you take him! I'll protect him from you!"

Something flew into his foot- wrapped around it and made him grunt in pain. Claus yanked at it-

He'd forgotten about the man and his wall staples! He yanked at his foot but it remained pinned.

"We're not the ones Lucas needs to be protected from," the man said coldly, holding up more wall staples. "You are!" He threw the staples.

Claus shot them out of the air. "I'm not the one lying to him and putting him in dangerous situations!" he yelled back, briefly forgetting about the staple still locked around his foot. Something he regretted when another PK Ground crashed into him and knocked him over. His foot was finally free but his breath was knocked out of him and he lay there, stunned.

Footsteps came closer and mingled with the echoes of Lucas asking him to be careful- he jumped to his feet. "PK Thunder! PK Thunder!" One at the girl, one at the man. He activated his wings as they tried to dodge and failed.

Claus would not lose, he would not lose Lucas to them!

Still flying, he fired at the girl then dove at the man. He swung his sword, but the man blocked with one of his wall staples.

"In case you're forgetting," the man grunted out, "you're the one who shot lightening at him repeatedly and you're the one who kidnapped him."

They struggled for a moment, the man pressing against the wall staple and Claus pushing against his sword. Finally, Claus managed to shift, bringing his cannon arm up into range and blasting the man backwards.

Claus was panting heavily. And not just from the struggle.

He had shot lightening at Lucas- he'd done it more than once- but that had been before. Before he'd remembered- but he should've known without Lucas needing to tell him! The man's words brought guilt up from inside of him, threatening to strangle him. Claus fed the guilt to the anger- the past wasn't important, the past wasn't important- besides, it was their fault! If they hadn't lied to Lucas and made him stay with them, then Lucas would have gone to him and he wouldn't have needed to capture him.

He opened his mouth to say this and let them know it was their fault- but then rustling noises started all around them-

"Commander!"

"Commander, we finally caught up to you!"

At the call of the title, Claus breathed deep and straightened up.

He was the Commander. He needed to set an example for his men.

And he had to protect his brother! If people heard the troublemakers talking about Lucas, they might get the wrong idea. Lucas wasn't a threat but if Master Porky thought he was- Claus couldn't let that happen!

The Colonel popped out of the woods and hurried to his side. "Commander, aren't these people-"

"They're working against Master Porky. Make sure you take them alive. I need to know who else is working with them- how big their organization is and what their plans are."

"Yes sir! Okay, hear that, men? We're going to take these jokers alive so the Commander can get answers!"

"That's a joke if I've ever heard one!" the girl yelled back.

The man placed one hand on her shoulder, keeping her close, looking around at all the soldiers surrounding them.

Claus was unable to resist feeling a small surge of satisfaction. Strong as they were, even they couldn't defeat this many, especially with him there.

The troublemakers had to know their own limits yet they didn't look afraid. They only quickly exchanged glances before the girl growled and turned back to Claus and stabbed her finger at him.

"Don't you dare think this is over, jerk! We're definitely going to get our friend back, just you wait and see!"

Claus tensed and pulled forward to respond, but the man was moving too-

"Secret thief technique- smoke screen!"

He drew some objects out of his pockets and began tossing them here- there- everywhere. They burst and exploded- as smoke rushed in and filled everywhere, everyone, even Claus, started coughing and their eyes started watering-

Through the din of coughing and jumbled voices and the soldiers running into each other, Claus heard the footsteps of people (people who knew exactly where they were going) rushing away from the clearing.

The troublemakers were escaping! If they got away, they would be free to search for Lucas! And if they found him and took him away, they would tell him to start pulling the Needles again and then Master Porky would consider Lucas a threat again!

"You-" he coughed, "you get back here!"

No response.

Claus almost howled with rage but managed to suppress it as he set about calming and organizing the soldiers. He was the Commander and the Commander was supposed to take care of his men.

Forget the Ultimate Chimera. This latest turn of events had to be reported to Master Porky. Claus needed to get back to the base. Needed to get back to Lucas.

OoOoOo

"…and then we headed back here," Claus finished the report for the second time.

The face on the screen laughed. "Well, I hadn't expected them to put up that much of a fight without their little blond friend. Maybe waiting for those idiot scientists to find a way into that stupid temple won't be so boring after all."

Claus waited patiently. He didn't really understand what Master Porky was talking about. Why was it a good thing that those troublemakers were still running loose? But Claus was having problems being coherent and his eyelids kept falling and he kept having to fight to pull them up again. It'd taken him until now to figure out what the problem was: he was tired.

"How close are the scientists to getting in?"

It took Claus a moment to realize he was talking about the Temple that held the second to last Needle. "Still no progress, Master Porky."

"Still? Tell them to hurry! At least the wannabe princess and the thief will provide me with some amusement while I'm waiting. Tell the scientists to hurry up and tell all my toy soldiers to be on the lookout for those idiots who think they can stand up to me. If they get killed, no big deal, but tell them to try to take them alive. With how slow those stupid scientists are going, I want to squeeze as much fun out of this as I can. And if they're taken alive, I can play with them for as long as I want." The king giggled. "Feed them whatever I want, dress them however I want. Maybe I'll dump them in the 'Nice Person Hot Springs'- no, not at first. It'll be no fun if they want to do what I say. Maybe I'll dump one in and make the other watch. That might be fun." He giggled again.

Claus sat there and waited. He was doing his best to please Master Porky and wait patiently while he talked to himself but Claus had been searching for the Ultimate Chimera since early that morning. He hadn't even taken a break for lunch and it was past suppertime now. He was running out of energy. As the Commander he could keep going if Master Porky ordered him to, but Claus was looking forward to stopping for the day. Besides, he needed to take care of Lucas. Lucas wasn't the Commander, so he was probably even hungrier. That, and…

Something about the way Master Porky was talking about the troublemakers made Claus's skin itch. They were obviously troublemakers, that much was for certain. They'd caused problems and they'd kept Lucas with them so they deserved to be punished. But the way that Master Porky was talking about them, like they only had significance for his amusement… if Master Porky was so bored, why didn't he talk with Claus about situations that came up and help him figure them out? Sometimes it was hard to figure out good solutions that helped everybody.

Why not discuss them with Lucas?

Claus twitched. Mom?

Porky noticed. "Oh, that's right, slave. If I take your slave and do things to him I could increase their pain even more. What do you think of that, hm?"

Claus almost flinched, but stopped himself in time.

"Well? Do you think anything about it at all, my adorable little monster?"

Should he say something? Should he not say something? He needed to point out why it would be bad to hurt Lucas- but he didn't want to make Master Porky angry by arguing with him either-

"Master Porky, I believe the troublemakers were manipulating the boy for their own ends, because of his abilities to pull the Needles. In the time I've had him with me, he's never caused any problems and he's assisted in daily life on the base."

"…are you saying you don't want me to play with him?" There was a warning tone in that voice. Luckily, Claus already knew what to say next.

"Master Porky, since you asked what I thought, a course of action occurred to me. Do you want to hear it, sir?"

"…go on." The warning was still there, but curiosity began to overshadow it.

"If you want, Master Porky, whenever I have time, I could show the boy around. Show him how you take good care of everyone. Once I convince him of that, he'll see the troublemakers as the fools they are. And once he understands that-"

The king giggled again and interrupted. "And by doing that, we turn him against his friends, causing them to fight against one another and hate each other! Ooh, the tortured expressions on their faces- I can't wait to see them!" He giggled again. "Hurry up and see to it, slave."

"Yes, Master Porky," Claus said, bowing his head once more and then getting up.

"Oh, and slave…" The tone had changed again. Claus had to force himself to look at the screen. Master Porky was smiling and looking off-screen, at something Claus couldn't see. "That slave of yours… he isn't becoming a distraction, is he?"

Claus's throat threatened to stop working on him. "No- of course not, Master Porky."

"Oh good. But you spoke up for him awfully quickly."

"He isn't a threat. Punishing him wouldn't accomplish anything."

"Oh, I don't know. Anything that amuses me accomplishes something, but your idea of turning him against his friends is amusing, so I'll let it go for now. Go and set things up now, slave." The screen shut off.

Claus breathed a sigh of relief.

He had been so busy with his regular duties and with the search for the Ultimate Chimera he hadn't been able to get anything done on the report on Lucas. The one he intended to give Master Porky to explain everything. Once he had the report finished he could give it to Master Porky and that way he would understand that Lucas was a good boy and needed to be protected.

Claus left the communications room and headed to his office where he relayed the series of orders. After that he began the walk to the Commander's room. All the while, he kept thinking.

He thought he understood now. He and Lucas had been created in one of Master Porky's labs, which was one of the reasons why Master Porky said he belonged to him. Obviously, their parents had been the best scientists and one of the reasons things didn't run so well now was because they'd lost their best scientists. Or maybe their mom had been a scientist and their dad had been the former Commander. Maybe that was it. After all, someone had to have been the Commander before Claus.

Things had been great- things had been wonderful- until around three years ago.

Three years ago, something bad had happened, and their mom had died.

Most likely, what had happened was that another scientist hadn't taken care of their experiment properly and it hadn't been locked up the way it should have been. And after it had gotten out it had killed Mom.

Claus and Lucas had probably tried to interfere- Claus attacking the thing and Lucas trying to tend to their mom- and they'd been separated.

Claus turned a corner and resisted the urge to touch his head. He'd forgotten so much. Even now, thinking over what must have happened, most of his memories floated just out of reach. And if Lucas was right about his arm and his eye being different he must have been badly injured.

But what had happened to Lucas? How had he wound up in the hands of those troublemakers?

Perhaps the monster had stunned Claus and dragged him away and Lucas had followed. Lucas wasn't strong like Claus but he wasn't weak. Even though he didn't like to fight, if he saw someone in trouble, he wanted to help. Maybe Lucas had attacked the monster, trying to save Claus. Maybe he'd attacked it in a desert area with lots of sand and lots of cliffs (Claus could almost see it now)- and Lucas had made it drop Claus, but the momentum had taken Lucas and the monster over the edge (and Claus was surprised how clearly he could see it) - and the searchers who had come after them had only found Claus and not Lucas.

So far, so good. That all made sense and added up.

Those troublemakers must have found Lucas as he was lying there and taken him with them. He'd probably hit his head hard enough that his memories were confused but not hard enough that he'd lost them like Claus.

Claus had seen it happen to the soldiers, sometimes. They'd get hit on the head and get knocked out, and then get really confused when they woke up. Normally they got better on their own but no doubt the troublemakers didn't give Lucas a chance.

Maybe, with the fall, Master Porky had assumed that Lucas was dead and that was why he never sent anyone to look for him. Maybe that was how the troublemakers had managed to keep him in the village for the past three years.

That all made sense, but there were still two things Claus needed to figure out. Fassad and their dad.

If Fassad had known, why hadn't he done anything?

And even more importantly, what had happened to their dad?

Lucas believed he was still alive and he talked about going out to find him. But Lucas also talked about going back to the village like they belonged there.

Maybe their dad had died at the same time as their mom and him being alive was a trick that the troublemakers were playing on Lucas. He'd even admitted he didn't see him a lot. That would explain why Claus was in charge of the soldiers now.

On the other hand, maybe their dad was alive. Maybe he'd believed that Lucas was alive and gone after him. Maybe he'd found him but the troublemakers and their cohorts had somehow managed to overpower him and then done things to him so he couldn't remember and couldn't tell Lucas the truth.

And maybe that was why Master Porky had told Claus he didn't have a family, because he thought they were all dead.

Or maybe he was mad at them all for putting each other before doing their duty. Maybe he wanted to make sure that Claus paid attention to his duties and took them seriously.

Claus would definitely fulfill his duties. If he didn't, Master Porky would blame Lucas. If he blamed Lucas…

Claus couldn't let that happen.

But he also needed to find out whether their dad was dead or alive. If there was the chance that he was alive… well, they needed to find out. If they'd known where to find each other three years ago, things would be different today. Claus didn't know if their dad was alive or dead. Lucas thought so and Lucas wasn't stupid but sometimes he was too trusting.

Claus entered the hallway where the room was.

The only way to know for sure would be to go out and look, but that would count as getting distracted and that would make Master Porky mad. But he and the soldiers were going to be going out anyway, searching for the troublemakers and for the Ultimate Chimera. Maybe he could tell the soldiers to keep an eye out for his dad- or would that be considered a distraction too? Maybe he could just tell them to keep their eyes open for all civilians and tell them to send the civilians to him so he could question them. He could ask them lots of questions. About whether they'd seen or heard the Ultimate Chimera, if they knew anything about the troublemakers and their plot- and whether or not they'd seen anyone else in the area.

Yes, that should work. That should be a good way to find answers without getting distracted.

Claus entered the room.

"Claus! You're back!" Lucas greeted him with a hug. He did that a lot. Lucas liked to give hugs and he also liked it when Claus hugged him back. It might be because Lucas was the smaller one- younger one, really- they were the same height. "You were gone a long time. Did something happen?"

"They'll fight against one another and hate each other!" Master Porky's voice echoed in his ears. "Ooh, the tormented looks on their faces!"

"…something happened," Claus admitted.

Lucas shifted back so they were eye to eye.

Claus looked away.

"Claus? What happened?" He sounded worried. "Are you okay?"

"Fine."

"Really?"

"Really."

"What happened? Claus, why won't you look at me?"

"…those people…the ones that kept you with them…the thief and the princess."

"Duster and Kumatora?" Lucas asked excitedly. He liked them. It showed up in his voice. It was because they'd lied to him that he liked them but he still liked them. Claus didn't want Lucas to be tormented. He wanted to keep him safe, safe from everything.

"They're alive."

"And they're okay? They're doing fine?"

"I saw no injuries. Boney wasn't with them though."

"Really? Weird. Maybe he went to go find Dad."

"Find Dad?"

"Yeah, Boney's got a really strong sense of smell, so he can track people and animals. Although sometimes things get in the way and he can't smell things well. Like at the Temple, he probably couldn't make out your scent through that goo you use to clean your boots because it's so strong. Remember how I had to leave the room when you used it the other day? Boney's nose is way more sensitive than mine, so after smelling your boots he wouldn't be able to smell anything else for a while. That's why he didn't recognize you."

"Oh." Claus filed that away in his head. That was good to know.

"So what happened? Did they see you? Did they recognize the Franklin Badge and realize what it meant?"

Claus looked down at the floor.

"Claus? You guys didn't fight, did you?" Lucas was suddenly sounding worried again. "That's why I gave you the Franklin Badge- so you could show it to them and explain what's going on-" even as he was talking he lowered his head so it was in Claus's field of vision and their eyes could meet. Claus looked away again. "Claus!"

"They escaped uninjured," Claus said quickly, glad for something he could say without reservation. "We all escaped uninjured. Aside from bruises," he added to be completely truthful.

Lucas sighed. "That's good. I'm glad they're okay and I'm glad you're okay too, Claus," he added and hugged him again.

Claus was silent a moment- wrestling with himself- and then he spoke softly. "They're troublemakers. They're working against Master Porky."

"I'm sorry if they're making more work for you, but they're doing what they believe is right. Like I told you before, they're good people, Claus. They just don't know that it's you under that helmet. They might not believe you at first but when you show them your face and explain everything-"

"Master Porky has ordered them captured," Claus said softly.

Lucas snapped his head back, his face horrified.

"He wants them…" Claus closed his mouth on the phrase 'dead or alive' at the last minute. Lucas was already worried enough.

Lucas was staring at him, a different and strange look on his face. Like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Like he didn't want to believe what he was hearing.

Why? They were troublemakers. They were opposing Master Porky-

They're his friends.

"Claus, you can't! They're my friends, they haven't done anything bad!"

"They're working against Master Porky-" Claus started- his voice didn't sound impressive, the way it should be, for some reason-

Lucas shook his head violently. "They don't know and they don't care about that guy!" He moved closer again and put his hands on Claus's helmet. "It's because of this stupid thing! Because of this, they don't know it's you. They can't see your face, so they can't recognize you."

"You knew it was me."

"That's different. We're brothers. Twins. Even though you didn't remember me, you still recognized me, right?"

Claus nodded slowly.

"Because we're brothers, we don't need anything- any clues or anything like that- we'll always recognize each other. But even though Duster's our friend, he can't put the puzzle together if you don't give him any pieces. And I only met Kumatora after you disappeared, so she's never even met you before. It's not their fault they haven't recognized you, Claus."

Claus was silent a moment as he struggled with things- struggled with too many things that he didn't understand.

He pulled away from Lucas and started towards the door.

"Claus-"

"I'll be back. I'll go get food." Without waiting for a response, without giving Lucas a chance to respond, he walked out of the room.

Those people were bad people. They were troublemakers who were opposing Master Porky. They were. But-

Several images rapid fire flashed through Claus's head.

Lucas defending the troublemakers at the Temple. Lucas asking about them with worry all over his face.

The girl demanding to know where Lucas was. The way she'd stood firmly as she'd declared that they were going to "rescue" Lucas.

For the first time, Claus allowed himself to realize that he'd seen worry as well as anger on those people's faces.

The man's voice echoed in his ears. "We're not the ones Lucas needs to be protected from- you are!"

Claus shook his head. That wasn't true! Claus was taking very good care of Lucas!

Other than leaving him alone all the time and shocking him with the collar- a voice that was not his mother's whispered inside of him.

Claus stopped in front of mess hall doors. His fists clenched.

You're not a bad boy. A feather light touch, so light he might've imagined it, on top of his head. The helmet didn't seem to stop it all. You've made mistakes but you're not a bad boy.

His fists relaxed. He breathed.

Was he really hearing their mom's voice? Was he imagining it?

Claus entered the mess hall. He didn't know and he didn't know how to find out. But whether he'd heard it or imagined it, his mother's voice was right. He'd made mistakes in taking care of Lucas in the past but he would do better in the future.

"Oh, hello Commander," one of the servers said, as the other began dishing it up. "Lucas isn't with you today?"

Lucas liked talking with them. Apparently they liked talking with Lucas too.

Claus shook his head.

"Where's he at?" the one dishing it up- Claus thought he was Junior- asked.

"In the room. We'll eat there tonight."

"Oh, okay. French fries or onion rings?"

"…fries."

"…is Lucas not feeling well?" the other one- Senior- asked hesitantly as Junior served the food.

"You'll see him tomorrow."

Junior put the plates up and Claus took his before realizing that he couldn't carry both trays at once.

"Do you need any-?"

"No," Claus said as an idea occurred to him. He put his tray down before rearranging his food and then added Lucas's food to his tray, leaving the other tray empty.

"Oh, good thinking."

Claus picked the full tray. They were twins. They'd shared lots and lots of things before, sharing a tray was nothing. It wasn't really good thinking, just obvious. He turned.

"Uh, Commander…" Junior began hesitantly, "can you tell Lucas 'hi' for us?"

Claus turned and looked at him, surprised. He wanted him to give Lucas a message? Why?

Because they liked talking together. They wanted him to know they missed him.

Claus nodded, somewhat jerkily, nodded again when Junior thanked him enthusiastically, and walked out of the cafeteria and back to the room.

"Good thinking". No, obvious thinking. But he couldn't stop thinking.

Those looks on the troublemakers' faces. The way they talked. The way Lucas talked about them.

Maybe those people weren't evil after all.

Claus shook his head, but the idea remained.

Lucas wasn't stupid. He liked people and he was trusting, but he wasn't stupid. And even when they hadn't known Claus was there the troublemakers had talked about Lucas like he was important. Like they cared about him not just because of his ability to use PSI and pull the Needles, but also because he was Lucas.

Another feather light touch on his head, transmitting so much warm approval that Claus had to shut his eyes.

Are you real?

Too many questions.

The troublemakers were definitely troublemakers. But if Lucas was right and they were trying to do the right thing, then maybe they were being like Claus when he'd shocked Lucas. Maybe they weren't meaning to be bad.

But they still needed to be stopped. Claus had to stop them from interfering in Master Porky's plans. Claus would stop them and capture them. And then he'd question them and find out if they were bad guys or not. He could stop them without killing them. He'd stopped Lucas without killing him. They wouldn't get to stay in the Commander's room though so he'd have to find somewhere else to put them.

Master Porky talked about being amused, but the search would amuse him and if they were bad guys, it wouldn't matter what he did to them. And if they weren't bad guys, then Claus would find a way to show him that. And then they could find a way to teach them not to be troublemakers anymore and everyone would be happy.

Claus came to stop in front of the door. He looked at it before he opened it and went in.

Lucas didn't greet him with a hug this time. He slid off the bed and slowly walked over to Claus. Despite how hungry he had to be he didn't give the tray of food a single glance. He acted like it didn't even exist. His eyes met Claus's as he faced him- calmly, sadly.

"Claus, Duster and Kumatora are my friends and they're good people. They might be making more work for you, but they're trying to do the right thing and they don't know it's you. The Pigmasks have done bad things that we wanna fix…I'll always be your brother. I just want all the people I love to stop fighting each other!" He was on the verge of tears now, but his eyes were steady and his fists were clenched. His eyes drilled into Claus.

There was a rattling sound. Claus looked down at the dishes on the tray to see that they were vibrating slightly as his hands shook.

Lucas took the tray away and put it on the floor before straightening up and putting his hands on Claus's shoulders. "Claus, Duster and Kumatora are not your enemies."

Claus looked away. "I have to stop them. Master Porky ordered me to."

Lucas huffed softly. An irritated, sad sound. "Are those orders the only thing you care about?"

"Yes. No. Lucas-" Something was wrong. Claus was shaking again and as he looked back at Lucas it only got worse as he saw the tears that were beginning to gather in his little brother's eyes.

"It'll be okay Claus-" and now Claus was being hugged again, now Lucas really was crying. Both boys on their knees now, Claus not sobbing but shaking- "I'm here Claus, it'll be okay, we'll find a way-" Lucas went on like this, his voice soft and his arms cradling Claus. No matter how badly Claus shook, Lucas kept holding on to him, refusing to give up.

Claus just let go.

OoOoOo

Some time later he woke up. He blinked up at the ceiling. Ceiling? Why was he on the floor?

Beside him, Lucas murmured softly in his sleep. Claus turned to look at him and remembered.

He must've gone to sleep while Lucas was holding him. That was weak of Claus, losing to sleep and emotions like that. But Lucas had again demonstrated why he was the sweet one. Even though he must be just as hungry as Claus and stayed awake longer, he hadn't even touched the food. Claus could tell that Lucas had stayed awake longer because there was a blanket below them and another above them. Lucas had also removed the helmet and hung up it up by the door.

The food was still where they'd left it. It'd gotten all cold by now but it would still be okay and Claus was really hungry. Now that he'd slept a bit the hunger was back, demanding. The hunger had probably been what woke him up in the first place.

Claus shifted, glancing at the clock. Midnight. That wasn't too bad. He could eat, then go back to bed, get more sleep and then be able to perform his duties.

But for some reason, he really didn't want to move. While sleeping, he and Lucas had curled up against one another and with the warmth from both his brother and the blankets Lucas had brought over, Claus was warmer than he'd ever been in this room before.

Considering the mechanical arm was heavy just by itself, Claus knew that he was heavier than his brother so it wasn't surprising that Lucas hadn't been able to lift Claus. But even though it was warm like this, the floor was still hard beneath them and just because Claus was on the floor didn't mean that Lucas had to stay here too. Lucas could have just covered Claus with his blanket and left him and gone to sleep in his own bed. But he hadn't. He'd stayed with Claus.

"We're always going to be brothers."

He didn't realize he'd spoken aloud until Lucas woke up and blinked at him sleepily.

"Claus? Did you say something?"

"…we're always going to be brothers?"

"Always," Lucas promised with a sleepy smile. Claus smiled back before Lucas's stomach growled.

Still somewhat reluctant, but not as much for some reason, Claus stood up. "We should eat now."

"Yeah," Lucas agreed, sounding more awake now. He got up as Claus reached for the tray and pulled it closer. Claus watched as his younger brother shook out the blankets and returned them to the pushed-together beds before sitting on the floor in front of him. Lucas studied him as he took the food Claus offered him and they started eating. His thoughtful blue eyes didn't leave him at all.

"Junior and Senior say hi." The words left Claus's mouth suddenly. He hadn't meant to say that but it wasn't bad. He'd kept that promise now.

Lucas blinked, then smiled slightly. "That's nice."

"…I'll tell them to take the troublemakers alive." Claus didn't like the way that came out. He didn't regret saying it, because he'd been thinking about it and anyway, it was the best way to get answers, but he wanted to say it impressively. "I'll tell the soldiers to take them alive and be careful with them."

Lucas didn't seem to care that he'd said it bad but he wasn't happy either, like Claus thought he would be. He was smiling, but it was a weird kind of smile. Sad. "I trust you, Claus. But I don't trust everyone on this base."

"Why?"

"They may not have meant to, but the Pigmasks brought some bad things to Tazmily," Lucas said and Claus's fists clenched at the sadness on his face. "I don't like the money system very much but it's not so bad. What's really bad are things like all the animals they're hurting to make the chimeras and then letting the chimeras run loose so they can hurt people. And that place where they keep the older people, like Grandpa and Mr. Wess, locked up against their will. And then there's Thunder Tower which they used to shoot lightening at people who didn't want Happy Boxes. I trust you, Claus, but the Pigmask army has done some bad things."

"…making mistakes doesn't mean you're bad," Claus said softly. He hated that Lucas was sad, but this wasn't a chimera he could fight and destroy and Claus didn't know what to do to make Lucas's sadness go away.

Lucas nodded. "You're right. But when people make lots of mistakes and don't take responsibility for them, it doesn't look good."

"We're taking responsibility," Claus protested. "We're going to stop the Ultimate Chimera."

"That's good and you're right, that is taking responsibility. But Claus, it was you taking that responsibility, right? Whose idea was it to go after the Ultimate Chimera?"

"Mine. But Lucas-"

"See? That proves my point that it's a good idea to trust you, but it doesn't do anything to prove that everybody in the Army is trustworthy."

Claus shook his head, but couldn't come up with anything to say.

"It's true, Claus," Lucas said, his voice both gentle and calm. "The only reason that we got involved with the Pigmasks at all is because we wanted to stop the bad things they were up to. And now Duster and Kumatora must be worried about me, because they don't know it's you and they don't know of any reasons why I'd be safe here. They think they have to rescue me or bad things will happen to me. You have to talk to them Claus. They're our friends, they're not bad guys."

"…Master Porky ordered me. They're causing trouble. They're interfering in Master Porky's plans and they have to be stopped."

Lucas sighed, frustrated.

"Lucas, I have to!" Why didn't Lucas understand? Claus was the Commander. He had to do his job. He had to follow his orders!

"Why?" Lucas asked calmly, looking at him. "Why is this so important to you?"

Claus dropped his head. "It's my job. I have to follow Master Porky's orders-"

"Claus, what if he's wrong?"

Claus snapped his head up and stared at him.

"Everybody's wrong sometimes, Claus. Everybody makes mistakes, remember?"

"Everybody?"

"Everybody. I make mistakes, you make mistakes, Dad makes mistakes." Lucas shrugged. "Everybody makes mistakes, Claus."

"…even Mom?"

Lucas blinked. "Well, yeah. I can't really think of any right now, but she made them. But that's not the point. Claus, just because Porky tells you to do something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do."

Claus dropped his head. Lucas said the words like it was a simple obvious statement, like saying the sky was blue or the sun gave light. "…if I don't obey my orders…" The words choked his throat as he remembered the things that Master Porky had said. The way he'd promised to punish Lucas if Claus failed to fulfill his duties. Claus couldn't let anything happen to Lucas.

"You'll get in trouble?" Lucas asked when he didn't say anything else. "Well, that wouldn't be good either-"

"We're just going to stop them," Claus said quickly. "Like how I stopped you. We'll stop them and they'll be brought here. I'll tell the soldiers to be careful, but I have to stop them from causing any more trouble."

This didn't seem to reassure Lucas the way it should either. Claus didn't know what to do. He had to do as he was told but he hated seeing that look on Lucas's face and he didn't know how to make it go away.

"Claus, we're not even supposed to be here!" Lucas exclaimed, sounding exasperated as he flung his arms in the air. Before Claus could figure out how to respond, the anger drained away and Lucas just looked exhausted. Giving a sigh that sounded as heavy as the fate of the world, he reached over and hugged Claus. "What did he do to you?" It came out softer than a whisper. "What did he do to you? Mom, how do I fix it?"

Claus stayed still- didn't move as his little brother held him. Fix what? Was something broken? "Lucas?"

Lucas just hugged him tighter as he buried his face in his brother's shoulder.

Slowly, Claus reached up and hugged him back. Lucas liked hugs and since he was upset, maybe Lucas needed this hug?

What was broken?

A soft touch on his back came with a sigh that didn't come from his or Lucas's mouth-

They were broken. Their family was missing people. Convulsively, Claus tightened his arms around his twin. Grandpa was gone, Boney was gone, Dad was gone, and Mom was-

"Mom." Her name escaped from him with a whimper.

"I know, Claus. I miss her too," Lucas said softly. "I wish she was here. I don't know what to do. Duster and Kumatora are my friends and I won't forget or abandon them, but you're my brother and I don't want you to be in danger either… Claus, why don't we sneak out? Go back home, just for a little bit. Walk through the town and see Grandpa and Mr. Wess and everyone? Wouldn't it be nice to sleep in our own bed? Wouldn't be nice to visit Mom's grave? We could take her some flowers. She loved flowers, remember?"

Somehow he did. Claus could almost see her there, kneeling over a flower bed- raising her head to smile at him-

He shook his head. "We can't. Master Porky will find out. He'll be angry."

Lucas sat back and opened his mouth, looking determined and almost angry- and then shut it, looking sad, looking so sad. He reached for Claus again and hugged him.

"I have to obey my orders," Claus said quickly, before Lucas could say anything else. His little brother's arms tightened around him and Claus went on before he could argue with him again. "I'm the Commander and obeying my orders is the right thing to do."

Lucas didn't move, but he gave another one of those heavy sighs into his brother's shoulder. "He's wrong, Claus."

"Master Porky takes good care of everyone. He won't tell me to do the wrong thing." But even as the words left Claus's mouth, he remembered Master Porky giggling at the thought of the troublemakers being tormented and him talking about using Lucas in his plan to punish the troublemakers. Claus shook his head but the thought remained.

They were all just mistakes, they only happened because Master Porky was confused-

"He's not perfect, Claus. No one is. Remember how he was wrong before? About you having a name and a family?"

And if Porky was really that good Claus, then you wouldn't need to worry about him misunderstanding Lucas would you? And you wouldn't need to worry about making that report if you really trusted him with Lucas would you?

"I have to stop them, Lucas." Claus felt his grip tightening but he couldn't focus on that, just like he couldn't sort through those thoughts right now. They were too big- if he thought about them he'd get sucked in and never get out again. Anyway, as long as he kept Lucas safe it would be all right, wouldn't it? "But I'll take care of them too! I'll tell the soldiers to be careful when we capture them and when we transport them here too. I'll be very careful with them, Lucas."

Lucas didn't respond. For a long moment, he just stayed silent and still.

"Lucas-" Claus started, but before he could say anything else Lucas pulled away and began gathering up the trash and throwing it away.

Claus stared after him before quickly pushing himself up and following him. "Lucas-"

Lucas ignored him at first, but when Claus put his hand on his shoulder Lucas stayed still for a moment before sighing and dropping the trash in the bin and then turning and facing his brother. "I just want the people I love to stop fighting with each other."

"I don't want to fight them," Claus said. Which was, for the most part, true. He was still mad at the troublemakers for keeping Lucas with them, but if Lucas was right and they weren't meaning to cause trouble then Claus didn't want to hurt them.

Lucas was silent a moment, then sighed deeply. "Well in the end I can't exactly stop you, can I? No matter how much I don't like it. After all-" Lucas's hand strayed to the metal collar surrounding his neck and Claus felt happy and sad all at once.

Claus hated Lucas feeling sad, but Claus had to protect his little brother. Even if it was a dream, he'd promised their mom that he would and anyway, it was what big brothers were supposed to do. "I promise that I'll take care of them. I promise, Lucas." He held out his fist and Lucas stared down at it for a moment before sighing again. But he also smiled slightly as they solemnly did the fist dance.

Claus relaxed a little at his little brother's smile. Even though he'd made the promise mainly to reassure Lucas, he really meant it. The troublemakers would probably resist and so there'd probably be a fight, but other than the bruises that would come from that Claus would watch out for them. After they were safely captured, he'd take them to the doctors and get them patched up and then they'd be fine.

And after that, he'd find out if they were good or bad. If they were bad- if they'd just been using Lucas- he'd punish them. But if they were good, and they were trying to do the right thing, like Lucas thought, then… well, Claus wasn't quite sure. He'd have to make sure they wouldn't interfere anymore, of course. Maybe he could have Lucas explain things to them. True, Lucas really didn't understand everything yet but he understood enough to not cause trouble, so that would help at least. Whatever the truth was, Claus would find a way to take care of everyone.

Claus smiled as the brothers let their fists drop.

Lucas's faint smile was still there but then it vanished as he frowned in thought. "I guess that will have to work for now. But Claus, we really have to focus on getting your memory back."

"Weren't we doing that already?" Claus asked even as he perked up. He didn't understand why Lucas was bringing that up now, but more memories of Mom and Dad and the time before everything had gone wrong could only be a good thing.

"Well, yeah, but we got to work faster now. The faster we figure everything out, the quicker we know where we stand, and then we'll know what to do next."

Oh. That made sense. Claus nodded and Lucas's smile came back before he returned to cleaning the room.

Claus watched him briefly before helping. There might be many things he didn't understand, but the one thing he was sure of was that he was going to keep his little brother safe.

OoOoOo

Sorry this chapter took so long you guys! I hope I'll be able to get the next one to you quicker, but we'll see what happens with real life.

As always, ChocolateAntelope was a big help with revision and any remaining mistakes are my own fault.

So I was just going through my reviews, enjoying comments both new and old when I realized something and promptly spazzed. Not only does this story have more reviews than any other story I've done, you guys are pushing it up to where it had almost TWICE the amount of reviews of any of my other stories. You guys have no idea how happy that makes me! Thank you all you awesome people and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!