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Chapter Text

His head ached- pounded as if someone with a temper problem was building a house on his head.

He didn't want to move- didn't want to get up- he just wanted to lay on the warm ground, the smell of flowers surrounding him- but something made him get up. Something - a thought that floated just out of reach but refused to go away- brought him to his feet and made him look around, wincing as the bright sunlight hit his eyes.

"Hello?" the call left his mouth before he was even aware of considering it. There was something- no.

There was someone. Someone was missing.

One step, then another. He stumbled a bit, but didn't fall.

"Hello?" he called again.

Silence.

No. The silence was wrong, it was not supposed to be silent. There was someone- someone important- he had to find them!

"Hello?" he called louder, almost desperately.

Still no answer- ignoring his pounding head, he began to run down the path of flowers- sunflowers, huge, towering above him. They were supposed to be here- weren't they supposed to be here?

He emerged out of the flowers.

There was a city in front of him. It was surrounded by large, strong looking walls that towered over him but it also had gates that were flung wide open.

Slowly, he crossed the bridge that led to it, looking around.

Flags, bright blue, all of them, with golden sunflowers, flapped gaily in the breeze.

The people too, were dressed in bright colors. They moved quickly, smiling and laughing, full of energy.

When he walked onto the street, people stopped and stared at him.

He hesitated, but then they started smiling and approaching him. He tensed a bit, but tried to smile back, worried but trying to be friendly.

He needn't have worried. The people didn't rush him or anything- some of them just waved cheerfully before going on their way- but most approached him, still smiling.

"Hello! Welcome to Magicant!"

"Uh- hi," he mumbled. He knew he shouldn't mumble- it just came out like that.

"You're going to the castle, right?"

"The castle?" he asked, puzzled- but they had already started herding him further into the town.

"We'll show you the way!"

"The Queen is waiting for you!"

"The Queen?" Why would a queen care about him? He was just a kid, just a skinny ten year old in a striped shirt. He wasn't very strong, and he wasn't very fast, and he couldn't think of any reason someone as important as a queen would want to see someone like him.

"Hello!" came a cheerful call from one of the small stands that lined the streets. "Would you like some of my homemade nut bread?"

"Huh?" he asked intelligently.

Smiling, the woman held out a piece of neatly wrapped nut bread- and one of the crowd surrounding him picked it up and handed it to him, he stuttered a thank you- and they began herding him forward again- and the castle was in sight now.

It looked a little bit familiar- like he'd seem a similar castle before- Oshe castle, whispered a voice in the back of his head- but the banners with the sunflowers flapped all over were different. He felt the wind tugging at him, like even it wanted him to go to the castle- the large doors were flung wide open.

The crowd escorted him to the doors and then stopped.

"The Queen's inside, waiting for you."

"Go on silly!" another one added, giving him a friendly push.

"What- what about you guys?"

"Oh, we're not supposed to enter the castle until it's time," a girl in the crowd answered cheerfully. "You, on the other hand- you're expected."

"Me? Why?"

"Don't you know?" chorused the whole group, sounding puzzled.

"The Queen will explain everything."

He cast a hesitant look at the castle- at the sight of the sunflowers waving, something clicked in his head.

Slowly, he turned to face the smiling crowd. "What's- what's the queen's name?"

"Can't you guess?" replied the smiling girl.

He stared at her- then spun around, staring up at the sunflowers once more-

"Mom." It escaped from his lips- he was running down the hallway as fast as he could, nearly knocking some people over- not stopping, only shouting a brief apology over his shoulder as he ran- there, a set of huge impressive doors that must lead to a throne room- he shoved them aside, causing them to crash into the walls with a bang-

Every head turned to look at him.

There weren't a lot of them, but enough to make his cheeks turn red- what must they think of him, barging in like this- but then he saw the figure in the center. The figure on the throne.

The figure standing up to greet him.

"Mom," he breathed, stepping closer.

She was smiling at him. Despite everything, she was smiling at him- like she wasn't surprised to see him, like she wasn't disappointed in him- and she opened up her arms. "Hello, Lucas."

"Mom!" Lucas shouted at the top of his lungs, breaking into a run again- diving into his mother's arms- where, for a short time, he knew peace.

Chapter Text

There was a lot of room on the throne.

Lucas lay with his head on his mother's lap, just like he and Claus had when they were little- he watched the people come and go- his mother's hand rested gently on his head, stroking it now and then.

The people coming to his mom didn't bow, but everyone smiled when they saw her, and they all spoke very, very respectful to her. Most of them spoke to him too- not very respectfully, the way they spoke to his mom, but they did speak nicely to him.

"…am I dead?" Lucas asked softly, in between people.

"No sweetie, you're alive. But it is true that you're not in the normal world right now. This is the world of Magicant- it was created from your hopes and fears, the deepest parts of your heart- and also, the deepest parts of your brother's heart."

"Claus is here too?" Lucas asked, raising his head to look his mother in the eyes. "Is he nearby? Is he okay?"

Hinawa smiled sadly. "He was supposed to come to this castle with you- it exists for the two of you, after all. But he's not here- he's nearby, but outside the town…" she trailed off, deep deep sadness in her eyes.

"…he's not okay, is he?"

"He's been worse," his mom answered with a sigh, then smiled. "He's better than he was- but I am worried. Lucas, can you go get your brother for me?"

"Okay," Lucas answered without hesitation. "Is Boney here? Are Duster and Kumatora? What about Dad?"

"I'm sorry Lucas, you have to do this by yourself."

He looked into her eyes then dropped his head. "I- Mom, every time I try to do something myself, it all falls apart."

She kissed the top of his head. "That's not true Lucas. You've accomplished many things." She then pulled away a little bit, studying him. "Lucas, how much do you remember of how you came to this place?"

"…I don't remember much of anything Mom," Lucas answered slowly, honestly. "I mean…I remember the village. I remember that you're supposed to be dead, but I can't remember how or why…and something happened to Claus…something bad." Lucas shook his head. "But everything- it's all jumbled together in my head Mom."

"I see." It was spoken softly, and Lucas's head dropped even more.

"Sorry Mom."

Another pat on the head. "It's okay sweetie. I know this must be hard for you. Besides, all your memories are still there- a trip through Magicant will sort things out for you again. But Lucas, do you remember the Dragon?"

The Dragon.

Lucas sat bolt upright.

The Needles- seven of them, each one watched over by one of the Magypsies- if you pulled them all, the Dragon woke up-

"I pulled the last Needle," Lucas said numbly, then turned to face his mother again. "Is this- is this because I pulled the last Needle?"

She nodded. "I don't know exactly what the Dragon wants, but I know the Dragon is waiting for you at the end of this place."

"…after I meet the Dragon, will I wake up?"

"Well, that depends. And remember Lucas, Claus pulled some of the Needles too- part of this land comes from his heart as well."

Lucas looked down- not avoiding her eyes, just trying to think- his mother put her hand underneath his chin and gently tilted it up.

"It's okay Lucas. This journey will be difficult, but in the end, you and Claus will win- I believe in you. In both of you. But first, you need to go find your brother."

Lucas nodded- slowly, but firmly.

"See that man at the door? He has equipment for you and will show you the path you must take to find your brother, alright?"

Lucas nodded once more, then, slightly reluctantly, left the chair and stood up- he turned to face his mother. "Will you be here when we get back?"

She smiled at him and placed one hand over his heart. "Lucas, I'm always here."

He placed one hand over hers and shut his eyes- focusing on the warmth and the presence of her hand. "Okay." he said softly and smiled. "Okay, I understand. But what if Claus is hurt or something? Because I think he is- can I bring him back here?"

"This place will be here as long as you need it."

Lucas opened his eyes- met his mother's smile and responded with one of his own. "Thanks Mom. I love you- and I know Claus does too."

"I love both of you too." She hugged him, then moved her arms away and then hugged him again. "The second hug is for Claus. Make sure you give it to him when you see him. I'll give you both another one when you return here, but give him this one when you find him, okay?"

"I will Mom," Lucas promised- he backed up a step, waved, and then turned, slowly and approached the man at the door. "Um… excuse me, sir?"

"Going to find your brother?" the man asked with a friendly grin. "I've got everything you need, Lucas. Follow me!" The man left the room and after a final wave at his mom, Lucas followed.

The man led him to a smaller room off the main one and Lucas saw almost every item he'd ever had spread out all over the room.

He equipped himself- swinging the bat, he smiled at the whistling sound it made as it moved through the air.

The Franklin Badge lay on a shelf at the end of the room. Lucas paused, staring down at it- he couldn't have told anyone why- but something- something-

Struck by a thought, he picked it up, but instead of putting it on, he shoved it to the bottom of his pocket. Once he found Claus, he'd give it to him- Lucas had had it for a while now, so it was only fair that Claus got a turn, right?

Lucas also packed some supplies (like some food, in case Claus was hungry) and then walked back to the man, who was waiting by the door.

"Do you have everything you need?"

Lucas nodded.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay then, I'll show you where you need to go." The man led him out of the castle, through a courtyard and to a gate- trees, growing tall and strong, stuck their heads over the top of it.

"Be careful," the man added, as Lucas walked towards the gate, "there's a lot of strange monsters out there."

Lucas stopped, glanced at the gate curiously, then looked back at the man and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm stronger than I look. I'll be fine."

The man nodded and Lucas waved once before walking out the gate.

Outside, it was a forest- trees pressed closely together, branches overhead, locked together, blocking out the sun.

It was quiet but not silent. A bird swooped across the path- for a moment, it startled Lucas, but then he smiled.

It was a lot like the Sunshine Forest back home. It was darker here- quieter too- and the monsters would probably be tougher. But this place had the same feeling it did- and the familiarity was nice.

Lucas had always loved walking in the forest- in the beginning, the creatures had never scared him, because he'd never been alone. Then, when he had been alone…he'd been scared, but he hadn't had a choice. But that had been a long time ago. Lucas wasn't scared, not anymore, because he knew he could handle monsters. It was the other things that scared him- things like Claus being hurt.

He walked deeper into the woods. Right now, with no monsters attacking, it was peaceful- a deep, soothing quiet- but he was here to find Claus- Lucas quickened his step- to find his brother, who might be- or probably was- in trouble. Claus had always been good at finding trouble- he didn't mean to- it was just that sometimes he didn't think things through. Sometimes he just had an idea and ran with it- and sometimes those ideas got them in trouble- because Lucas had always been a part of his plans.

They'd always been together. Always.

Something moved.

Lucas tightened his grip on the bat and stopped- waiting.

Another rustling- and then something burst out of the bushes at him.

Lucas leaped backwards, avoiding its blow and landed and readied himself- and blinked.

He was being attacked by a tree.

Well, his dad had told him about monsters like that- wait. Didn't monsters of that type tend to blow up when damaged enough?

The tree moved forward again, lashing its limbs at him and Lucas dodged again, to the side this time- he darted at its less protected side- he landed two blows- and then it started to turn and Lucas dodged again, landing in more blows- the thing started to roar and shake and stream and Lucas quickly backed up as fast as he could- it exploded.

Lucas yelped and threw his arms over his face- the explosion flung him backwards and knocked him to the ground with a grunt.

The last remaining pieces of the monster crackled as they burned out of existence.

Lucas groaned and pushed himself up- he'd be a little sore, but other than that, he was fine.

He wondered how close Claus was- if he'd been close enough to hear the fight.

Was he close enough to hear Lucas if he called him?

…well, it was worth a try, right? There was only one way to know for sure…

Somewhat hesitantly, Lucas took a step forward- looked around- called out. "Claus?"

No response.

Lucas sighed. His brother must be further in- further away-

Something rustled again- a flash of red at the same height as Lucas's head- mismatched eyes met his own, only for a moment, before disappearing into the forest.

"Claus! Wait!" Lucas plunged into the woods, branches and plants scratching at him as he left the path.

"No!"

"Claus!"

"I've been bad Lucas, leave me alone!"

"No, I won't!"

Lucas was keeping up at least- his brother wasn't leaving his sight- and then Claus tripped, and with a yelp, went flying.

"Claus!" Lucas almost fell himself as he scrambled to his brother's side- "Claus, are you okay?"

Claus was just lying there, curled into himself, sobbing incoherently- he didn't resist as Lucas gently moved him and tried to feel where he was hurt.

His shirt was a mess of barely connected rags- there were bruises and cuts, but nothing large, nothing life threatening.

His sobbing had softened- Lucas turned his worried gaze towards his brother's face and frowned at his brother's matching eyes. Before, hadn't they been different? It had almost looked like-no, must've been a trick of the light. "Claus- Claus, are you okay?"

He shook his head, but he was meeting his eyes now-

"Where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere," he said softly, so softly Lucas had to bend close to hear it. "Here," he added, frowning- and touched his heart.

"Oh," Lucas said, almost as softly. He covered his brother's hand with his own- and then took a deep breath. "Can you stand?"

Fear swarm in his big brother's eyes and stabbed at Lucas's heart. Claus was supposed to be the brave one- "Where are we going?"

Swallowing, Lucas pointed in the direction of the city. "There's a castle- it's really nice, and all the people there are really friendly…" Lucas hesitated, and then added, "Mom's there."

"Mom?" and now there was confusion-

"I know- she's dead- but this place- it's like we're dreaming, but it's real too…do you remember the Dragon?"

Not a single flicker of recognition in those eyes. Claus shook his head.

"The Dragon- it was sleeping. We were pulling the Needles to wake it up."

"Needles?"

"The seven Needles- they're golden and they have this glow to them…" Something flickered in his brother's eyes as he winced. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah- I think so. I don't really remember, but they do sound familiar- is that why we're here?"

"I think so…we pulled all the Needles and now the Dragon is waiting for us. We have to cross to the end of this place- it's called Magicant- to find the Dragon- and then…"

Claus studied him- and then, slowly, sat up. "And then?"

"…someone wanted to do bad things to the world…that's the only reason I was pulling the needles…I'm…I'm not really a hero or anything…I just- I couldn't let the world be destroyed. If the world was destroyed-"

"…everyone would die." Claus finished for him.

Lucas nodded.

"So the Dragon is really powerful?"

"Uh huh."

"…could it bring Mom back to life?"

"…I don't know Claus. We could try though- but first, we need to make sure the whole world is safe."

Claus looked a little doubtful. Before he could say anything, Lucas said "Would Mom be happy with us if we caused the world to be destroyed in trying to save her?"

Claus looked a little rueful- he shook his head.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot- speaking of Mom-" Lucas stepped closer and hugged his brother.

Claus stiffened at first, surprised- and then relaxed and slowly, slowly hugged him back.

"Mom said this was for you- she's got another one waiting for you, but this one is to let you know she's waiting for you."

Claus said nothing- relaxed and shut his eyes- let out a deep breath and rested his head against his brother.

Adjusting to his brother's weight against him, Lucas felt something shift in his pocket. Then he remembered what it was.

"Oh!" Lucas broke away, putting his hands in his pockets-

Claus stood there, silent and motionless, watching him.

Finally, Lucas found it and pulled it out, and reached for Claus, carefully pinning it to his brother's shirt.

Claus pulled away, trying to get a better look at it- plucked at it with his fingers.

"It's supposed to be called the Franklin Badge- Dad called it the Courage Badge though. It used to be his, back when he was a kid. I wore it for a while, so it's your turn now, okay?"

"My turn?"

"Yeah, you know… like how we take turns with everything." The far away look in his brother's eyes scared him- Lucas stepped closer, hugging his brother tightly again, making sure he didn't disappear again. "It's your turn, so you wear it now, okay?"

Slowly, Claus's arms slipped around him, returning the hug. "…okay. I'll wear it for now."

Lucas sighed in relief. "That's good Claus."

For a moment, the brothers just stood there.

In his mind, Lucas's memories bobbled and circled about- he watched, waiting for them to rise to the surface, but they didn't.

Instead, his mind turned to the present. Claus was a mess. He was calm now, and Lucas didn't really want to disturb him- but he needed to get his brother back to the city- had to get someone to take a look at him…

Lucas tightened the hug and then let go and stepped back.

Claus looked at him, slightly confused.

"…let's go." Lucas said softly, and held out his hand.

Claus smiled and took it.

Chapter Text

Hinawa welcomed both boys with big hugs, just as she said she would. A doctor was brought in and he tended to Claus's injuries, and Lucas's scrapes and bruises too, even though he insisted he was okay. Hinawa and the doctor had both insisted on him being tended to anyways, and when he tried to protest, Claus had joined their side, even using the "I'm five minutes older than you" card, so Lucas had just given in. Other than "Mom", the order that Lucas let the doctor help him had been the only thing Claus had said since reaching the castle.

Afterwards, both boys were shown to a hot spring and given new, clean pairs of clothes…

When the twins were alone again, Lucas happily let go of thoughts that refused to come anyway and relaxed and floated in the water… until he noticed Claus just standing on the edge of it, staring rather suspiciously at the water.

"…what are you doing?"

Claus flushed, but didn't say anything.

Lucas paddled closer and looked up at him.

"…it feels nice?"

"Yeah, it's great Claus. It makes you feel all relaxed and alive again!"

Claus continued looking at the water suspiciously.

"Hey Claus…are you okay? You've been acting kinda weird- kind of out of it…you haven't been talking much- and usually, you talk a lot more than me, so…"

Claus flinched, ever so slightly, then sighed. He sat down, knees under him on the ground. "I…I guess I feel like I'm dreaming." Slowly, he reached forward and stuck one finger in the water. "I-I don't really remember anything. I remember you and I remember Mom, I remember Dad, and I remember Boney…oh and Grandpa. That's it though."

"You don't remember Tazmily? Or pulling the needles?"

Claus shook his head and withdrew his finger from the water. "I remember a golden glow- a sudden feeling of warmth…that's all." he kept staring at his reflection in the water- Lucas's head dropped slightly, so he could see it too. Two ten year old boys, one with red hair and one with blonde, both with hazel eyes and skinny ten-year-old limbs-

Lucas suddenly remembered the forest and chasing after Claus- and how, for a just a moment, one of his eyes had seemed to be red-

Claus slowly shifted, moving his legs- stuck in first one foot than the other- relaxing a bit. The reflection disappeared in the ripples.

Lucas rested his head on his arms on the side and watched his brother.

Noticing his gaze, Claus kicked unhappily at the water. "I feel like I'm dreaming. I don't know…if this is real…or not. It's weird…like I keep expecting to wake up."

"…it's weird." Lucas agreed softly. "But it's real too. We're not making this up. It's real."

"You keep saying that…but I…" Claus shook his head.

This was all backwards- it was Claus who comforted Lucas, not the other way around. If Lucas had been the one feeling this way, how would Claus have comforted him?

Lucas splashed his brother.

Claus sputtered and stared at him like he'd suddenly sprung into a song and dance.

"You're thinking too much," Lucas said softly. "We're here now…and we're together. Isn't that what's important?"

For a brief moment, Claus just stared at him- and then he grinned and leaped into the hot spring, causing Lucas to sputter in turn. "You're right Lucas." and then he hugged him briefly "Thanks." and then he was diving around the spring as easily as if he was a fish- and things between the two were, once again, back to normal…

After that, they ate in a corner of the castle, just Lucas and Claus and their mom. There was lots of food, a small feast just for them, and they were all together, and while Claus was still quieter than usual, he still laughed and talked and relaxed with them.

"It's gotten late," Hinawa observed as they finished dessert.

Lucas looked out the window- dark clouds were beginning to cover the rosy sky. "Wow, it got dark fast."

"It did," Hinawa agreed, "day and night exist here, but they don't necessarily work the way you're used to. But since night is already here, you should stay here for tonight."

"Okay," Claus said quickly.

Lucas hesitated- just a bit- trying to find the right words. He was happy to stay- it was just that… "Okay," he said quietly, "but we should leave early tomorrow morning."

Hinawa nodded, sadly, but she smiled too, and Lucas smiled back- just a little. "You're right Lucas- it would probably be best if you leave early tomorrow morning. I'll prepare your supplies tonight."

Claus said nothing- he turned to his mother, then to his brother, both smiling but sad- he looked like he wanted to protest, but he only sighed- and then, as if thinking about something, smiled slightly. "Hey Mom, I know we aren't little kids anymore…but can you still sing to us before we go to sleep?"

Eyes just a bit wet, Hinawa leaned over and hugged first her eldest, then both of her sons. "Yes, I can do that."

OoOoO

"I believe the morning sun

Is always going to shine again

I believe a pot of gold

Waits at every rainbow's end-"

Lucas loved every song their mother sang to them, but this was his favorite. This was the song that Lucas sang to himself whenever he was alone or scared.

"You can call me Pollyanna

Think I'm crazy as a loon

I believe in silver linings

And that's why

I believe in you-"

He and Claus had been tucked into bed- a bed just like the one at home- warm and soft, and two pillows side by side.

"You may say I'm a fool

Feelin' the way that I do

I believe in friends and laughter

And the wonders love can do

I believe in songs and magic

And that's why I believe in you"

Their mother's hands hovered over them- descending, now and again, as to reassure them that she was still there.

"You may say I'm a fool

Feelin' this way about you

There's not much I can do

I'm gonna be this way my life through

'Cause I still believe in miracles

I swear I've seen a few

And the time will surely come

When you can see my point of view

But I believe in second chances

And that's why

I believe in you…"

Her song finished, Hinawa trailed off, then asked, very softly "Are you boys asleep?"

Lucas didn't answer- imprinting every word and movement in his memory and also trying to keep from crying- he didn't want to spoil this moment here, this moment now…

Claus didn't say anything either- maybe he was asleep already. Lucas doubted it, but...

Hinawa waited a moment, then sighed, softly, tenderly, and gently kissed first Claus, and then Lucas, on the forehead. "I love both of you so very much…I want you to stay here with me forever…stay here, and be safe…but I know you're needed- the world needs you- both of you. And more importantly, you have people waiting for you in the real world…people who love you just as much as you love them…I love you, my sons…I know you can do it- I know you can find your way to the Dragon- I know you will win…just be careful, alright?" One final kiss- one for each of them- and then she was gone.

Lucas waited a moment, listening after her, half hoping she'd come back- when she didn't, a small sigh escaped, and Lucas snuggled deeper into the bed, under the covers.

"Lucas?"

Startled, Lucas opened his eyes. "Yeah Claus?"

His twin lay silent next to him- after a moment, Lucas turned over and looked at him, wondering if Claus was asleep after all and he'd just imagined it.

He hadn't. Claus's eyes were fixed down, staring into space.

"Claus?"

"…Lucas…I really can't remember anything…"

"My memory's all messed up too Claus-"

"No, it's not that." His eyes darted up to met Lucas's and he looked scared- Lucas could count the number of times he'd seen his big brother scared on one hand. "I really can't remember anything other than you and Mom and Dad and Boney and Grandpa…you actually have memories, you just can't reach them all, right?"

It was Lucas's turn to look away. He didn't know what to say …something was tugging at his brain…he hesitated a moment, trying to find the words, trying to sort things out- "I think- I think you got hurt."

"…I got hurt?" repeated Claus, sounding confused- and then his eyes widened as he got it. "You think that when I got hurt I hit my head, and that's why my memories are more messed up than yours?"

"It makes sense, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so," said Claus, looking relieved. "Thanks. Night Lucas."

"Night Claus." Lucas said, smiling back- and he shut his eyes and tried to go to sleep- but a thought hit him, keeping him awake long after his brother had drifted off to sleep.

"I've been bad."

Claus had said that- in the forest, when Lucas had been chasing him. He'd said that- why? And now…now he didn't seem to remember that he'd said it at all…

Lucas got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach- he squeezed his eyes shut-

"Lucas, let's switch places-"

It sounded like his brother's voice- but it wasn't.

Lucas pressed his face into the pillow and tried to suppress tears he didn't understand.

"It's Claus-"

His father's voice.

Lucas ruthlessly shoved them all away, opened his eyes and stared at his brother's sleeping face, lying there peacefully.

Whatever had happened before, this was real- and this was what was happening now.

They were safe and they were together.

Comforted, Lucas sank into sleep.

That night, despite the fact that they were dreaming, both twins slept deeply- a lot more deeply than they'd slept in a long time.

A/N:

Aw, look, Hinawa's singing Lucas's theme song! Okay, technically Pollyanna is just from the first Mother game but I can't hear the song and not think about Lucas. And Claus can have Paradise Line as his theme song, so it all works out. ^^

Chapter Text

Breakfast was omelets, prepared the way only Hinawa could make them, not undercooked and not overcooked, and just a hint of sweetness.

While they were eating, Claus and Hinawa talked happily, as if they'd forgotten that the twins would have to leave soon.

Lucas didn't say much. He responded to questions and he smiled at whoever looked at him, but mostly he was silent and watched, committing details to memory, soaking up the happiness and peace the way a sunflower soaks up the sun.

They lingered, all of them, over their food, eating slower than they usually would, especially Claus, who tended to eat as fast as he could to get out and play quicker. But finally, everyone's plate was clean, and they ran out of things to talk about.

Claus stared down at his empty plate, then lifted his head- eyes only slightly bright- and smiled hugely at their mom. "Mom, you're the best cook in the whole world."

Hinawa smiled back, her eyes also a bit wet. "Oh Claus, you shouldn't say that. There are many cooks more skilled than me."

"No, he's right," Lucas said softly, causing both of them to turn and look at him. "In-in the whole adventure we've been having, I haven't met anyone who cooks as well as you."

"Lucas…Claus…" she hugged both of them tightly. "You're good boys, both of you- so kind and strong. I'm so proud of both of you."

Claus sighed, happy then sad. "We should go now, shouldn't we?"

Hinawa sighed too, and gently brushed his hair back. "Your supplies are all ready…so, whenever you are…" she trailed off.

Lucas hugged her tightly then made himself let go, back up and smile. "I love you, Mom."

She smiled at him- before she could respond, Claus hugged her tightly too, and then backed up quickly, so he and Lucas were standing side by side, and swiped quickly at his eyes before smiling too. "Love you Mom."

"I love you both."

She didn't walk them to the gate- she watched them from the tallest tower, with the highest window. Many of the people followed them. They were as cheerful and friendly as before, but they seemed to unnerve Claus for some reason- he pressed closer to Lucas when they came close.

Lucas wondered about that. Claus was always the strong one, the brave one- but there were other things to think about- Lucas was fairly sure that some of the townspeople had snuck extra things that they thought would be useful into their backpacks.

It was hard, but he managed to keep from looking back until they reached the gate. When they reached it, Lucas and Claus turned and waved at the castle. They really had no way of knowing if she could see them or not, but Lucas thought he could see movement in the highest window- as if she could see, and was waving back.

The villagers were waving goodbye too, shouting things like "Good luck!" as they did so.

Claus nodded, Lucas thanked them, and then the twins turned and left the city behind.

They were deep in the forest before either of them could bring themselves to speak.

Lucas knew that Claus would get upset if he brought up the fact that he was crying- and he didn't really feel up to talking about the fact that he was crying too.

To distract himself, he tried to think about other things. About how the sun looked, peeking through the trees surrounding them. About how Claus looked, striding ahead of him, hands darting up to his face once in a while, wiping away tears he was pretending not to shed. About how the Franklin badge Lucas had pinned to his shirt flashed in the sun.

Eventually, the forest ended and they came upon a river.

The twins stared at it briefly, and then Claus turned to Lucas. "We have a map, don't we?"

Lucas nodded and dug it out of the backpack before he spread it over a rock and they studied it.

They probably should have studied it back in the city of sunflowers but that would have delayed their departure and the more that was delayed, the harder it would have been to leave.

"We must be here," Claus said thoughtfully, pointing at the map.

"Yeah, you're right…it says it's called the 'River of Sticks'," Lucas read off the map. "Weird name for a river…"

"That's because it's the river of no return," said a voice from behind them, causing both twins to yelp and jump in the air.

The man was standing at the edge of the river, in a boat. He laughed-cackled at them. "That's right boys." And he cackled again as Claus spread his arms protectively in front of Lucas. "Once you cross this river, you can't go back. If you turn back now, you can return to the castle of sunflowers and stay there happily with your mommy." He sneered at them. The hat pulled low over his face, the twins couldn't really see anything except the gleam of his eyes. "Wouldn't you like that? You'll never grow old, never have to do anything scary, never experience any pain ever again- wouldn't you like that?"

Lucas couldn't see his brother's face- but he could feel him, shaking, ever so slightly- suddenly, he knew what he had to do.

"No, we don't want that!" He yelled, pushing past his brother. He planted his feet apart and pointed his finger at the strange man's face. "What we want is to wake up the Dragon! The Dragon- he's been asleep for a really long time, but it's okay now- we're going to wake him up, and he's going to be our new friend and we're going to work together to protect everyone and fix everything the Pigmasks messed up! And as for being with Mom- that's what Heaven is for anyway! It's not like we're never going to see Mom again- we just have to wait a while, that's all. Besides, we have people counting on us! If we don't wake up the Dragon, the whole world will be in trouble! We can't go back- we're needed!"

The man burst out into a loud cackle, startling Lucas. The blonde recovered, still angry- about to respond, he clenched his fists- but Claus beat him to it, leaping in front of him again, arms spread protectively.

"Don't laugh at Lucas, he's right! Without the Dragon, the world's in real trouble!"

The stranger didn't cackle this time. Instead, he just cocked his head to the side- studied them a bit. Like he wasn't quite sure what to make of them after all.

The twins stood there, silent for a moment, studying him back before Claus spoke. "How do we get across the river?"

"You'll need a boat."

"You have a boat," Lucas pointed out.

The stranger pretended to be surprised. "So I do!" he smirked at the boys. "Tell you what. If you boys really believe all that junk you just said, I'll take you across the river, free of charge. But are you sure you want to go, knowing you can't come back?"

"We're sure," the twins said at the same time.

The boatman smiled and suddenly didn't seem so creepy anymore. "Then I'll take you. Get in."

"Cool, a boat ride!" Claus whispered to Lucas, grinning a bit.

Lucas nodded and smiled back- and they climbed into the boat- and the boatman pushed off.

The ride down the river was mostly uneventful, but the river was fast enough that it kept Claus excited- he moved from place to place, taking in the sights and the speed of the boat…

Lucas just sat back and watched his twin run around, enjoying how happy and exited he was.

For some reason, it felt like it had been a long time since he'd seen Claus like this- but he didn't know why. Claus was like this all the time, enthusiastic and energetic. He plunged right into things while Lucas hung back and studied the situation first. Of course, that sometimes was a good thing- if you jumped into a situation without looking it over, you might find yourself in over your head- of course, if wasn't good to just watch and do nothing either. That's why they were stronger when they were together.

Lucas shook his head. The day was warm- the sun was caressing and gentle, like a hug from Mom- so why was he feeling cold?

Claus seemed to be feeling it too. He turned to look at the sky, no longer smiling-

The sky was darkening, clouds were coming out of nowhere and covering the sun.

"Do you think it's going to storm?" Claus asked, only loud enough to be heard.

The boatman snorted as he shifted course. "How should I know? This is Magicant, remember? It's created from your hopes and fears, from what's inside of your hearts and minds."

The twins cast another, slightly more anxious look at the sky- and the boat stopped.

"We're here," the boatman announced, swinging his pole around in a grand gesture.

This side of the river had even more trees- looking at it, Lucas thought it looked like a maze- a single path was ahead of them, reaching through the closely pressed together trees.

"Looks kinda like the places in Mr. Wess's ghost stories," Claus said quietly.

Lucas nodded, and then turned back to the boatman. "Thanks for the ride."

The boatman shrugged. "Not a problem. It's why I'm here after all."

"Oh." Lucas flushed. He still didn't quite know what to think of the whole "realm made from your mind" thing.

"Well, I'd better leave you to your adventure- good luck with the maze." And he cackled at them one last time before pushing off and disappearing down the river, back the way he came.

The twins watched him go. Once he was out of sight, Claus turned to Lucas. "I don't know whether I like him or not."

Lucas shrugged, a tad helplessly. "I don't really know, but he came from our heads, so…"

"And isn't that weird? I mean- this looks like the normal world. And if he's from our heads, what does that say about us?"

Thunder boomed, and both boys jumped and looked at the sky.

"We'd better hurry," Lucas said nervously.

"Yeah," Claus agreed, and the two of them headed into the forest.

The trees pressed so close together at some points that they couldn't walk side by side, they had to go single file. Claus always hurried a bit when they came to those parts, so he would go first and Lucas would follow.

Eventually, Claus got tired of the silence and asked "Hey, what do you think the Dragon is like?"

"I dunno," Lucas answered, hopping over some stones, "but I bet he's feeling lonely after being sealed away for so many years."

"Yeah, probably. Hey, do you think the dragon will give us rides?"

"Huh?"

"Don't dragons have wings and fly?" Claus asked reasonably, turning to stare at his brother.

"Yeah, they're supposed to…" Lucas thought for a moment about flying- and had a sudden flash of memory- hanging tightly to something long and thin- feeling his stomach lurch as he looked down at the faraway ground, but also feeling his heart leap with the beauty and with the thrill of flying…

Lucas found himself smiling at the fond memory as he hurried to catch up to his brother. "You're right Claus! When we find the dragon, we should ask him if he can take us for a ride!"

The trees thinned out a bit now- they came to a hill and climbed to the top of it.

"Can you see anything?"

"No," Claus sighed, disgusted. "What about the map?"

"Huh…it's kinda hard to read…there's supposed to be some sort of place here that we're supposed to go to, but it's hard to tell where we are on here and how far we are from it…"

Claus groaned. "How are we supposed…" he trailed off.

Lucas looked up. There was a weird look on his brother's face- he looked frozen-

"Claus?" his voice came out quieter than he wanted and his brother didn't seem to hear him, didn't move. Lucas tried again, louder this time. "Hey, Claus!"

He jumped as if he'd been hit- the lightening came again as he hit the ground, causing both twins to jump.

"Hey Claus, you okay?"

Claus shuddered- shook his head- and then faced Lucas, a slightly sheepish look on his face. "Yeah- just, for a moment I thought I head something."

Lucas turned to look at the woods. "Maybe it was just an animal-"

Rustling noises cut him off- Lucas paused, uncertain- there was a flash of something- something bright and silvery- something mechanical moving through the trees- it giggled and coughed, and then it was gone.

Lucas stared after it a moment, wondering if he'd actually seen it or just imagined it- he turned to Claus-

His brother was on the ground, curling into himself, hands on his head, eyes squeezed shut, breathing raggedly-

"Claus! Hey Claus!" Lucas dropped to his knees and flung his arms around his brother. "Claus, it's okay! It's okay! That thing's gone, it went away!"

This was wrong. This was all wrong. Claus was the brave one, the one who comforted Lucas, not the other way around- why was Claus so afraid of something that they hadn't even seen? Lucas's sick feeling increased- he pushed his thoughts away, hugging his brother tighter and began rocking back and forth.

"I believe the morning sun

Is always going to shine again-" he began.

A slightly breathless laugh came from Claus- who was shaking a little less. "Your singing is horrible, Lucas."

"Just because I don't sing like Mom," mumbled Lucas. He was embarrassed, but Claus was talking, so that was good- "Are you okay?"

Claus groaned. "I thought I was…sorry, that kind of pathetic, huh? I don't know why I spazed like that."

"It's okay. But Claus- what was that thing?"

In his arms, Claus tensed then relaxed. "…I don't know, Lucas…I don't know."

Lucas turned his head and looked at the woods. "It's a bad guy, isn't it? Someone we fought before, but forgot when we came here-" Claus shuddered "Sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" Claus pushed him away- not roughly- pasted a sick smile on his face, "I'm fine, see?"

"…you look like you're going to throw up."

Claus crossed his arms, now just looking annoyed. "Gee thanks, Lucas. Look, let's just go find this stupid place and get out of here." He turned to stomp off.

"Claus!" Lucas called, exasperated and hurt, "it's not bad to have weaknesses- it's how you deal with them that's important!"

Claus paused- stayed still a moment- then slowly turned to face Lucas.

Lucas stepped forward, slowly. "…if you go off and try to do things and fight when you're feeling sick…you'll just get hurt and that won't help anyone, it'll just hurt you. It's not like I think you're weak or anything, because I know you're not. It's just that you have weaknesses, just like everyone else- not even Mom and Dad are perfect, you know…I just don't want anything to happen to you…"

For a moment, Claus stared at him. And then he smiled, somewhat reluctantly. "You don't…think I'm weak?"

"No, I know you're not weak."

Claus sighed. He looked away, at the path ahead, and then back at Lucas. "I'm okay- really. But it's been a while since breakfast, so if you're hungry…we could sit down and rest and eat."

Lucas nodded, happy that he'd gotten through to his brother- and they sat down and dug out their food out of their backpacks.

Lunch was sandwiches and water and while the silence wasn't awkward, both twins were rather quiet.

They were doing it again, Lucas realized, eating slowly so as to not have to go on right away.

Claus was eyeing some wrapped cookies.

Lucas wasn't really brave, but he didn't want to be afraid of what lay ahead either. Of course, he didn't want to move on until Claus was ready…

Claus was still eyeing the cookies.

"I think we should save them for later."

"Really?" Claus looked regretful at Lucas's nod, and sighed as he put them away.

Lucas wanted to ask him if he was scared- but he'd assured him that he knew he wasn't weak- and while fear wasn't weakness when you didn't let it keep you from doing stuff, Lucas wasn't sure that Claus would take it that way. Claus never wanted anyone to think of him as weak, he wanted everyone to think of him as strong- and recently he'd been sensitive- what had happened? Something had happened, hadn't it?

That was why they were feeling the way they did- why Claus was acting the way he was.

In Lucas's head, things floated just out of reach- but they floated close enough to let Lucas know that he was right.

He'd put his backpack on absentmindedly as he thought about this- Claus was waiting for him at the bottom of a small hill.

Something had happened to Claus. That was why his memories were in worse shape than Lucas's, and that's why he was acting like this…

Something bad had happened to Claus…

Lucas adjusted his backpack and walked up to his brother.

"You ready?" Claus asked, Lucas nodded, and they continued on.

OoOoOoOo

You know what would be really awesome? If you guys reviewed. I intend to finish this story (I don't like leaving things half done) but it would give my motivation a major jump start if I knew that people liked this.

And, on the other hand, if people spotted flaws in my story and pointed them out to me, I could do my best to fix them.

In other words, please review. It would really make my day.

Chapter Text

It seemed like it might not storm after all. At least, the rumbles of thunder had faded. It hadn't gone away, but it was further away and Lucas needed to listen for it to realize that it was still there.

Claus was calm now. He was humming under his breath as he strode along the path.

Lucas, following along behind him, was still worried. Lucas wanted to help his brother. He wanted to help Claus, but he didn't know how. He couldn't remember what had happened-

Claus changed from humming to singing, softly at first, then louder.

"Paradise Special's pulling into the station

Hurry up, gotta get on board

Adventure is the ticket to our destination-"

Lucas remembered this song. Mom sometimes liked to sing it when she was cleaning or working. It was a happy energetic song, which was probably one of the reasons why Claus liked it so much. It was one of his favorites.

"Here we go on down the tracks

Paradise Special's moving down the tracks-"

What was a Paradise Special, and why did it have tracks anyway? Lucas remembered their mom being asked that by both him and Claus, but she could never really answer it. She'd turned to give them a confused look, then frown into space for a while, sometimes so long a while that they'd get scared and shake her so that she came back, sometimes she'd wince like she was in pain and shake her head. Always, she'd apologize and say that she wasn't sure.

"Half the fun of travel's

Just the getting there

Lighten up and enjoy the show-"

Now thinking about travel, thinking about tracks, something niggled at the back of Lucas's head. Briefly, he shut his eyes and focused on it.

It sped away from him so fast, leaving a bad smell behind. It roared down the pieces of metal laid out on the ground that created a path for it.

"Now we're going in style

Let's start wearing a smile

Life keeps getting better all the time-"

Oh- a train. This song was about riding a train. Probably a nicer train then the one that he was remembering. They must've seen a train at some point during their adventure. They'd probably seen a lot of different things on their adventure. Lucas hoped he remembered them soon and not just because he'd be able to help Claus once he remembered what had happened to him.

The village was just a small place while the world was much bigger. Lucas wanted to remember what he'd seen of the world. It could be scary sometimes, but it was also exciting and sometimes even wonderful. It wasn't a bad world. But when the journey was over, they'd go back home to Tazmily, of course. Tazmily was the best. It was a place where you could relax because you knew you were safe and that your friends were all around.

"By this time tomorrow we'll be so far away

If there's one thing that I know

Yeah I know

We won't be back

Paradise Special's never coming back-"

A sick twisting feeling in Lucas's stomach- why? Claus hadn't changed the lyrics any. They were always like that. But maybe he was feeling it too- his voice changed slightly on the last word. Claus slowed a little- Lucas, not expecting that, bumped into him. They looked at each other, smiled at each other without having to say sorry, and kept walking.

"Just relax for a while," Claus kept singing, a little quieter, but sounding more content. His hand reached for Lucas's and he took it. "Watch the world goin' by

Just as long as we're together we'll be fine

We'll be fine

Takin' the Paradise Line-"

They swung their hands together as they walked, Lucas humming along as his brother sang.

"Wave your troubles goodbye

Leave your sadness behind

We can ride away forever you and I

Yeah forever

Takin' the Paradise Line

Takin' the …Hey Lucas, look," Claus said, pointing ahead of them.

The trees were starting to thin out, becoming less and less common as they were replaced with sand.

Claus, (eager as always to see what lay ahead of them), picked up the pace and Lucas followed at his heels. Claus wasn't trying to get away from him. Lucas knew that. Lucas knew that and his big brother was even tugging him forward to make sure they didn't get separated. But still-

Don't let him out of your sight! Don't let him disappear! The cry swelled up from deep inside of him and Lucas couldn't help tightening his grip so much that a part of him was surprised that his brother didn't cry out.

Instead, just as they were about to reached the top of the hill, Claus slowed down- stopped- he even turned and looked back at Lucas as he squeezed his hand back just as hard.

Lucas tried to smile for his bother but something- something heavy- kept trying to drag it down. But apparently there was enough of something there that Claus was reassured. He started walking forward again, Lucas quickly following behind and they reached the top of the hill.

A desert stretched out in front of them as far as they could see. The wind tossed sand in his eyes and Lucas blinked, trying to get rid of it, trying not to cry.

Lucas felt something in him twist. He didn't like deserts all that much. He wanted the trees back.

Claus studied the surrounding desert and sighed. "At least it's wide open," he muttered, "so nothing can sneak up on us."

"Yeah, that is good," Lucas agreed as they stepped forward-

A sudden sound, like thunder, pounding footsteps shaking the earth beneath them-

Both twins cried out and clutched at their heads-

Turning around as they stood on the bridge, seeing metal flashing in the moonlight-

Tears stung at Lucas's eyes- he heard Claus cry out- it sounded far away-

The roar seemed to shake the earth beneath them-

Lucas shook his head, trying to clear it, trying to get to Claus-

The sudden presence of their mom's hands, one on each twins' back-

"Goodbye Claus. Goodbye Lucas. I love you." and then she pushed them into the river.

Screaming for her, they could only watch as she turned to face the Mecha Drago.

Lucas found himself on his knees, tears escaping. He shook his head angrily- he didn't have time to cry! He had things to take care of right now! When everything was over, he and Claus could visit Mom's grave (or maybe make it so she didn't have a grave at all, if the Dragon had the power, he hoped the Dragon had the power) together and they could cry then- but right now, they had a job to do.

Lucas stumbled to his feet, wiped at his eyes- anger and grief warring within him. Where was Claus? Claus was flat on his back, staring at the sky, mouth moving soundlessly. "Claus!" Lucas cried, rushing to his brother's side, "Claus! Claus, look at me! I'm right here Claus! Claus, say something!"

Claus shuddered suddenly- as if he'd been hit by lightening- before crying out.

"Claus!" Lucas called- feeling so helpless, hating it.

Claus blinked- shut his eyes, opened them again- they darted around frantically before landing on Lucas. His mouth opened- moved silently before whispering "Lu- Lucas?"

Lucas flung his arms around his brother. "Yes, it's me! Are you okay?"

Claus shuddered and hugged his brother back. "Mom-"

"Yeah, this place looks a lot like that place," Lucas said sadly. "I saw it too- I remembered how she died- she was killed by that thing." Claus stilled in his arms and Lucas continued talking, "it was a drago, but…wrong."

"I hate that monster," Claus said suddenly, tonelessly. "I hate it I hate it I hate it-"

"Claus!"

"It killed Mom-" Claus looked up at Lucas and his eyes were back to the way they'd been in the forest when Lucas had found him lying on the ground. Hurt eyes- eyes that didn't match. One green eye, one red. Seemingly unaware of the change, Claus gazed up at him, his mismatched eyes begging him to understand- and Lucas did understand- that was one of the problems.

"It did kill her- I don't like that thing either! But Claus, that thing- it was sad too. It didn't choose to become what it did." Lucas hesitated then added "Dad told me that after he beat it…the baby came out and licked it."

Claus's mismatched eyes searched Lucas's face- then dropped thoughtfully. "…he wanted to protect his mommy too," he whispered softly.

"…Claus?"

He shook his head and stood up, pulling himself away from Lucas. "…nothing. Let's go see the Dragon."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Claus paused, then slowly turned to face Lucas. His eyes flickered, then returned to normal- matching eyes, green as a forest full of sunlight. "…I don't feel so great," he admitted softly. "But …we gotta do this, right? We have to go see the Dragon. So let's do it."

Lucas nodded slowly, and they got up and started walking together again. Slower, this time, at least a little bit. For a while, Lucas watched Claus carefully- and Claus was aware of him watching but said nothing- didn't hide away from his gaze. After a while, the heavy silence lessened, and both twins felt that everything had gone back to normal, or at least as much as it could until all this was over. They reached a cliff, and gazed over the edge of it at the land that still lay before them.

"It looks like we need to head over to that canyon over there next," Claus said after looking over the area.

"Must be, there's nowhere else to go."

"But wouldn't you know it?" Claus groaned. "It's so small and cramped looking. It looks like it'll be a pain."

"Yeah, I really don't want to go in there either," Lucas admitted. "With those high walls, it looks like it might get dark too."

Claus nodded, then turned back to his brother with a sigh. "Come on. Let's get it over with."

Lucas nodded and the twins left the cliff and continued on the path to the canyon.

At the bottom, where the path from the cliff met the level ground, there was a pile of bones. The twins stopped and stared at it. The bones sat there, alone in the sun. They weren't stretched out, showing the shape of the person they had been. Instead, they were piled, one on top of the other.

Lucas stepped closer, quickly followed by Claus. He knelt down and studied the bones carefully, but they held no answers- only sat there motionless, no clothes or possessions or anything left to give any clue to who they had been.

"Is it…" Claus trailed off.

"Yeah…" Lucas said softly, "these are definitely human bones." He stood up, and both twins stared down at the pile of bones that had been a person- wondering who they'd been, what their family had been like, how they'd wound up here, alone in the middle of nowhere.

Then Claus snapped his fingers. "Hey Lucas, isn't all of this coming out of our heads? Doesn't that mean that nobody really died here?"

"Oh, that's true!" Lucas said, brightening- and then he frowned again. "But still…there must be a reason why they're here…" he looked around- and then noticed something. Peeking out from behind one of the rocks by the pile of bones was something blue. Lucas stared at it- memory flashed-

A scrap of red cloth and a pair of blue shoes, tucked away together, carefully, lovingly, in the top drawer at home-

"Lucas!" Claus's voice, suddenly worried- his brother's hands on his shoulders, shaking him- "Lucas, what's wrong?"

"Claus-" Lucas gasped and gulped for air, hands darting to his twin's shoulders to make sure he was real.

"Lucas, what's wrong?"

Lucas didn't answer- couldn't answer- couldn't say anything. He just flung his arms around his brother and clung to him. He was alive- he was okay- he was here-

"You're so weak."

Both twins froze.

"You're both so weak," the voice giggled-

Lucas felt shards of ice chasing themselves all over his body. Claus was looking around- jerking his head all about, trying to find the owner of the voice. Struck by the same thought at the same time, the twins turned and stared at the pile of bones. They looked the same, unmoving…

A satisfied sigh from the creepy voice. "You're weak and you're stupid. You're just toys for me to play with. And I'm tired of playing with you." The sound of metal against rock- the twins turned in time to see a gleam of metal as it went darting between nearby cliffs and ledges and then disappeared.

And the ground shook beneath them, threatening to knock them off their feet, away from each other- grabbing onto one another, to keep from falling, to keep from being separated-

Hands emerged from the ground- thrusting up into the air. Dead hands with the bones gleaming through- coming up all around, surrounding them-

"Claus-"

"I see them too," the older twin interrupted as hands clutched at the earth, pulling themselves up.

They were rotting. The smell hit the brothers almost before they saw them. Most of their hair was gone, revealing nearly empty skulls- eye sockets as empty as a fresh dug grave- tattered clothes, barely granting any modesty-

"Lucas?" the question was calm, but Lucas was aware of Claus trembling, just a bit, in the corner of his vision. "Have you ever seen anything like these guys before?"

One shook its head- mouth hanging open, it stepped towards the brothers.

Lucas felt horror and pity for it- a him, maybe? He felt disgust and something else too. He felt almost drawn to them? "I don't know." he said softly as he bought up his bat. "Let's just be careful-"

It lunged at him- Lucas gave a startled yelp and swung his bat into it- the impact knocked it back, but only made it stumble, didn't make it fall.

Behind him, Claus grunted as he made the same discovery. "You okay?" he yelled as he batted the zombie away.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Lucas shouted back as he fended another one off.

More hands thrust up through the ground- more zombies joined the fight.

"Claus, we can't keep this up!" Lucas shouted as he finally beat the first zombie- beat it so it lay in the ground and didn't move anymore. "There's too many of them!"

"I know!" Claus yelled as he smashed what remained of another zombie's skull, "I'm thinking!"

Lucas swung his bat- cleared enough space that he felt safe in quickly glancing around, also trying to think of a plan- and then he saw two zombies- standing on top of the rocks, lifting a heavy rock above their heads- and right underneath them was-

"Claus, look out!" Lucas shoved his brother out of the way. The rock crashed right behind them- off balance, they fell to the ground- Lucas got to his knees and struck out again, knocking one of the zombies away, but another one of them reached out and clumsily wrapped its hands around the bat- "Hey, give it back!" Lucas tugged fruitlessly on his bat- only succeeding in pulling the zombie closer- he could almost smell its breath. Lucas shuddered-

And then the zombie yanked the bat forward, pulling him off balance as he yelped- and then another wrapped its arms around him, and another and another, trapping him and pinning him-

"Lucas!"

Are they hugging me? Are they pulling me apart? Lucas wondered dizzily. He couldn't even squirm, they were holding him so tightly- another one grabbed him and put its hands over the only uncovered places- Lucas's eyes and mouth.

"Lucas! Hey, leave my brother alone!" Claus's voice sounded far away-

The zombies only seemed to press closer to Lucas- almost cuddling up against him-

"I said, leave him alone! PK thunder!" A boom so loud it seemed to shake the earth- the hands covering his eyes and mouth were ripped away- Lucas inhaled with a gasp. He could see Claus standing there- staring- almost looking shocked- before his face grew determined and he swung the bat- down- to the right- up- His vision still blurry, Lucas thought he saw something- something dark and black- overlapping his brother- "PK thunder omega!" Claus shouted. Four strikes of lightening came racing away from Claus- each one hit a zombie, knocking it away from Lucas and turning it to ashes.

PK- psychic powers- Claus moving like that-

A barrier burst inside Lucas's mind.

Claus might be the strong one, but I'm not going to be weak and hold him back either!

"PK flash!" Lucas yelled, locking his fists shut in determination. It wasn't as strong as Claus's attack- it didn't take out four, only one- but it did push them all back, and Lucas was free.

"PK thunder omega!" Claus cast again, and the lightening took out three more of the zombies, giving Lucas enough cover that he could grab his bat and move back to where Claus was. Claus met him halfway. "Lucas, are you okay?" the question was asked as the brothers went back to back, facing the still large amount of zombies surrounding them, and it was accompanied by the older twin's free hand reaching out and grabbing his.

"Thanks to you, I'm fine." Lucas squeezed his brother's hand back. He wanted to turn and give Claus a smile and reassure him, but he had to focus on the zombies, because he was not going to let them hurt his brother- and wait… "PK defense up!" He could feel Claus twitch as the psychic energy covered him.

"Lucas, what was that?"

"It should help keep you safe-" and then the zombies surged forward again.

"PK thunder!"

"PK flash!" his attack didn't do as much as Claus's- he needed a stronger attack- wait- didn't he have- Claus grunted behind him. "Claus, are you okay?"

"Yeah- actually- that didn't hurt as much as it did before…"

"Good, it's working," Lucas said, relieved.

"Yeah-" Claus agreed, sounding a little impressed, before his voice turned focused and ordering "Now cast it on yourself."

"Actually, I think I have a better idea. PK defense up omega!" the protective energy covered them both now.

"Okay, I guess that works. Now, let's take care of these guys-"

"Wait Claus-" Lucas grunted, frustrated, as more zombies threw themselves at them- "This is taking too long- don't we have another attack?"

"PK thunder!" Claus growled in frustration as two of his lightening strikes missed. "What do you mean, another attack?"

"There's an attack. It's really strong, and it targets all the bad guys, and we both have it! I can't remember the name of it, but it has something to do with something important- something important to us- to everyone. Do you know what I mean?"

"No- but it does sound familiar." The mob of zombies shifting around them, readying for another wave- the twins shifted, preparing themselves too-

And then Lucas's eyes fell on the speck of blue he'd noticed before- it was a blue shoe, lying by the rocks, empty and abandoned- Lucas stepped back- pressing himself into his brother's back, needing to make sure he was really there-

"Lucas?" Claus asked, worry and love clear in his voice- Love-

"Claus! It's love!"

"What?" Claus asked, confused, then grunted as he began fending off another attacking zombie.

"Our attack- the strongest one!" Lucas shouted, bashing another zombie in the face.

"Our strongest attack is named love?" Claus repeated in disbelief.

"You know it is Claus! What's more important than love?"

Claus froze for a moment- then nodded. "Okay- together then-"

"PK love!" both twins shouted together. The psychic attack exploded outwards- it smashed into the zombies, knocking whole rows of them away and turning them into ashes. "PK love omega!" Their strongest attack at the strongest level- it wiped out all the remaining zombies and left the twins alone, standing there, panting.

"Is that all of them?"

"Yeah- yeah, I think so." Lucas looked around, making sure, before starting for the blue shoe.

"Lucas? What are you doing?" Without answering- without having an answer- Lucas reached down and picked it up-

Alone in the house, so wrong for the house to be so empty, lying alone in the bed and hugging the lonely pillow to him and pretending it was Claus- Lucas shuddered as he realized he was hugging the shoe like he was hugging the pillow in the memory.

"Lucas?"

He turned to see Claus behind him, staring at him worriedly. Wordlessly, he held out the shoe.

Claus gave it a confused and careless look before looking back at Lucas- and then slowly turning to look at the shoe again, suddenly realizing that- "Hey, that looks just like…" Claus switched his weight around, and stood on one leg, bring the other up so he could study the shoes he was wearing and compare it to the shoe Lucas was holding. They were exactly the same. The twins stared at it a moment- not knowing what it meant, not knowing if they wanted to know what it meant. Slowly, Claus lowered his leg to the ground, standing on both legs now. "Lucas, I got one of my memories back."

"You did? That's great Claus…" Lucas trailed off as his brother kept staring at the ground. "…Claus?"

"I went after it. I wanted to kill it…Lucas? Did I avenge Mom?" he looked up for the last part- their eyes met, and Lucas swallowed.

"Claus…"

"I didn't, did I?"

"- couldn't find him anywhere." Dad said shortly, carefully placing the two shoes down with the others-

"…no, I don't think you did." Lucas said softly.

"…he wanted to protect his mommy too."

"You said that before too…what do you mean?"

"…the baby drago…I'd only managed a couple attacks before it came…he cried and then he got in my way- I tried to go around him, but he was quicker than me. He head butted me…I think I fell…" Claus turned and looked over the edge of the cliff- stared at the sky and the land beneath them, before crying out in rage and kicking a rock so it skittered over the edge. "Ugh! I hate being so weak!"

"You're not weak."

"I couldn't protect Mom- couldn't even get revenge for her-"

"You protected me," Lucas insisted as he stepped up next to his brother's side, grabbing his wrist- suddenly scared. "We both failed to protect Mom, but we've gotten stronger now. You protected me, just now- if it hadn't been for you, they would have killed me."

Claus slowly turned his head and stared at Lucas. Lucas stared back. Finally Claus sighed, loosened his grip on the bat a little and hugged Lucas. "Thanks- you're the best little brother ever."

"Dummy, you're only five minutes older than me," Lucas said affectionately as he hugged him back. "But you're still the best older brother ever."

"Keep telling yourself that toys." The boys broke apart at the sound of the voice, tightening their grip on their bats- A slight sound from beyond the cliff edge- rocks and peddles clattering against one another- cautiously, the boys moved towards it. "Catch me if you can toys- you don't want me to get to the Dragon before you do, do you?" the voice called tauntingly, then coughed and giggled.

The voice seemed somewhat off- somewhat distorted. But it also seemed familiar. The way they talked, the words they used, even the way it was distorted- Lucas was becoming more and more convinced he'd heard this voice before.

The boys prepared to look over the edge. The rattling of rocks and pebbles started up again, louder- the twins looked over the edge to see something silver- a machine of some sort, Lucas realized with a chill. Its multiple legs were moving it too fast to get a real good look, and then it vanished into the mouth of the cramped path between the rocks they'd noticed before. The twins stared after him a moment, then-

"That was the pig king you know," Lucas said softly, still staring at the canyon as he stood up. "He was the one behind everything. What happened to the islands- what happened to the village- what happened to Mom- he's behind it all!" This feeling again- hate welling up inside him like a volcano- threatening to explode him- Lucas wrestled with it, desperately pushing it away-

Footsteps behind him- he turned to see Claus at his shoulder- staring at the dark canyon mouth.

"He's…the one behind everything?"

"Yes," Lucas said quietly, hands clutching white knuckled at his bat, just for something to hang onto, "Porky is the one behind everything that went wrong." Silence. Lucas looked back at Claus- his eyes were too far away, like Mom's when they tried to ask about the Paradise Special… Tentatively, but less tentative then he would've been before, Lucas reached out to his brother and placed one hand on Claus's shoulder. Claus jumped slightly and turned to look at him.

"We have to go on," Lucas said simply.

Claus stared at him- then his face grew firm and he nodded. They started down the hill, and then, together, the brothers entered the darkness of the canyon.

OoOoOo

Note to self- stop finding excuses for characters to sing. Also, thank you for the reviews and the kudos! It's a great feeling to get online and see that people are enjoying your story and that they told you how much they liked it. I hope you all continue to like where I go with this (crosses fingers hopefully).

Chapter Text

The rocks towered above them, and the sun beat down on them, no longer friendly the way it had been before.

There was no sign of the Pig King. Lucas wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Lucas? Did I avenge Mom?"

It was probably a good thing Claus had silently used his right as the oldest to walk first, so that he didn't see Lucas shudder.

Tazmily was where they lived. Tazmily was a nice place to live- but Grandpa lived further away, in the mountains.

They'd just turned ten- they'd had their birthday party- they'd gone with their mom, gone to visit Grandpa. Just like always, they'd explored, they'd run around and shouted- they'd played with the Dragos. On their last day there, Mom had gone outside to send a messenger pigeon to Dad- she'd turned to come back inside when the bird was gone, but then she'd stopped, listening to an unfamiliar noise. Curious- with worry suddenly coming up- Lucas had gone to the door and called to her. She'd turned around and smiled at him.

"Don't worry sweetie, I'm sure it's nothing."

And then, on the way home- "Goodbye Claus. Goodbye Lucas. I love you."

Lucas shuddered again.

They'd spent some time- a long time- in the river and then pulled themselves out and hidden in the woods. And then the villagers had found them, and Dad had followed on their heels. Shaking by the fire, only half aware of what was going on around them, wanting to wake up and realize it was all a bad dream but unable to- frozen as Dad was told what had happened to Mom- frozen as he lashed out with the burning piece of wood and then Lighter knocked him out and the villagers had all carried him away.

Tessie had taken them back to the house- she'd stayed with them until they'd fallen asleep- at least, Lucas thought she had. He kept opening his eyes and then shutting them again, and he thought he slept in-between.

When Lucas had woken up, Claus had been gone. Tessie hadn't been there either. He'd rushed out to find him- he'd run into Tessie as she'd been coming to check on him, and she'd told him that she'd seen Claus by the cemetery. For a moment, he stupidly could not figure out why Claus would go there- and then Tessie said that everyone had buried Mom while they'd been sleeping.

They'd buried her while Dad was locked up and he and Claus were sleeping and Grandpa was far away- they'd buried her without any of her family there to tell her goodbye and to tell her how much they loved her.

Tears escaped from Lucas's face and he swiped at them. At least these were quiet. Who was in the wrong here? Was he being too much of a crybaby, or had the villagers been wrong in burying their mom so fast? Well, when it came to crying…it wasn't bad to love your mom, Lucas knew that much for sure. And it wasn't bad to miss her when it would be a long long time before he saw her again. So maybe he was crying a little too much, but crying in this situation didn't make him bad- it made him normal. And as for the villagers burying Mom…well, they did hold the funeral itself later- had everyone gather all around the grave, with people saying good things about Mom and what a nice person she was, and Mr. Jonal talked about how everyone died eventually and how you needed to move past it or something- Lucas hadn't been able to listen, all his attention taken up by that big grey tombstone looming over him… Where's Mom? She can't be in there- she can't be. Mom is so very alive, such a very alive person- there must be some mistake. Mom must still up in the mountains somewhere- she must be lost and alone, wondering where we are and worrying about us- Claus will find her, they'll find each other and Mom will keep him from doing anything stupid, and they'll find their way home and then we'll all be together and everything will be okay again-

He'd been so deep and lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed Dad had come until he put his hand on his shoulder. And then he'd asked about Claus.

After talking to Tessie, Lucas had run to the cemetery- had found Claus standing there, staring at the tombstone. "I'm going to avenge Mom! Dad can't do it, so I will!" At first, he'd asked Lucas to come with- but Lucas had tried to talk him out of it, had insisted that the monster was really big and strong, and there was no way they could kill it by themselves. Claus had gotten mad at him- they'd fought and yelled at each other, before they'd started crying again. Lucas had done it first, but Claus had done it too- Claus was still angry, even when he cried. When Lucas realized that Claus wasn't going to change his mind, he'd said he would go with- he didn't want to go, he still thought it was stupid, but he didn't want Claus to go alone either- he wanted to stay with Claus, and besides, the two of them were stronger together, so they'd have a better chance of beating the monster together, right? But Claus was mad at him because he'd argued with him- he didn't want him to go with him anymore. They'd argued some more, but Claus still wouldn't change his mind- he made Lucas promise not to tell anyone where he'd gone- and then he promised he'd be back soon, promised to come right back after he'd avenged Mom…and then he'd left. When Grandpa had asked him where Claus was, the answer just slipped out. He'd broken his promise, but he hadn't meant to, so it didn't count, right? But the important thing was that they knew where to find Claus. Since his slipping up led to them getting the answer sooner, he hadn't felt too bad, until Grandpa started yelling at him. He'd known it was a bad idea, had tried to tell Claus that it was a bad idea, but it hadn't really hit him how stupid an idea it really was until Grandpa started yelling at him. Overwhelmed, about to cry again, he'd run back to the house- at least Boney was happy to see him.

Later, Dad had come back with just Claus's shoes. He'd stayed only long enough to get some supplies before leaving again. Standing alone in the doorway, the house empty behind him, Lucas had stared after him, watching Dad's big back walking further and further away… That was as far as Lucas could remember. What had happened after? How had Claus come home? Claus had to have come home, right?

"Hey, Lucas, I think I see the end to this place!" Claus called excitedly.

"Really?" Lucas asked, perking up. Claus was right. The canyon ended, and it led out into a patch of green in the middle of the desert- there was even a small lake, which Claus happily jumped into after taking off his backpack and shoes, and Lucas followed him. It was nice to rest- to just float peacefully in the water. Even Claus was taking it easy, letting his energy build itself up again.

"Hey, those things we were using earlier… the things we used to fight the zombies…do you remember how we learned them?" Lucas asked, after they'd relaxed for a while.

"The PK things?"

"Yeah, those. Do you remember how we learned them?"

Claus shook his head, sending water flying off his hair. "Nope. When I saw those monsters grabbing you, I just got so mad- and I got really scared, thinking of all the ways they could hurt you- and it just- I just- I just knew how to do it, suddenly. What about you?"

Lucas shrugged. "When I saw you doing it, it just sparked a memory of doing it- of seeing you do it and then doing it myself- I don't remember how we learned it. It must've been something we learned on the journey."

"Must be." Claus agreed, relaxing back into the water and shutting his eyes, content not to think about it anymore.

Lucas couldn't shut off his wonderings that easily- but his memories didn't seem to come back by him thinking about them, only by being prodded by things happening in this strange dream-like land of Magicant. So maybe it wasn't doing any good to keep wondering?

After relaxing a while longer in the lake, the boys got out, not worrying about drying off, letting the sun do that for them. They ate a little more- they did eat the cookies this time, and they were just as delicious as expected. They weren't like Mr. Mike's at all, not that they would have told him that, since it was nice of him to offer them cookies- they'd only told him that they weren't really tasty once, when they were too small to know better. Mom had scolded them and explained it to them, telling them to think about other people's feelings before they spoke. They'd never done it again after that.Mr. Mike hadn't seem to have forgotten though. He still always referred to his cookies as 'slightly unclean and not very tasty' every time they were brought up.

After eating, the brothers packed up and started walking again. The hot sun still seemed to be mad at them, beating down on them- and it was so quiet, not like the forests. The only sounds were that of their own footsteps, muffled by the sand that their feet sunk into, and that of the wind, tossing the sand around, biting at their eyes and sometimes even tricking them, making them see things that weren't there.

A couple times Lucas spun around, sure that he saw someone there- his mom, his dad, Grandpa, Boney- but each time, it was a trick of the sun and the sand. He could tell that it was happening to Claus too- he would stop, jerk his head around, stare- once he almost ran after whoever he saw, only stopped by Lucas flinging himself at him and wrapping his arms around him.

"It's not real Claus!" Claus tensed, as if about to try to break away- then loosened his muscles- not relaxing, not really, but not fighting him either. When they started walking again, Lucas made sure to hold tightly to his brother's hand- and on his side, Claus squeezed it once before turning his attention back to the desert in front of them. Lucas was really glad when more rocks showed up. It wasn't like before, like being surrounded by them, but there was one big wall of rock, so that only one side was open to the wind. They were walking along, Claus in front still and Lucas looking up at the rock wall above them and then at the seemingly endless desert stretching out to the side of them, wondering if any creature lived here at all- they sure hadn't seen any- when Claus suddenly stopped.

"Hey Lucas, look." Claus said, pointing.

Lucas looked- and smiled. "Duster! Kumatora!" he called, scampering towards them. The two turned towards him, smiling, turning away from the rock wall. Happy to see his friends, Lucas barely noticed the wall branching out in front of them, opening up into a cave.

"Hey Lucas." Duster said easily.

"Hey!" Kumatora gave him a quick hug as he came to a stop in front of them. "How are you doing?"

"Good- hey, you guys look….kinda different." He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was- a lot of little things, maybe. Duster's nose was a tiny bit too long, Kumatora's ears were slightly too large-

Kumatora rolled her eyes good naturedly as Claus slowly approached. "You can thank your brother for that." she said, loudly enough for him to hear. "No offense Claus, but you really need to get a clue- we're not the bad guys here."

Claus stared at her a moment, confusion written all over his face, then turned to Lucas. "Do we know them?"

Lucas almost rolled his own eyes. "Yeah." he said, reminding himself that it wasn't Claus's fault that his memory was all messed up, "We know them. We all went on an adventure together, remember? When we pulled the Needles, they were there-" struck by a thought, he spun around to face them. "Hey, is that how you're here now?"

The two of them shook their heads. "We're not even here, not really." Duster said.

Both twins stared at that, and Kumatora laughed at their expressions as she took up the explanation.

"We're like the boatman you ran into earlier, and like the people in the sunflower city- the real Duster and Kumatora are still in the real world, waiting for you to show up."

"…oh." Lucas said, disappointed but understanding now.

"So you're not going to come with us either?" Claus asked, not sounding disappointed at all.

"No, we just showed up to help you with this puzzle." Duster said, gesturing to something covering the mouth of the cave.

Claus peered at it curiously, then walked closer.

Kumatora waited until he was engrossed in it, running his fingers all over it, before stepping closer to Lucas. "That's the main reason we came," she told him quietly. "But it seems like memory problems are catching and we wanted to make sure you didn't forget us too."

"I haven't-" Lucas protested, but Kumatora crossed her arms and just looked at him, making a face that was eerily like his mom's when he'd done something bad and she was disappointed in him.

"Lucas, I'm sure you and Claus went on a lot of adventures together- but unfortunately Duster and I never went on  with him."

"But…I remember. I remember going on an adventure with you guys."

"That's because you did- the person who wasn't journeying with us was Claus."

Lucas felt words coming up choke him- he shoved them away- "But why would I go on an adventure without my brother?"

Kumatora looked sad. She uncrossed her arms and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Given the choice, I'm sure he would have wanted to go with you, just like how you wanted him with you- but things went wrong."

Lucas looked over his shoulder- Claus was still absorbed in the puzzle, talking about it to Duster, who was leaning over his shoulder, listening to him patiently. Lucas knew that after leaving to fight the Mecha Drago, Claus had gotten lost- but he had to have gotten home, because they had- "But Claus had to have been with us!" Lucas exclaimed, suddenly remembering. "He had to have been, because I was with you guys when I pulled the Needles, and Claus pulled the Needles too…" he trailed off at the look on Kumatora's face. "Wasn't he?"

She shook her head. "The two of you did both pull the Needles, but you were doing it separately. There were times when the two of you…well, you were both in the same place, but never for long. This trip through Magicant has been the first time the two of you have really been together for a long time."

"Hey Lucas! Come look at this!" Claus called.

"He sounds excited." Lucas said softly.

"He is- after all, he gets to go on an adventure with you now, after all. An adventure with just you and him- isn't that what the two of you always talked about? Anyway, I suspect one of the reasons he wasn't too fond of us was because he feels we stole his place by your side."

"Some adventure," Lucas mumbled- the sense of failure that he'd had upon waking up in Magicant was creeping back again. "Claus is hurt and I don't know how to help him. The Pig King…well, he's probably just a manifestation, but he's running around in here too. And Mom…"

Kumatora's face softened with a smile- she hugged him. "It'll be okay Lucas, it'll be okay. I have faith in you."

"Lucas!"

"Coming!" Lucas called as Kumatora's arms let go of him and he stepped back. He looked at Claus, meeting his eyes, silently promising that he'd finish up soon, then turned back to the memory of his friend. "Something bad happened to Claus, didn't it? Something-something worse than getting lost… I wanna help…but I can't remember and I don't know how-"

"He's your brother and you love him, right?"

"Of course!"

"Just start there. The memories will come back on their own if you let them, so for now, just love him."

Lucas looked at her a moment- then smiled and nodded. "Thanks Kumatora."

She waved her hand in the air dismissively and grinned. "Let's go see what has your brother so wound up, okay?"

Lucas nodded again, and they returned to Claus and Duster at the cave entrance.

Claus watched them with a slight frown. "What were you guys talking about?"

"Uh…"

"Your birthday," Kumatora said sweetly and only smiled at the confused look Claus gave her. "So, what's got you all hyper?"

"It's this- doesn't it look like some kind of maze?" Claus said, pointing to it after one last confused look at Kumatora.

Lucas stepped forward and ran his fingers over it.

It did look like a maze. There were raised lines, running parallel to each other, going straight and then curving, etched deep into the rock. There were strange pictures surrounding the lines, some with little figures- and there two figures at the top, colored, unlike the rest, and sticking out slightly. There was a line between them, the biggest and thickest line of all, starting between them and then going all the way down to the end of the maze.

Lucas put out his hand onto the closest one and discovered that the figures moved. He moved the figure- an armor wearing figure- perhaps a knight of some sort- back and forward.

"Okay…" Claus said thoughtfully, "so we can move them…where are we supposed to move them to?" While speaking, Claus reached for the other figure- the blue one- and tried to move it. He smiled with satisfaction as he found that yes, it did move.

Suddenly, a thought struck Lucas- he looked down at his red and yellow striped shirt and then at the red figure beneath his hand, then turned to stare at his brother's blue and yellow shirt and at the blue figure beneath his hands.

"Lucas? You okay?" Claus asked.

"Huh? Yeah…just…" Lucas trailed off as he looked back and forth, and Claus frowned as he followed his line of sight until it hit him.

"Hey Lucas, you don't think these things represent us, do you?" Not waiting for an answer, he spun and faced Duster and Kumatora. "Hey, those things don't actually represent us, do they? Right?"

Kumatora shrugged. "Who knows? But remember- this is Magicant, made from the deepest parts of the two of you. They just might represent you."

Claus looked from them to the puzzle, then at Lucas and then back all over again. "But…the figures are separated- we're not separated!"

"No." Duster said gently, "You and Lucas aren't separated anymore." Claus opened his mouth, probably intending to respond to the 'anymore' thing, but Duster beat him to it.

"See how both figures are at the top?"

Both twins turned and studied it.

"…you think we should try moving them down?" Lucas asked.

"Well, you can't move them up," Kumatora pointed out.

"Well, that's true," Claus said with a sigh.

Both twins positioned their hands on the figures and began moving them down. For the most part, it was a fairly simple puzzle, guiding the figures through the maze. But when nearing the end, Claus ran into a problem.

"How do I get out of this stupid dead end?" he grumbled, looking around.

Lucas paused in his own explorations and looked over to see what his twin was up to.

Claus waved him off with a sigh. "It's okay, I've got this."

"You sure?" He nodded, frowning, not taking his eyes off the puzzle.

Lucas didn't respond- didn't move away-he traced the path of his brother's figure with his eyes- "There!"

Startled, Claus looked up and followed his brother's finger.

"If you go back here, and then go left instead of right, that should take you right to the end."

"Oh- yeah, you're right!" Claus exclaimed happily- then started to pout.

"What is it?"

"I wanted to solve it myself."

"Oh…I just wanted to help you, since you always helped me. Whenever I got scared or anything, you were always there for me."

Claus stopped pouting but he still looked dissatisfied- and then he snorted and looked annoyed and amused at the same time.

"What?" Lucas asked.

"Weren't we talking about this earlier? About no one being perfect and everyone having weaknesses?"

"Oh," Lucas said, and chuckled. "Yeah, I guess we did."

"Well, bro-" Claus reached up and put his hand on the figure and moved it where Lucas had showed him, "how about we finish up this dumb puzzle and go onto the rest of this adventure, okay?" Lucas nodded, smiling- and both brothers moved their figures to the bottom and pushed them so they were side by side, together at last- and there was a rumbling and the wall shuddered, before being sucked backwards and disappearing.

"We did it!" Lucas shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

"Yes!" Claus cheered, throwing both fists in air.

"Nice thinking Lucas!" Kumatora said.

Duster nodded, and said nothing- but he seemed just a bit amused when he glanced at Kumatora, like he knew what she was up to.

Claus seemed to know what she was up to as well- he gave her a very halfhearted glare before turning to Lucas with an awkward but real smile. "It's a good thing you're here, Lucas- if I'd been here alone, that puzzle would have taken forever to solve!"

Lucas chuckled softly, embarrassed and happy, and smiled.

"No, really," Claus insisted, "You're a lot better at that sort of thing that I am."

"…thanks, Claus." Lucas said softly.

Claus shrugged, awkward and still smiling. Lucas turned to his friends- or the manifestations of them. "…we're going to go now…you sure you aren't coming?"

"We aren't real, remember?" Kumatora asked, patting his head teasingly.

"Is that why you didn't try to help out much with the puzzle?" Claus asked.

"Pretty much," Duster said, "This place is created from you, so you two need to be the ones to get stuff done- whether it's fighting monsters or solving puzzles, it needs to be done by you two."

"You guys are the ones the Dragon is waiting for," Kumatora added, "Not anyone else- so go wake up the Dragon!" She put one hand on one shoulder of each of them, smiling, before playfully shoving them in the direction of the cave.

The boys waved and entered the cave. "See you later!" Lucas called over his shoulder. Duster and Kumatora waved back, and then the brothers turned a corner, and they disappeared from view.

"You know, they're not that bad." Claus commented when they were out of earshot.

"Of course! They're my friends!" Lucas said indignantly, then realized something. "Claus, don't you remember Duster either?"

"No. Why?"

"Because he and his dad live in Tazmily too, not far away from where we do. I mean, Duster's dad sometimes sends him on long training trips, and sometimes he'll sleep during the day and do stuff at night, so he's not there all the time, but when he is there, sometimes we follow him around. We aren't really supposed to, but he never gets mad- he's always really patient with us…are you sure don't remember him?"

Claus nodded, looking slightly uneasy now.

"But it does sound familiar right?"

"Well, a little. I still can't remember though."

"Oh…" Lucas fell into worried silence.

Claus had set out to get revenge for Mom- and he'd gotten lost- he had to have gotten lost, otherwise he would've come home, just like he said he would. Lucas had known that going after the Mecha Drago was a bad idea- he wished he hadn't been right. He'd told Claus it was a bad idea, but Claus hadn't believed him and he'd gone without him… and then he'd gotten hurt and now his memories were in even worse shape than Lucas's.

Maybe after he'd gotten hurt, Dad had found him and brought him home, but he'd been hurt so bad he had to stay home while Lucas went on the adventure? No, that couldn't be it- because Claus had pulled some of the Needles too. Maybe he'd pulled some of the Needles while lost, and then he'd gotten hurt, and then Dad had found him and brought him home. And then Lucas had gone to finish what his big brother had started. Maybe that was it.

But Kumatora had said that this was the first time they'd been together in a long time…

"Lucas, are you okay?"

Lucas lifted up his head to find Claus staring at him.

"What's wrong?" Claus asked when he saw the look on his face. " Do you need to stop and rest or something?"

"No, I'm okay…I'm just trying to remember…Claus? You don't remember anything about pulling the Needles or what happened after you left to try to avenge Mom, right?"

"Yeah…why? Are you thinking about what those guys said back there? About us being separated?"

Lucas nodded.

"Well, maybe they were wrong- I mean, I'm sure they wouldn't lie to us, but maybe they were wrong."

"…I don't think they were wrong…maybe that's why we can't remember much. Maybe there aren't many good things to remember. Claus?"

"Yeah?"

"…don't ever leave me behind again, okay? When you left…when you left to avenge Mom, you left me behind. Even though I wanted to go with you-"

"No you didn't- you didn't want to go."

"No, I didn't want you to go. But when you insisted on going, I wanted to go with you. I didn't want you to go, but I thought it would be better if we went together instead of splitting up. But you were mad at me for trying to talk you out of it, so you wouldn't let me go with you…" Lucas trailed off - Claus was staring at him, surprised. "It's not that I didn't want to go with you- I just knew it was a bad idea, and didn't want you to go at all." Lucas resisted the urge to mention how he was right about how it had been a bad idea.

The surprise was beginning to fade from Claus's face- now he was looking more thoughtful. "Well, I guess you were right…" hearing him admit didn't make Lucas feel any better- "but I don't see why you're worrying about it. We're together now, right?"

"Yeah, but…" Lucas hesitated over his words and came to a stop, focusing only on his brother and the words tripping up inside of him.

Still puzzled, Claus stopped and waited for him.

"…Kumatora…she said that even when we were pulling the Needles, we were separated…that this is the first time we've been together in a long time…what happened? Why didn't we pull the Needles together-" Pushing at the memories in his head- the memories about Claus refused to give, but the Needles-

It glowed, sticking out of the ground like a magical sword from one of Mom's stories- it glowed, warm and pulsing and when he wrapped his hands around it, he could feel the heat.

He pulled it and the earth shook beneath his feet. A voice, called to him from far away and a heartbeat echoed his own heart as it beat- the geyser of red steam rushed up in front of him-

Slowly, the shaking stopped, and the world went back to normal. The voice remained a little longer- reaching for him plaintively- in his mind he reached back for them- recognizing the loneliness that was so much like his-

"Lucas!" Claus's hands on his shoulders, shaking him. "Lucas, look at me!"

Lucas- shaken out of the memory- shuddered before flinging his arms around his brother.

"Lucas, are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine, Claus. I just-" a note of triumph entered Lucas's voice. "Claus, I got one of my memories back."

"You did?"

Lucas nodded, grinning, then grew serious as he started examining the memory. "It was about one of the Needles- it was really short and vague though- it could've been any one of the Needles."

"So it's not helpful, huh?" Claus asked, somewhat disappointed.

Lucas was silent a moment, then asked "Claus, did you hear a voice when you pulled the Needles?"

"A voice?"

"A quiet voice. Small- almost like a child's. but I think they did start getting a little louder as time went on…like they were getting closer… Claus? Are you sure you don't remember?"

Claus looked away, focusing as he folded his arms. "I can kinda see a fuzzy picture of them in my head- I remember standing over one. I don't really remember any more, but…earlier…you said something about a dragon?"

"Yeah. The Dragon is sleeping underneath the island, and pulling the Needles is supposed to make him wake up. And whoever pulls the needles passes their heart onto the Dragon."

"…okay. A sleeping dragon- pulling the Needles wakes him up…" Claus shut his eyes and focused.

Lucas waited for him. He wasn't surprised when his brother's eyes opened and were mismatched again, only briefly, before flickering and returning to normal. "…I don't know Lucas. I don't really remember- but I think you're right. If the reason we're here is because the Dragon is waiting for us because he wants to meet us, it only makes sense that he would try to reach out to us while we were waking him up, right? And Lucas…"

"Yes Claus?"

"Well… even though we were separated before, we're together now, and we're going to stay together from now on, alright?" Claus said comfortingly-he even hugged Lucas as he said it. "So don't worry, okay?"

"Right."

"And just to make sure that you know it's true-" Claus continued on, "We're going to promise using the secret handshake."

The secret handshake? Silently, Lucas stuck out his hands and solemnly the twins performed the secret handshake that only their parents had ever seen.

"Brothers forever," they whispered together, then smiled.

The only time they'd failed to do their secret handshake when making a promise was when Claus had left to fight the Mecha Drago. Somehow, it seemed right that they did it here, now…like doing it now made up for not doing it then. The twins continued on, heading deeper into the darkness of the cave.

OoOoOo

Ah, Kumatora. She's not actually one of my favorite characters, but I do like her and every time I throw her and Claus in the same place I'm amused by the result. She, along with Duster, will also make an appearance in the last chapter, so look forward to that if you like them.

And the Dragon- yes, the Dragon will be an actual character in this. Not that they're going to be showing up anytime soon. Thanks to those of you who have reviewed so far! It's great to know that people are reading this and it's good to know what they're thinking as they read!

Please continue to read and review, and I hope you enjoy where we go with this!

Chapter Text

Further into the cave, they discovered tracks. Tracks and a-

"A cart!" Claus said, almost bouncing in his excitement, "Hey Lucas, where do you think it goes? Do you think it goes fast?"

Lucas examined it a bit more cautiously. "I don't know…but I guess it looks like it's in good shape."

"The tracks look like they lead further in…and it doesn't look like there's another way to go on. See? The ground stops and there's only the tracks," Claus observed. He still sounded excited, but he did sound calmer, more thoughtful now.

The sight of the tracks, stretching away into the darkness with the supports beneath them, spindle-legged and descending out of sight- thin enough that they weren't reassuring, but not so thin that he could honestly say they worried him- and the fact that there was nowhere else to go…

Lucas finished examining the cart and stood up. "Just like Tanetane island," he groaned.

"What's Tantetane Island?" Claus asked curiously.

Lucas paused a moment, then turned to look at his brother. "What?"

"You said 'just like Tanetane Island'," Claus repeated. "What's Tanetane Island?"

Lucas hadn't really been aware of what he said until Claus had repeated it. But now that he had said it...

"Lucas, let's trade places."

Lucas repressed a shudder.

"Lucas?" It was reassuring to hear his brother's voice that was really his brother's voice- the voice that echoed in his memory had sounded like his brother's, but had not been his brother's. Still-

"I'm okay," Lucas said as he smiled at him- or at least he tried to smile, focusing on how glad he was that Claus was here, not lost and far away any more. But after he reassured him, he hesitated. "Claus…weren't you there? On Tanetane Island?" He thought- he was almost sure- that even though the voice he remembered speaking to him wasn't Claus, that Claus had been there.

"I dunno- maybe? It doesn't really sound familiar though."

"I'm pretty sure you were there," Lucas said, shutting his eyes as he tried to focus, "but I can't remember it too clearly. It was a really weird place though, I know that much. There were these funky mushrooms and the colors were all weird, and I saw Dad there, except it wasn't really Dad, and there was this strange lady who called me "ice cream" and said she was going to lick me all up."

"…are you sure this wasn't just a dream?" Claus asked somewhat skeptically.

"Claus, would I be remembering something as unimportant as a dream with our memory problems and the fate of the world at stake?"

"…I guess you've got a point. Still, it sounds too weird."

"It was really weird," Lucas admitted. "It was kinda like a dream- or more like a nightmare- in a way, but it wasn't."

"Kinda like this, huh?"

"Yeah," Lucas said, nodding, "but the thing that worries me is when we- Duster and Kumatora and Boney and me- arrived on Tanetane Island, we lost all our stuff and the only thing we could find were these Energizing Mushrooms. When we ate them, everything got weird…"

"I guess that's why Mom and Dad told us not to eat any mushrooms unless they said it was okay."

"Yeah, probably," Lucas said sheepishly. "But this has the same sort of trapped feeling as that time. There's no other way to move forward and we can't go back, so…" Lucas gestured hopelessly and Claus nodded.

"Well," Claus said and then he grinned a bit, "since there's no other place to go, let's take a ride. I promise to protect you from anyone who thinks you're ice cream."

Lucas smiled and nodded, before following his brother into the cart. He was still a little worried, but at least Claus was excited about it- his energy and confidence were comforting.

"I bet this lever starts it," Claus said, fiddling with it.

The cart shot forward suddenly causing both boys to yell. It moved down the tracks so fast, everything seemed to blur around them. Lucas barely ducked his head in time as the cart swooped through the cave, almost banging his head on the ceiling.

"Keep your head down!" Claus yelled over his shoulder.

"I know!" Lucas called, ducking down, tightening his grip on the sides of the cart.

The cart dropped down hill, making both boys yell again- and then it shot out, into the fading daylight, into the air.

Lucas looked around, surprised, before Claus yelped- and he followed his brother's gaze and looked down into the gaping, seemingly bottomless chasm beneath them- and the tracks were gone.

The cart began to fall- but momentum moved it forward as well as down, and they landed on the other side where the tracks were still intact- the cart shook but continued on its way, just a little slower than before.

Claus laughed breathlessly. "That- that was awesome!"

Lucas let himself drop and sat down before laughing too.

"Well, we're going slower now- that was probably the most exciting part," Claus said, turning to give Lucas a reassuring smile.

Lucas looked up and started to smile in return- and then he flung himself upright, flung his arms around his brother- "PK Love!"

The attack flashed as it spun out- briefly illuminating the cave and the figures beginning to surround them. The attack hit them, spinning them away- two fell in front of the cart, knocking it off its course and causing it to crash and flip over, spilling both boys onto the ground.

The twins hit the ground, rolling over and over until momentum ran out and they stopped.

Claus jumped to his feet before pulling Lucas to his. "What was-" he stopped short as he noticed all the glowing eyes surrounding them.

Even the ones hit by Lucas's attack were getting up. The darkness of the caves made it hard to see, but they could make out that much. The enemies around them- they smelled wrong, felt wrong- their silhouettes were of people, but they didn't smell like people.

"Okay…" Claus said quietly, "maybe leaping the chasm wasn't the most exciting part." He pulled his bat out of the backpack and gripped it tightly.

"That was my most powerful attack- and it didn't seem to hurt them at all, only shove them away," Lucas whispered back, also gripping his bat tightly.

"Yeah, it's my most powerful attack too, remember?" Claus said, "Any bright ideas?"

"…I'm thinking," Lucas said softly, looking around. All those red eyes. The brothers were surrounded by the red eyes- unblinking, unmoving red eyes- something tugged at Lucas, in his head- and then he realized what it was. "Claus…these guys…you see their eyes?"

"Yeah, what about them?"

"Each of them- they only have one red eye."

"What-" Claus started- but as if they'd been waiting for Lucas to realize that, they attacked- so many arms, pulling at them and pulling at them. The twins swung their bats but they simply passed through, as if they weren't even there-

"Claus! This isn't working!"

"I know!" Claus grunted as he swung the bat around. "PK Love omega!"

The blast of psychic power knocked them back- in the flash of light, the brothers caught a brief glimpse of the enemies surrounding them- they were pale, pale as ghosts and as pale as sun bleached bones-

The scent invaded Lucas's nose as they recovered and drew closer. He stepped back quickly, feeling the reassuring warmth of Claus's back, gripping his bat tighter. He knew that smell- he couldn't place it, but he knew he knew it. One lunged at him-

"Claus, move!" They both dodged, further away now, from both the enemies and each other, but safe for now. That smell- there was the scent of something rotting- but something else too. Something strong, something that made Lucas's eyes water-

For a second a strange building swam in front of Lucas's eyes-

Eye searing white walls and floor and ceiling- and looming in front of him, a large table, with straps on it- straps obviously meant to trap anyone placed on that table-

The ghost creatures were getting too close again.

"PK Love omega!" both of the twins shouted.

Lucas shuddered as the psychic energy revealed the closest one- faceless and so pale all its features blended together, except for the red eye and the mouth stitched shut- it was impossible to tell who they'd been before. It stumbled back and then regained its balance and moved forward and grabbed Lucas's arm with freezing cold hands. Its mismatched eyes pieced Lucas's- stabbing him and hypnotizing- he couldn't look away- they seemed to be calling him. From far away, he could hear Claus scream in anger-

"Get your hands off my brother! PK Love omega!" The blast knocked the thing that was less than a zombie off his feet- Claus grabbed Lucas and pushed him behind him. "You okay?"

"Claus- his eyes-"

"Huh?" Claus turned to stare at him, bewildered.

But the things were coming closer again and suddenly, looking at Claus and then looking at them, Lucas felt the pieces click together- he bought up his bat, but not to bash, to point.

"PK Lifeup!"

The ghost thing giggled and clapped its hands as it disappeared.

"Claus! We have to heal them!" Lucas yelled and turned to point at the next closest ghost. "PK Lifeup!"

This one didn't giggle but it sighed happily before disappearing like the first.

"Lucas!" Claus yelled back, sounding worried. "I don't know how to do that!"

"What? It's-" Lucas was cut off by another ghost jumping at him "PK Lifeup!"

The ghosts apparently wanted to be healed- they began to swarm him.

"PK Lifeup omega!" Lucas yelled, swinging his bat around to point at as many as possible. He didn't have time to examine their reactions- there were still too many of them-

Fingers suddenly dug into Lucas's arm, feeling like needles- a ghost had snuck up behind him.

"Lucas!" Claus rushed over and began struggling with it, but it only giggled and dug its nails deeper into Lucas's arm- and this time broke the skin. Ice cold, spears of ice stabbing into his arm, spreading out from where the skin was broken-

Lucas screamed.

"Lucas!"

"Claus- heal it."

"I don't know how!"

"PK Lifeup omega," Lucas grated out, barely managing to concentrate enough to use the ability. The ghost giggled and disappeared along with a couple other nearby ones, and Lucas groaned and stumbled, nearly collapsing.

Claus grabbed him. "Lucas!"

"I don't feel so good…" Lucas mumbled.

The ghosts were coming closer. Claus clutched at Lucas and pulled him away-

Lucas stumbled. "Claus- we gotta heal them-"

"Are you crazy? They hurt you!"

"No. It worked, didn't it? They're hurting- they're lost- that's why they're coming after us. You can do it Claus…"

Claus stared at Lucas disbelievingly, and then turned to look at the softly giggling, quickly approaching ghosts. Then he looked back at Lucas. He looked scared- and then he looked determined. "Lucas I don't- I don't know how. Tell me how to do it."

Lucas smiled at him. "It's easy Claus. You just have to want to heal them. Just like how with an attack, you have to want to hurt them…it's just like that."

"But they're attacking us! They hurt you!"

"But they need our help…"

The twins stared at each other for a moment.

The ghosts surged closer and Claus groaned and swung his bat around. "PK Love omega!" With them knocked away, Claus bent over and placed his hand on Lucas's wound and licked his lips. "PK Lifeup alpha," he whispered- and Lucas felt warmth surge through him as the wound began to close up and strength came back. Claus stared down at the closed wound, then slowly lifted his head and grinned at Lucas. "I did it."

"You did it," Lucas agreed, smiling still- and got up.

The twins went back to back.

"PK Lifeup!"

"PK Lifeup omega!"

The ghosts rushed at them, giggling, eager to be healed and vanished. They were very quick- their faces were all the same to begin with and their quick motion blurred them even more, mixing one into the other- Lucas just kept healing, making sure to spread it as far as possible. Claus had only just learned it, he wasn't as good at it as Lucas was. Another ghost lunged at him and Lucas healed it just before it could reach him.

"You okay Lucas?"

"Yeah, I'm fine! You?"

"Good!"

Good that I'm fine or you're fine too or both? Lucas wondered but didn't have time to respond as another attacked and Lucas quickly healed that one too.

Normally, Claus was the one who was best at anything physical- but this time it was Lucas who knew what to do.

"PK Lifeup!" Claus called out from behind him.

"PK Lifeup omega!" Lucas swung the bat, including as many of the ghost enemies as he could.

Even as he did so, a kind of satisfaction crept in.

Who's a crybaby now? It wouldn't be fair to say that to Claus of course- Claus had only called him a crybaby once, and he'd apologized right after- Mom hadn't even told him to, and neither had Dad.

But a lot of the villagers -still, even now- thought that Lucas was a crybaby.

Two of the ghosts lunged at him and Lucas healed them both at the same time.

Lucas might not be as strong as his big brother, but anytime anyone called him a crybaby from now on, he was just going to smile. Because what he'd somewhat known before, he was absolutely certain of now.

"Incoming!" Claus yelled, and the brothers rolled out of the way, avoiding the dog pile of ghosts that attempted to land on them and squash them.

Lucas might not be the fastest, might not be the strongest- he might not be the smartest either, but he wasn't dumb- Lucas might be shy and scrawny, but he was smart enough to figure out puzzles and he could fight monsters and use PK abilities. Lucas was strong enough to keep up with Claus and protect the people they cared about- and that was strong enough for him.

"PK Lifeup!"

"PK Lifeup omega!"

With a sigh that seemed to echo around the cave, the last of the mutilated ghosts disappeared. The two brothers stood there a moment, panting and looking around. There were no more ghosts to be seen any more, only the walls surrounding them and the overturned cart, its wheels still turning slowly.

"Did we get them all?" Lucas asked, panting.

"Yeah- yeah, I think we did," Claus said, after one final scan of the room, and then he turned to Lucas. "Are you okay?"

Lucas nodded. "I'm fine, thanks to you. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. But what were those things? This is all coming out of our heads, right? So what were those things?"

Lucas looked at the ground and tried to think. The answer was in his brain, he knew it was- but when he tried to think, a storm of emotions flooded him-

Lucas walked towards the masked figure- closer and closer-

He was just in front of him, so close- he was crouched on the ground, on one knee- not looking at him at all- didn't he know that Lucas was here? That finally, after all this time, Lucas had finally caught up to him?

Lucas could see the final Needle gleaming in the background. He still couldn't see the other's face, only his back- he couldn't even see the back of his head, the helmet he was wearing covered that up too.

The other seemed to be only aware of the Needle, staring at it without moving. And then he did move, moved as Lucas took another step closer to him, turned and faced him- and pulled out his sword.

One blazing red eye, fixing itself on Lucas-

A touch on his shoulder- and then a grip-

Lucas didn't know if his shudders were caused by the memory or how tight Claus was gripping his shoulder. Almost as reassuring as the love and worry in his eyes was the fact that both his eyes were green. "Lucas? Lucas, you okay?"

Lucas breathed out, slowly, not taking his eyes off his brother. "…yeah…I think so… I'm just trying to think…Claus?"

"Yeah?"

"…all those guys, just now…they all had one red eye. Did you notice?"

"Yeah, I guess they did. Why?" A person couldn't see themselves unless they looked in a mirror or a still pool of water. So Claus probably didn't know that sometimes he had one red eye.

Lucas should probably tell him. He probably should, but he couldn't help hesitating over the words and when they did come, they came out slowly. "… I've seen someone before…someone with one red eye."

"Who? I don't remember anyone like that- Lucas, what's with that expression? Are you okay? Did this person hurt you?"

Lucas almost choked- shook his head. "Of course not!" He protested as soon as he could, "They're not a bad person Claus. I know they aren't!"

Claus looked at him a moment, then sighed. "Maybe, but you're…kinda naïve. No, you are," he added at the look on his brother's face. "Like, if we were in a marketplace and someone told you he had a great deal, you'd probably believe him."

"I'm not that naïve. I can tell the difference between a good person and a bad person," Lucas insisted.

"Well, yeah. It's not like you're stupid or anything. But you're more likely to think that somebody has good motives."

Lucas made a soft noise. He wasn't sure what to say. "I'm not that naïve. It's not like I like everyone…there's people I can't forgive-"

"Huh? Really?"

Lucas nodded jerkily; memories seeping slowly back into his head. "On the journey…the enemy we faced…the Pigmask army…I-I know I shouldn't hate them- some of them weren't that bad- they didn't know what the others were doing. But the Pigmask army and their leader did terrible things Claus- so many terrible things- " Lucas shuddered. "Especially Porky. I hate him- he made everything go wrong- Mom's death, us being separated, everyone leaving the village- he's responsible for everything!"

"Wait- Lucas- what are you talking about? You said before that the Pigmasks had done bad things, but that Drago- that's the one that killed Mom- the one that's responsible for her death."

"That's the one that killed Mom, but the only reason it went crazy is because of the Pigmasks. Porky had the Pigmasks messing around with the animals and hurting them- they were mixing them up and turning them into things called chimeras. It made them crazy, like the ghosts we just fought, and they would go around trying to hurt people because of that. That's what happened to the Mecha-drago, except they mixed it with machines instead of another animal…if it hadn't been for Porky and the Pigmasks, that Drago wouldn't have hurt anyone, and it definitely wouldn't have hurt Mom- I hate him! I hate that stupid Porky!" Lucas shuddered- stopped, realizing that he'd screamed the last part.

For most of those events, he hadn't even remembered them until now- it had come back as he talked. And there was more. There was worse, still lurking in the back of his head, waiting to be remembered.

Lucas shook his head. That wasn't important now, right? The Pigmasks were beaten. That's how he and Claus had gotten here.

Porky had shown up in here, in this strange place of Magicant, and taunted them before, but then he'd just run away. Maybe he was too afraid to fight the two of them together?

Lucas turned to Claus. His brother was frozen, staring into space like a person in a trance- shuddering like he was going to fall apart-

"Claus!" He hugged his brother, hugged him fiercely, like he'd disappear if he didn't hold him tight enough. "It's okay it's okay-"

Claus gasped- like a swimmer emerging from deep water into the life giving air- and reflexively tightened his arms around his brother in a return hug.

"It's okay it's okay-" Lucas repeated until his brother squeezed him tight.

"I don't know- I don't know what just happened-" Claus admitted with a final shudder, "for a moment- I just felt…like my brain stopped working- like I couldn't think."

"But you're okay now, right?" Lucas asked tentatively, half afraid that anything else he said would affect his brother as badly as mentioning Porky and the Pigmasks had.

"Yeah…sorry."

"No, it's okay."

Claus drooped a bit- leaning into his brother. "I don't get it, Lucas- what's wrong with me? I'm supposed to be the strong one-"

All of a sudden, it felt like all the water was being sucked out of Lucas's throat. "Claus…"

His big brother straightened up and looked him in the eye. "Lucas?"

Lucas swallowed. "…something bad happened."

Claus blinked, confused. "I know. Mom died and we- we got separated-"

"Yeah…you went by yourself to try to avenge Mom- and you didn't come home. And when Dad went to find you, he couldn't find you anywhere…" A nasty suspicion had begun to form in Lucas's mind.

The Pigmasks- most of them were a bunch of jerks, but bad as it was to hurt animals, it was even worse to hurt people. And even though Claus liked to talk about how he was five minutes older than Lucas, they were still both ten, both just kids.

Lucas thought of little Alle in the village, of how happy everyone had been when she was born, of how careful everyone was with her, even now when she wasn't a baby anymore. You had to be gentle with kids, everyone knew that, because they were smaller and weaker…

"Lucas?"

Lucas blinked- found Claus staring at him worriedly. Lucas smiled somewhat faintly. "Sorry Claus. I guess I was thinking so deeply, I forgot to talk."

Claus huffed even as he looked relived. "Sheesh, pay attention Lucas. It's rude to start talking to someone and then just stop in the middle of a sentence, remember?"

"Sorry," Lucas said again. "But Claus…"

His brother kept his eyes on him, waiting and attentive.

Lucas swallowed. "Don't you remember anything from the past Claus? Anything more than you did before, I mean?"

"Well…I think I might remember the village, just a little bit. Was there a boy there about our age, and he had some sort of weird name? And we had fun together and we played with him a lot?"

"Yeah, that's Fuel," Lucas said, deciding to avoid debating whether or not Fuel's name was weird. "He and his dad, Mr. Lighter, live kinda far out in the woods, but they live a lot closer than Grandpa does. So while we played in the woods a lot, we played in the village a lot too."

"So he is real then? Definitely real?"

"Of course he is, Claus. Why wouldn't he be?"

Claus shrugged. The gesture was careless, but for a second- so brief that Lucas wondered if he was being paranoid- for a second, Lucas thought the red eye could be seen. "Let's just get out of here, Lucas. Let's just go wake up the Dragon and go home." Claus paused a moment, then glanced back at the now motionless cart- and when he turned back to Lucas, he was grinning like his old self. "Won't Fuel be jealous when he hears about this?"

Surprised, Lucas blinked- and then smiled back. "He'll definitely be sorry that he missed it. He might have problems believing some of the stuff we have to tell him though."

"Some of it is pretty weird," Claus agreed, "but he's our friend, so he'll believe us, right?"

Lucas had been about to deliver a careless response, when the tone and delivery of the last sentence clicked in his brain. "Yeah, of course. I mean, he might have problems believing at first, but when we tell him that everything we saw and did was really what happened, he'll believe us."

The relief on his brother's face was painful to see. Suddenly Lucas remembered how Claus had acted in the sunflower city- how, even though the people there had been nice and friendly, Claus had watched them like he didn't trust them. It shouldn't be like this- it wasn't like everyone in the village had been their friend, but they hadn't needed to worry about any of them being mean to them either.

Not knowing what else to do, Lucas hugged his brother.

Slightly confused, Claus hugged him back, and Lucas admitted to himself that one of the reasons he hated Porky the most was because of the things he must have done to hurt Claus. Porky and his army had to be the reason Claus hadn't come home, the reason Dad couldn't find him- they must've kept him from coming home, must've kept him locked up-

"Lucas, are you okay?"

"I'm okay- what about you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." His voice was confused, obviously not understanding why Lucas was asking.

Lucas hesitated a minute- he wanted to say something like "People aren't bad- you can trust them." But some people were bad, and you couldn't trust them. People like Porky…they weren't just bad, they were evil.

Lucas tightened his hug.

So did Claus. "It's okay Lucas. I don't know what you're scared of, but it's okay- I'll protect you."

"Thanks Claus, but I'm more worried about you," Lucas said, holding him for just a moment longer, before pulling back and looking Claus in the eyes.

Claus looked confused- looked almost like he might object- but Lucas continued before he could.

"Claus, I don't remember everything that happened on the journey, but I know that something bad happened to you, and that worries me, but I also know that we're together again- and that's what's important, right? We've pulled all the needles and we're gonna wake the Dragon and we're going to fix everything! Okay?"

Claus looked at him, surprised- and then smiled. "Hey Lucas, when'd you get so strong?"

"Huh? I'm not-"

"No, you are. You just keep going on, no matter what happens. That's stronger than being able to move rocks and boulders."

"…I guess. But I'm not really that strong. I know I have gotten stronger though."

"Yeah, you've definitely gotten stronger," Claus said confidently.

Lucas flushed a little bit as he grinned, embarrassed but happy with his brother's praise.

Claus's face- it changed- he looked a little worried. "Hey Lucas- do you think I've gotten stronger?"

Stronger? For half a moment, it felt like the word echoed throughout Lucas's brain- but then he smiled. "I'm sure you've gotten stronger Claus. You're here now, aren't you?"

Claus studied his brother's face- then, trusting what he found there, he nodded and smiled. "I still don't think I like this red-eyed guy though."

"Why?"

"Because that was a real pain!" Claus exclaimed, throwing his arms open wide. "Doesn't it irritate you that we had to go through all of that?"

"…not really. That person…I feel sorry for them. Lots of bad things happened to them. I just wanna help them."

Claus groaned. "Lucas, you're way too nice."

"It wasn't their fault they were hurt!" Lucas protested.

It wasn't your fault they did all those things to you! He wanted to say it but the words stuck in his throat and wouldn't come out.

"Yeah, whatever. Just don't get in over your head when you try to help them, okay? Get someone to go with you and help too."

"Like you?" Even though he was still worried, Lucas couldn't help but smile as he asked the question. Even though Claus knew Lucas had gotten stronger and wasn't a weakling, he still thought of himself as the strongest one. Which, for the most part, he was.

"Yup!" Claus grinned with both confidence and sharing the quiet amusement in Lucas's voice. "Or Dad. Or your friends, I guess."

"Or we could all go together."

Claus blinked, and then smiled even wider. "Yeah, that's a good idea Lucas!"

Lucas grinned back and shrugged. "So, I guess we should keep going forward?" he asked, changing the topic.

"Yeah, probably," Claus said, turning to look. "Hey, I think I can even see some light from here!"

Lucas sighed in relief as Claus started leading the way towards the light.

Lucas followed, but at a slower pace, watching his brother as he moved. Something was niggling at his brain, but it just wouldn't come to the surface. The image of that single red eye floated in his brain, refused to go away.

Frustrated, Lucas stopped and shut his eyes, focusing on it.

Okay, one thing at a time. Mom had died. Claus had gone after the Mecha-Drago to try to get revenge- and then he'd disappeared- and then-

-"…that masked man, was he…? Oh well, it doesn't matter."-

-"Lucas. Be happy. I've finally, finally found your brother."-

-"Huh? That monster's name is Claus?"-

-He turned and faced him- and pulled out his sword-

-"Lucas…I hope we meet again someday."-

His eyes shot open in horror as he stared unseeingly at the cave wall.

"Lucas, I've been bad."

"Lucas, did that person hurt you?"

Claus's memories, in worse shape than his own-

His own voice, talking to Kumatora. "Something- something bad happened to Claus, didn't it? Something worse than being lost…"

"Lucas, hurry up!"

Blindly, Lucas ran after his brother, suddenly terrified he would disappear again.

OoOoOo

Why yes, I have seen the Earthbound 64 trailer- and I still think it's a ripoff that we didn't get to have that whole level where you played as Claus and Lucas together. (grumbles)

Remember, if you spot any problems, please tell me so I can fix them. Or you can just tell me you like what I'm doing, if you like what I'm doing of course. Feedback is very much appreciated. And the end to this thing is creeping closer and closer.

Also, while this thing is currently finished (minus revision), I was thinking about maybe adding an alternate ending after the epilogue if anyone's curious. Not that there would be huge major differences between the two, there would be differences enough to qualify it as a different ending.

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https://www.deviantart.com/jblask/art/Circus-for-a-Psycho-433244987

His head ached- pounded as if someone with a temper problem was building a house on his head. And bad as that was, the worry and fear gnawing at his stomach was worse.

Lucas groaned as he slowly began pushing himself to his knees, trying to remember what had happened, why his head hurt so bad- and not just his head, but his whole body, including his heart- his heart hurting worst of all. Instinctively, his fingers grasped at it as he looked up.

For a moment, he stared uncomprehendingly at the huge stone doors in front of them, now open wide enough that a herd of dragos could pass through them easily. And then, suddenly remembering what those doors were, where they were, Lucas turned to his side and saw Claus on the ground next to him.

His brother was lying there, motionless, the Commander's helmet rolling empty on the ground a short distance away. He was so silent and still, it was almost like he was-

Memories that had previously returned suddenly screamed, demanded his attention.

Lucas's life literally flashed before his eyes- things that normally would've been out of reach he remembered-

He remembered being born, following his brother into a strange place, wide and so open, and cold- the voices of their family the only familiar things welcoming them to the world- their grandpa dancing all over the place in his joy, their father crying in happiness as he held his sons for the first time, their mother singing to them-

He remembered growing, remembered learning to walk and talk- remembered watching Claus in curiosity as he began wiggling and inching his way along the floor, then, realizing his brother was getting further away, he began hurriedly trying to follow-

Remembered getting lost in the woods with Claus- they'd been trying to catch a jar full of fireflies because Mom had been complaining about not having enough light to do her work because it'd been getting darker earlier, and they'd thought that the fireflies could help her-

He remembered the day he and Claus turned ten. They'd been so excited- ten had seemed so old, so grownup- remembered going up to visit Grandpa with Mom- remembered the dragos bringing their babies over- remembered beginning the walk back to the village, back home- remembered the Mecha-Drago.

Vaguely, Lucas was aware of his connection to his body- of the reality in the unreality that surrounded them- of tears falling from his eyes. He managed to slowly- slowly reach out-

The memories kept crashing into him with all the force of thunder-

Mom's funeral, Claus's disappearance, Dad returning home with only his shoes-

But Lucas managed to reach out and grab his brother's hand- Claus grasped it like a drowning man to a lifeline, so tight it almost hurt- but it was a lifeline for Lucas too, reminding him that despite the pain flashing in front of his eyes-

Dad leaving to search for Claus again-

The village becoming more and more different, changing so much it was becoming almost unrecognizable-

Despite that, all that was the past- the present was that he and Claus were together- were here, about to finally wake up the Dragon-

The introduction of DP, finding he couldn't just trade anymore- the Old Men's Home, the Pigmasks dragging Grandpa away to make him live there, despite Lucas and Grandpa both protesting that he could just live with Lucas, that he could just sleep in Dad's bed since he never used it anymore anyway-

Learning of Club Titiboo and the possibility that Duster was there- meeting Kumatora again- getting Duster to come with- chasing after the Egg of Light-

Getting mistaken for the Commander- wearing clothes that weren't his but fit just right-

Lucas tightened his grip on his brother's hand convulsively.

Thunder Tower- just for a second, meeting the Commander's eyes before he ran back inside- opening his mouth to cry out to him, to call to him- but then Rope Snake lost his grip, and they fell-

Falling- seeing his mother's ghost in the sunflower field- chasing after her, only to end up falling again-

Seeing Ionia again- learning about the Needles- the chimera research facility- Salsa- and then being reunited with Kumatora-

His first time pulling a Needle- feeling the touch of a mind that was alien, but not so alien- a lonely heart that reached out hesitatingly, tentatively, for his-

Snowcap Mountain- again, meeting the masked man- briefly meeting his eyes- knowing that this was the person pulling the needles- and suddenly understanding why Claus hadn't come home-

Claus's hand dug into his. Lucas gripped it back. He didn't want to see anymore- he didn't- but he couldn't stop-

Saturn Valley- finding and rescuing Duster- battling Fassad-

Pulling his second Needle- again the touch of the strange mind- being recognized as the one from before- and shyly welcomed-

Tanetane Island- the hallucinations- their words echoing in his head as he faced the boy he knew was his brother- too overwhelmed, too exhausted from emotions and battle both to do anything as the lightening rushed towards him-

Finding the village deserted- Ionia-

Getting the Courage Badge back from the Mr. Saturn- lifting it to the light and seeing the word "Franklin" engraved on it-

Finding the Pigmasks already at the temple- the Badge reflecting the lightening- being forced to fight Claus- Claus running away again when the battle was over-

Being taken to New Pork City- learning about the White Ship from Leder, suddenly understanding why the villagers couldn't understand pain, couldn't deal with pain- the interrupted DCMC concert-

Tense, so tense, knowing that Claus was close but not knowing where-

Fighting the Porky bots- the DCMC breaking in at the last minute- the last people who still believed in what was good gathering to face Porky- Porky appearing and taunting them- the trap-

Falling and thinking of Claus, of wings that didn't free, only entangled further-

Dad demanding to go first- only waiting a few minutes before going after him- seeing his hat floating through the air, Lucas felt his heart clench- for a moment so afraid that he'd have to add Dad's hat to the drawer that held the scrap from Mom's dress and Claus's shoes- and then finding him again, battered but alive- hearing him confirm that yes, Claus was the masked man-

Fighting Porky- the Absolutely Safe Capsule-

Going forward- praying with every step he took-

Claus was so close, so very close- finding him, kneeling there in front of the last needle- waiting for him-

Claus turning and unleashing the lightening- the others knocked out- the lightening reflecting off the Franklin Badge and hitting Claus- the fight-

Lucas hadn't been able to bring himself to hit his brother, not even once-

Mom's voice breaking in- her memory washing over them-

Claus's attacks becoming halfhearted- Lucas's hope growing even as his bruises multiplied- Claus was listening, he was beginning to understand, Lucas knew he was-

And then the lightening came for the last time-

Lucas came back to himself fully. Realizing that he was screaming, he collapsed, his free hand grabbing at the ground to keep from falling over.

He was thirteen again. His hands strong from the work he'd done to keep everything going when everyone else had gone away and his gangly body still growing but strong-

Claus!

Lucas had been on his knees. Claus was flat on his face and so still-

Not bearing to think it, Lucas quickly grabbed his brother with his other hand too.

"Claus!" He grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him up slightly, just so his torso was off the cold ground. "Claus!" He shook him. "Claus, look at me!"

There was a horrible familiarity to this. It was far too much like holding onto Claus's body after the fight in front of the final Needle, when Claus had used the Franklin Badge Lucas had been wearing to run away from Lucas for good, to a place he couldn't follow for a long time-

"Claus!" Lucas shook him again, his fingers gripping into his brother's skin, only vaguely aware of the terror in his voice.

Mismatched eyes fluttered- briefly, so briefly that Lucas couldn't even see the color of the eyes beneath- then fluttered again before slowly, slowly opening. His brother's mismatched eyes met his- stared into his- briefly, briefly, before he shut them again. He shut them so tightly like it was almost like a door slammed shut.

"Look at me Claus," Lucas demanded, still scared but now for a different reason. His brother was alive, but-

"…why…why am I- how am I still alive?" He seemed to ask the question of the empty air. His eyes opened again, but didn't met Lucas's. They kept fluttering about, not landing on anything.

"I don't know," Lucas answered just as softly, "I'm just glad you are."

Claus's eyes returned to him before skittering away again. Lucas dropped his eyes, hoping it would help his brother calm down.

Just like how Lucas was thirteen again, now that he had his memories back, Claus was too. He was taller now, though he and Lucas were still the same height, and his right arm, the mechanical one that could change into a cannon, hung heavy at his side. His clothes had changed as well. Actually, both their clothes had changed, although Lucas dressed the same as he had back then, so his clothes might as well have been the same.

But even though Claus was wearing the Commander outfit, he still had the Franklin Badge that Lucas had pinned to his shirt- which had changed into the black jacket he'd worn as the Commander- at the start of this adventure. Remembering everything now, Lucas was really glad he'd insisted on giving on the Badge to Claus.

Claus's eyes followed his line of sight- he saw the Franklin Badge too. For a moment, he stared down at it. Then he whispered something.

Lucas bent closer. "What was that Claus? I couldn't hear you."

"…take it back."

"Huh? Take what back?" he asked, puzzled- and then he knew.

Claus reached up and plucked at the Badge with his fingers gently. "Take it back."

For a moment, Lucas was frozen- not knowing what to say or do- but he did know what he wasn't going to do. He wasn't going to let Claus kill himself again. And the knowledge of what he wasn't going to do led him to the knowledge of what he was going to do.

Lucas shook his head.

"Take it back." There was a begging note in his brother's voice now- almost a plea.

"No," Lucas said simply. "I wore it before. Now it's your turn."

"Lucas, take it back." Claus was pulling at it now, almost yanking at it. Lucas carefully grabbed his hands, mechanical and human both. Claus tried to pull away, but Lucas held on. "Take it back Lucas!"

"No way!"

"I'm not supposed to be alive anymore- I'm supposed to be dead!" Claus yanked himself backwards and one of Lucas's hands slipped off his brother's.

Instead of trying to grab a hold of the cold and slippery mechanical hand again, Lucas drew his fist back and then launched it forward, punching his brother in the face. "How long are you going to be selfish?!"

Claus was knocked back and stared up at him, stunned.

If that was all it took to get Claus's attention, maybe he should've smacked him in the battle in front of the last Needle, Lucas thought briefly, before quickly hugging his brother again. "I'm sorry about hitting you Claus. I just didn't know what else to do to get your attention. You didn't listen to me at all before, when we were at the last Needle. Claus, you used me to kill yourself- used me!"

Claus trembled. Lucas felt the vibrations of it, still holding onto him as tightly as he could.

Lucas was quiet a moment, but when Claus didn't say anything, he went on. "That hurt more than anything. It hurt bad enough when you left me behind when I wanted to go with, and it hurt bad enough when we saw each other after that and you never realized it was me- I know that those times weren't your fault, but it did hurt- and it hurt really bad when I finally caught up to you and all you wanted to do was leave me behind again and this time go somewhere I couldn't follow- but you used me to kill yourself. That hurt more than anything else, even Mom dying. It hurt more than everything else put together! I don't understand Claus- why did you do that? How could you do that?"

Claus didn't respond- didn't move, didn't say anything for a long couple of minutes.

"I missed you so much," Lucas said quietly, unmoving, still hugging his brother as tight as he could. "Sometimes at night, I'd hold your pillow and pretend it was you. After I learned how to cook, I made omelets everyday for a year, made them until I couldn't stand them anymore, hoping you'd somehow smell them and find your way home. Sometimes I'd take Boney on a walk, and I'd tell myself that we'd find you while we were out walking, that you'd be confused and maybe even bruised, but you'd okay, and you'd come home with us and everything would be okay again. And when you didn't come, and Boney and I had to start for home again, I'd tell myself that you'd be at home, waiting for us, that Dad had finally found you, and maybe even Mom was there too, and everyone was wrong about her being dead, the way they were wrong about you being dead. I did things like that until they hurt too much, and then I stopped. But I never stopped waiting for you, kept everything of yours ready for you when you did come back…but you never came home."

Claus was silent a moment longer. And then he sighed, and finally spoke. "I think maybe I thought…maybe I thought that if I beat the monster that hurt Mom, I could get her back. I could get her back and then everything would be okay again."

"I think I know what you mean. When everybody was gathering around Mom's grave and talking about her, I had problems believing it too. I thought that it couldn't be true that Mom was dead. But at the same time… we saw her, before we fell in the river. Even as we called to her…she was already dead." Lucas hugged his brother. "It's not your fault, Claus. Nothing you could have done would've brought Mom home again."

"…I heard Dad's voice. Grandpa's too."

Lucas drew back a little bit, just enough to study his brother and give him a confused look. Of course he'd heard their voices-

Claus shook his head. "After …after the baby drago knocked me off the cliff… I blacked out. Then… I heard voices. Their voices, calling me. But then they went away. When I tried to call out to them- when I tried to follow them- I couldn't."

Lucas hugged his brother again, so tightly Claus grunted as Lucas's head hit his chest.

"When I tried to follow them and couldn't…everything went all dark again…and then I heard Mom calling me and I tried to follow her. And then I woke up and the sky was all dark, and there were these guys leaning over me." Lucas felt his brother shudder. "Mom told me to go to where she was," Claus said quietly. "Do you think she's lonely, Lucas?"

Lucas hesitated. For the first time, he allowed himself to question whether that was really their mom they'd seen back in the sunflower city or just them imagining her. But then he remembered how, in front of the entrance to the caves, the Magicant versions of Duster and Kumatora had told them that they weren't real. She hadn't said anything like that and something as important as that, she surely would have told them right? So she must've been their real Mom.

"I don't know Claus. She's probably with her own mom now, so that probably makes them happy. And she seemed okay when we met her back in the sunflower city, didn't she? You were awake and listening to what she said to us after she sung to us, right?"

"…yes," Claus admitted quietly.

"She told us that she loved us and that she wished we could stay there together, but that she knew that we were needed. The world needs us and Dad needs us, and everybody is waiting for us. And she told us to go and do what we needed to do. So don't worry about Mom. She's okay, and she wants us to be okay," Lucas said firmly. "Besides Claus, you promised me that we were gonna stick together this time, remember? Are you really going to break your promise?"

For moment, Claus froze. Mismatched eyes met Lucas's sky blue ones and there was such pain in his eyes.

Lucas tried not to think of the past- tried not to think of the things that Porky must have done to Claus- tried not to think of the lonely times without him. Lucas focused on the present, here and now as he smiled at his brother. "I know it hurts Claus- you feel bad because of the things you did, the things that Porky told you do to do, right? That's okay. Everybody does things they wish they hadn't done. Like me. I wish I'd insisted- insisted that you not go after the Mecha-Drago or least that you not go by yourself, so that you'd let me come with you. If I'd done that, maybe things would have turned out differently."

His brother's eyes widened, then looked away…but he wasn't trying to pull away anymore.

Slowly- a little hesitantly- Lucas let go- and then reached over and surrounded his older brother with a hug. Claus tensed in his arms, even shuddered a bit.

"It's okay Claus, it's okay."

"No- it's not- not okay."

"But it will be," Lucas said firmly. "We'll make it okay."

"You can't just wave your hands and make this okay Lucas!" Claus pulled away- shoved him away. "Look at me!" Claus demanded, sticking out the mechanical arm. "I'm a freak now!"

Lucas unhesitatingly reached for his outstretched arm and hugged it. "No, you're not. You're my brother. You always were, even when you didn't realize it." He looked up to find Claus staring at him. Not pulling away, but staring at him like he couldn't believe what he was saying either. Lucas let go of the mechanical arm and moved closer before gently tracing his brother's red eye. "I hate what they did to you," Lucas said softly. "But these things- they don't change who you are. You said it yourself Claus. You're more than an arm and you're more than an eye too. Since you're using this arm and this eye to get stuff done, I don't hate them. If there comes a time when you don't need them anymore, I'll be happy, but until that time comes I'll accept them as something of yours."

Claus was still staring at him- but something flickered in his eyes that Lucas thought might have been understanding. He hugged him again, and Claus didn't pull away this time.

"I'm just glad you're still here with me, Claus. I know I can't just wave my hands and make it all better. I can't change the past but we can make things better if we work together. One step at a time, one day at a time. Even if it takes a long, long time, we'd still be making things better, right?"

Claus didn't say anything but he did shift slightly, so his forehead was barely touching Lucas's shoulder as he sighed.

Lucas followed up with what he hoped would be the finishing argument. "Besides, I did promise you that I wouldn't let you do anything stupid, remember? And we still need to go get the Dragon. You're not going to make me face the Dragon all alone, are you?"

Claus straightened up and pulled back a little, which made Lucas tense in worry, until Claus met his eyes and stared at him.

"You're not going to break your promise, right?" Lucas asked again.

"But the Dragon inherited your heart. Won't he be nice?"

"Everybody has dark parts to their hearts Claus." Claus looked thoughtful, and Lucas pressed on. "Besides, your heart got passed onto the Dragon too, remember? So you need to come with me to help me explain to the Dragon. If you feel bad about something, you shouldn't sit there feeling sorry for yourself- you should do something about it, right?"

Claus looked down, trembling and looking shamed again.

Lucas reached forward and hugged him again.

"It's not- it's not like picking flowers from Dona's garden, Lucas! That guy- he was the one responsible for Mom's death- and yet I worked for him. I called him master. I did- I did so many things for him. Bad things-" Claus shuddered again and Lucas gripped him tightly, half afraid he was going to shake himself apart. "I even hurt you- hurt you more than once! I can't be forgiven."

"I forgive you. I forgave you a long time ago."

"You're my brother." At least there was something other than pain and shame in his voice now.

"Yeah, and your point is? Duster- ever since he found out, he's just been worried sick about you. Kumatora did get kinda mad, but she was worried about you too. She might yell a bit, but that's only because she cares. She wants you to come back too. Even though the two of you don't really know each other, she wants to be friends with you. And Dad'll be so happy to see you, it'll be a long time before it'll even occur to him to think about the things you've done. They're all waiting to forgive you, Claus."

"…what about the rest of the village?"

"Grandpa and Boney will just be happy you're okay. Mr. Wess might get a little like Kumatora- he might scold you, but he'll mostly be happy you're okay. Mr. Lighter and Fuel will feel the same way…to be honest, I don't really know about the others, but I don't really care."

Now Claus broke away and stared at him, completely shocked.

Lucas shrugged. "You're more important to me than they are. And if you've apologized and asked for forgiveness, you've done your part. Whether or not they forgive you is their own decision. You can't control other people's reactions, only your own."

Claus sat there, staring at the ground, thinking.

Lucas did his best to wait patiently and give Claus all the time he needed. But it was hard. He itched with the urge to do something- anything- to help his brother.

But it was Claus's turn now. His time to make a choice. Of course, Lucas wouldn't let him commit suicide. He'd knock his brother out if he tried and deal with the Dragon himself. But Claus needed the chance to think for himself, because Porky and his minions had done their best to take away all thought from him for so long.

"I-" Claus said suddenly as his fists tightened and his whole body trembled, "I- I don't know, Lucas. You might have a better chance if you face the Dragon by yourself. If I'm not there. But- but if the Dragon- if it inherited your heart but doesn't understand it- if it wants to be mean…maybe I should come with you. After the Dragon…let's see what happens with the Dragon." He looked down at the Franklin Badge again, then back at Lucas. "Take it back?" he asked quietly.

Lucas hesitated. "I won't make you wear it if you don't want to, but…you know what? I can keep it safe in one of my pockets for a while."

Claus looked at him for a moment- looked down at the Badge- then looked up again. "No. You should wear it. What if the Dragon shoots lightening? And I-" he shifted again, "I promise I won't- I won't-"

"Shoot lightening at me so it'll reflect off the badge and hit you, thus killing yourself?" Lucas spoke softly, but without hesitation or trembling. "That's good. Because that hurt more than anything else you'd ever done. It hurt more than you leaving me behind, more than you attacking me, more than you attacking my friends…if you did that again-" his hands trembled, just a bit, before he looked down at them and made them stop.

He looked up again to find that Claus had removed the Franklin Badge from his jacket and was holding it out to him.

His big brother wasn't trembling. His eyes were large- vulnerable still- but he met Lucas's eyes without looking away and he wasn't trembling. "I promise I won't do that. I-I don't know what's going to happen next- but I promise I won't do that again."

"…you promised you were going to stick with me too, remember?"

"…I remember. I'll- I'll do my best to stick with you. For as long as I can."

That could mean a couple different things, but that was probably as good as he was going to get. And it was true that you couldn't control everything in life, that some things happened no matter what you promised, so Lucas held up his fist. "Do the secret handshake."

Claus stared at him- then looked at the fist- then smiled wryly. He held out his fist and they did it.

"Brothers forever," Lucas said softly.

Claus lowered his fist -stared at it- and then smiled. "Brothers forever."

Lucas leaned forward and hugged him. "I'm so glad you're alive. Me and Dad- we waited for you and worried about you so long-"

"I can't change what I've done. Can't change my past-"

"No, you can't," Lucas agreed. He gave Claus one last hug before he stood up and held out his hand. "But you can change what you're doing right now and you can change what you do in the future."

Claus stared at him, then at his outstretched hand- and then the ghost of his old smile came back. "Change what I'm doing right now, huh?" he asked softly, then took Lucas's hand.

Lucas pulled him to his feet. "Yep. Best way to change the future is to change what you're doing right now," he said, smiling back.

"…Lucas."

"Yes?"

"You've really become strong."

"…not that strong."

"Yeah, that strong," Claus disagreed softly, still smiling with that ghost of a smile- even looking a little proud- then turned to look around them. "So, we're still here, I see." He gestured at the doors ahead of them.

Lucas nodded.

The area beyond the doors looked like continuation of the cave, only darker and a little damper. In the distance, past the doors, there was a form ahead of them. It was so barely visible Lucas couldn't be sure of anything except it was there.

"What a place to be sleeping, huh?"

"Well, now we know the Dragon will be happy to get out of here," Claus agreed softly.

"Yeah." Lucas turned back to his brother. "Are you ready, Claus?"

Claus glanced at the shrouded form of the Dragon. He looked a little uncomfortable. "I guess I'd better be…" he sighed, and then breathed out- breathed in. "Okay- let's finish this."

"Let's finish this and go home," Lucas agreed. "Everyone's waiting for us."

"Waiting for us?" Claus trembled just a bit- then shook his head and tightened his fists, determined. "…there are still things I need to do. Apologies I need to make."

"That's not all you need to do," Lucas said quietly, firmly.

Claus looked at him and Lucas relaxed a little, seeing the look on his face. Pained- vulnerable still, but not quite as vulnerable- and no longer helpless. "…I …I want to do things other than apologize. I don't know what to do, but-"

"We'll find a way," Lucas promised, putting his hands on his brother's shoulders. "We'll find a way."

Claus looked at him- smiled, just a little- and he nodded. "Thanks Lucas."

Lucas nodded, and they turned to face the Dragon again.

"Here goes everything," Claus muttered, as he stepped forward- and there was the sound of his boot hitting something that was not a rock. He looked down and Lucas turned to look too.

The helmet rocked slightly at his brother's feet.

Claus stared down at it a moment, then, ever so slightly, smirked. "I don't need this stupid thing anymore." He kicked the helmet, sending it skittering far away, out of sight, before turning back to Lucas, still with that tiny smirk.

Lucas smiled back and held out his hand.

Claus looked down at a moment, slightly surprised and then sighed even as his smile returned and he took it.

And the brothers continued forward. They walked past the doors, into the darkness that was strong enough to make them walk slowly, but not strong enough that it could make them stop.

The closer they got, the smaller the shape seemed to get. Smaller and smaller- until the shape didn't seem big enough to belong to a drago, let alone a dragon with the power to save or doom the world.

And what was that noise?

The twins came to a stop as they recognized it.

Crying. Someone- someone small- was crying.

For a moment, Lucas remembered Tanetane Island, standing frozen next to the mailbox, listening to the sound of himself crying-

And then he moved forward. Taking big strides, knowing that Claus- surprised but determined not to be left behind- was following only a step behind. And then he found the one who was crying. They were huddled on the ground, curling into a ball as they cried.

Slowly, Lucas knelt down and gently put his hand on where he guessed their head to be. "Hey, you okay?"

It was like a light switched on- suddenly, there was more than enough light around to see everything.

Their eyes met. The twins stared, and were stared at in turn.

"You came." It was quiet- spoken in a tone of not-quite belief or disbelief.

Lucas nodded. "We came," he affirmed.

"You're a girl," Claus said bluntly.

She was small, as young as Alle from the village- blonde and green-eyed- she scowled up at him halfheartedly. "Yes, I am," she said- in a tone that was probably supposed to sound dignified, and probably would have been dignified if it hadn't been for the sniffles that broke through her voice every now and then.

"I thought you'd be a guy," Claus said, still in a dumbfounded voice.

Lucas winced. Not the smartest thing to say.

The girl's scowl became more pronounced. Lucas broke in quickly.

"What's your name?"

She blinked.

"What's your name?" Lucas asked again, softer this time.

"I- I don't have a name. I'm just the Dragon."

…this girl, this small fragile being, who may not have been human but had nothing to distinguish her from a human either- she'd been denied a name?

"No name?" Claus echoed- and Lucas could tell his brother was thinking the same thing he was. When the Pigmask army had their hands on Claus, they hadn't used or acknowledged his name at all-

Apparently the dragon-girl could read their faces- or maybe even their minds. "It isn't like that! They kept expecting my parents to come back and name me, but they never did. And then they discovered that I had the power to do things…change things…and they were the only family I'd ever known, so I tried to help them. But…but I guess I didn't do so well…didn't do a good job of helping them. I think that's why I got sealed away…why those weird people came and sealed me away into the earth…"

"Okay…" Lucas said slowly, thoughtfully. "I guess I understand. But how old are you?"

The girl shrugged.

"You don't look like a dragon," Claus said.

The girl flinched and looked down, hiding her face.

Lucas elbowed Claus in the side, but then the girl spoke again.

"I…I don't want to be a dragon. As a dragon, I'm all alone, the only one like me, and everybody's scared of me. But if I'm human, then people won't be scared of me, and then maybe they'll like me." She beamed at the thought.

"You might lose all your powers," Claus warned.

"So? They only caused problems anyway."

"There's mean humans too," Lucas said softly.

"…I know," the girl answered just as softly. "But no matter what you are, there's always going to be a bad member of your group. There were bad dragons too, back when there actually were dragons." She lifted her head, just a little bit- peeked at them. "…and if I…if I'm a human…can I come with you guys?"

Both twins stared at her. She was meeting their eyes now- trembling, but hopeful-

Claus and Lucas looked at each other- Lucas saw in his eyes the same hope and fear that he felt- the same way the dragon girl felt.

"You know…" Lucas said quietly, looking from his brother to the dragon girl and then back again, speaking to both of them. "Right before I pulled the last Needle, Dad said that nothing needed to be sealed away anymore. He said "let's make the Dark Dragon sealed underground our new friend." And he was right." He gave the dragon girl a smile before turning back to his brother. "Claus, what's a good girl name?"

Claus gave him a look. "How would I know?"

"Good point. But I don't really know any good girl names that aren't already in use- oh! How about the name Violet?"

"Violet?" asked the dragon girl, curious and hopeful.

"Huh…Violet." Claus said thoughtfully, "not a bad name. It's pretty, sounds girly, and it's a flower name."

"Think Dad will like it?" Lucas asked, a little bit nervous. He knew they were doing the right thing, but he was still worried a little about how it would all turn out.

Claus nodded slowly.

Two small hands grasped one of their hands each. "I- I can come with you?"

"Yep," both twins said, smiling down at her.

"We woke you up, so we should take responsibility right?" Lucas said with a smile.

"Besides, it's not like we're normal either," Claus added with a grin. "So we make a good match."

Tears started escaping from the dragon- from Violet's eyes. Lucas quickly, gently, hugged her.

"I know," he told her softly. "I know. It must have been lonely, sleeping all by yourself in the dark, but you're awake now. And we're here too. We've all- all three of us- have been lonely, been all by ourselves, but not anymore."

Tentatively, Claus hugged both of them and smiled when they hugged him back and rested against him.

"We'll always have each other from now on," Lucas promised quietly, gripping both Claus and Violet, and he felt more than saw Claus nod in agreement and Violet hugged both of them tighter.

They stayed like that for a while- then shifted, slightly, finding more comfortable positions.

"Lucas?" Claus asked quietly.

"Yeah Claus?"

"…thanks."

"…for what?"

Claus snorted fondly and rolled his eyes, as if the answer was obvious. "For not giving up. For believing in me."

"Lucas is heroic," agreed Violet.

Lucas ducked his head, embarrassed. He hadn't done anything that special. Just what anyone else would have done, right? Well…maybe not everyone. But he'd only been trying to do the right thing- it wasn't like he was a hero or anything- he was just Lucas.

Still, he knew he'd grown and had gotten a little stronger. But Lucas had only gone on the journey because someone needed to go find out if that was Duster at the Club, and if was, tell him that his dad did miss him, even if he was bad at expressing it. Lucas had only gone because someone needed to go, and no one else could do it but him. He hadn't known anything about where to find Claus or the Needles or anything. He'd just stumbled into them.

But the important thing was that now, at this journey's end, everything would be okay. Now the house would feel like home, and wouldn't feel so empty and swallowing. Claus was safe, and Violet wasn't trapped and alone anymore. None of them were trapped and alone anymore.

Even though Lucas had just stumbled into the journey, into what needed to be done, and even though he hadn't done that good a job, he'd managed to keep everything from falling apart in the end.

Everyone was okay, and that was the most important thing.

Suddenly, Violet twitched and jerked upright, looking around. "Someone's trying to break in!"

"It's probably Duster and that girl," Claus suggested, standing up.

A strange noise echoed in the distance. The sound caused shivers on the twins' spines.

Lucas's mind spun but he couldn't figure it out. Had it been someone yelling? The only thing Lucas was sure of was that it was a bad sign.

"No- not them. It's not your friends," Violet said, shivering a bit. "It's something scary."

The sound came again. The room shook and the floor quaked underneath them.

Violet shrieked and flung herself at Lucas who caught her. He made sure she was okay, then turned to Claus.

His big brother was scanning the room- looking a little worried and kind of mad. "So much for thinking it'd be over once we woke the Dragon," he muttered- and then he turned white.

"Claus?"

"…Lucas, you know what I said before- that we'd finally avenged Mom?"

"Yeah…"

"I was wrong. That was just our minds conjuring up Porky, trying to find closure. He's still out there-" Claus swallowed. "Actually, more accurately, he's in here."

Another shake, this one more violent, threatening to throw them off their feet.

Once that was over, Lucas gave Violet a quick hug then jumped up. "Violet, find a good place to hide, okay?"

"Lucas-" she started and Claus turned to look at him, face torn by conflicting feelings.

"If the two of us fight together," Lucas said, smiling at Violet but directing his words to both her and Claus. "We'll beat him quicker, and the quicker we beat him, the quicker we can all go home."

Claus's eyes flickered from Lucas to the littlest member of their party. "Violet- can you use your powers to hide and defend yourself?"

She nodded unhappily.

Claus spoke swiftly, but softly. "Find some place to hide and stay there. Lucas and I will finish this as quickly as we can, and then we'll all go home and introduce you to everyone, okay? But until we're done, you need to hide and keep yourself safe."

"Don't worry about us," Lucas added with a smile, "We'll be careful."

She nodded, still reluctant, but slightly less so. She turned and darted into the darkness.

The twins turned to face the source of the groaning and rumbling, just as the wall crumbled and fell away and revealed the one behind it all.

Porky Minch.

But a very changed Porky Minch from the one they'd seen before. His face bulged with green glowing veins across his cheeks, his arms and legs ended in spider-like legs, hands and feet twisted beyond recognition, looking just like blades now- they resembled the legs of the mech he'd been in before- had he fused with it? - his back towards the ceiling and his stomach towards the floor, he faced them.

He opened his mouth and teeth, no longer human, sharper and longer than before, gleamed at them. "Hello toys."

For a moment, stunned, neither of the boys could move.

"Say, you look familiar toy. Have I played with you before?" Porky tilted his head to the side- then his smile grew, getting bigger and bigger until it looked like it was going to blow up. "Oh wait. You're that blond crybaby from before. The one who thinks he's a hero. Oh, and isn't that my adorable little monster with you?"

Silently, Lucas shoved Claus behind him.

"Hey slave, where's your helmet? I told you you're supposed to wear it at all times."

Behind him, Claus was quiet- Lucas could hear him breathing. Then one hand landed on his shoulder and gripped it tightly.

Lucas reached up and covered his brother's hand with his own, not taking his eyes off the one in front of them. Porky looked so twisted now…

"What are you doing over there, slave? Oh, are you holding onto that blond toy to make it easier for me to play with him?"

For a moment, Claus's hand gripped his shoulder more tightly. "Don't." It was spoken levelly, firmly- as a warning.

"Do you remember what I told you before, Porky?" Lucas asked quietly, keeping his hand on his brother's.

"I vaguely remember you babbling about something before, but I completely forgot what it was!" Porky giggled. "Now- give me the Dragon. It's time to make this world disappear."

"Not going to happen," Lucas said quietly.

"Well, I was going to kill you anyway," Porky said carelessly, then giggled again. "I guess I'll just have more fun with that than I was planning."

Before Lucas could respond to that, he found himself hauled backwards- found Claus standing in front of him, arms spread protectively.

"Oh, slave, I forgot you were there. Actually, why don't you go get the Dragon for me and bring it here while I deal with this one? I'll have fun making him scream for his mommy."

"Not going to happen," Claus said, not moving.

Porky tilted his head to the side. His smile remained- but it shifted slightly. "I told you to do something slave."

"Quit calling me that. You can't tell me what to do anymore. I will never do what you say anymore."

Still smiling, Porky took a step towards them- Lucas jumped out from behind Claus and pulled out his bat, holding it out in front of him, ready to fight.

"Lucas-"

"We're sticking together this time, remember?" Lucas said, not taking his eyes off of Porky, who was still smiling, who had stopped to watch them. Not as if they were a threat, but more as if they were amusing and he wanted to see what they would do next.

Beside him, Claus gave a deep sigh. "Right." And then he pulled the energy sword. It glowed, almost like the Needles had- the light danced on the floor in front of them.

Claus was silent for a moment, then he stepped forward- held the sword ever so slightly in front of Lucas- and even though he didn't turn to see it happen, Lucas could hear the sound of the mechanical arm transforming. "We're going to do this just like before, remember? You stay back and use your PSI to attack from a distance, while I keep him busy with physical attacks."

"…are you sure, Claus?"

For a brief moment, his brother was silent- and then he turned around and met his eyes. "Lucas- trust me."

Surprised, Lucas blinked, and then he smiled. And nodded.

Claus smiled back- briefly- before turning around to face Porky again.

The Pig King was still smiling, looking unconcerned about what had happened in front of him, even though he had to realize what it meant. "I guess I'll just have to get rid of both of you then. You were going to disappear with the rest of the world anyway slave, so it's not like anything's really changed for you in the end." Then, ponderously, he started towards them.

"Stay away from my brother!" both twins yelled, "PK Love omega!"

Porky Minch had lost all trace of his humanity long before either Claus or Lucas had met him. Now his outside fully matched his inside.

Their dual attack smashed into him, but he didn't even stumble- barely seemed to notice it.

"No way- our strongest attack-"

Lucas grabbed Claus and pulled him out of the way as Porky's attack streaked at them.

His giggles seemed to fill the cavern. They too were different- even more high-pitched then before- with odd mechanical undertones.

"PK Flash!" Lucas yelled, trying to at least slow him down. No effect.

"PK Thunder!" Claus tried. Still no effect.

The boys dodged again as Porky lurched close to them. Lucas getting further away, Claus using the wings to jump into the air above Porky and then dropping down, swinging the energy sword as he did so. It just bounced off.

Porky giggled as he hit Claus with one of his legs, sending him flying across the room, then giggled again when Lucas caught him, the momentum knocking them both over.

"I don't understand why you're so mad, slave," Porky said as they began picking themselves up, Lucas healing both of them as they stumbled to their feet. "I gave you power, after all. I told everyone to listen to you. Isn't it fun to boss people around, to tell them what to do?"

Claus stiffened- his arm shot out, but Lucas grabbed it- held him back as he began raising their defenses as much as he could.

"I do remember you crying a lot when I first got you," Porky said almost thoughtfully, as he slowly started towards them again. "But of course my scientists and doctors worked on you and improved you. Didn't you feel better when you forgot everything but what I told you? You stopped crying then."

"Wrong," Claus said tightly, "I just stopped crying in front of you, because I knew it wouldn't do anything. Lucas-"

Lucas nodded reluctantly- he'd finished with their defenses, but not the shields- and let go of his brother's arm.

Claus quickly yanked the cannon into position and fired off a blast, incinerating one of the smaller stalagmites standing about, and the resulting dust cloud gave them cover.

When it cleared, Porky looked around. "Oh toys~? Where'd you go?" he giggled as he crept forward, the spider legs close to him. "This is just like hide and seek."

"Why do you want Vio- the dragon's power?" Lucas asked, still working on increasing their shields. Beside him, Claus gave him an unhappy look for even asking the question, before tossing a rock in the other direction to distract Porky.

"Why not?" Porky asked, following the sound of the rock, heading away from the large stalagmite they were hiding behind. "It's power, and all power should be mine. But you never answered my question. Why don't you like me?"

"Why don't I like you?" Claus asked disbelievingly. "Why would I like you? You kept me locked up, you tortured me, you kept me away from my father and my brother, you caused the death of our mom-"

"Caused the death of your mom? I don't remember that. Must not have been much fun if I can't remember. Refresh my memory- how did I kill her?"

The brothers looked at each other, and Lucas shook his head.

Porky didn't need to know- he didn't want Porky to know. Porky would just make fun of her, of the way she died, the way he made fun of everyone and everything else-

"You should thank me anyway. I had a mom once- but she didn't even notice when I was gone." Slowly, Porky came to a stop. He didn't move at all. Just stared at the ground. "She didn't believe the things I told her even when they were true. She was always yelling and complaining… she didn't like me either." He turned and hit one of the stalagmites, and then hit it again- on the third hit, it fell apart.

Lucas's hand clutched at Claus's shoulder.

"She doesn't sound like a very good mom."

Lucas wasn't really sure which one of them had spoken, but the words seemed to echo around the cavern for a moment.

Porky didn't say anything for a moment- didn't move for a moment- and when he did, he turned around and looked in their direction. His smile was as wide as ever. "Everyone is like that. Mommies and daddies and friends and teachers… I bet even my little brother didn't miss me when I left. My message to Ness probably was thrown in the trash."

"Not everyone is like that," Claus said quietly.

"I don't know your parents or your brother, or who Ness is, so I can't talk about them," Lucas said in the same tone. "But I can tell you for sure that not everyone is like that."

It was a chilling feeling. Pieces were connecting together in his brain, as Lucas was beginning to understand why Porky acted the way he did.

"Nope, everyone is like that," Porky said, still searching for them, coming closer as he searched. "Your mom was like that too, no doubt."

"She wasn't," Claus said- and the pity from before was beginning to drain from his voice. "She died protecting us."

"You keep telling yourself that. She probably died just to get away from you." The utter lack of caring in his voice made the words even more stabbing than they already were.

Claus snapped to his feet but before he could move away, Lucas grabbed his arm. Claus spun to face him, but then Lucas raised both their offenses. Then he got to his feet, casting Refresh on both of them as he did so, and then gently pretended to slap Claus on the head.

Claus nodded, smiling a little bit at his brother- somewhat wryly- before turning back to Porky.

Lucas took the left side of the rock and Claus the right. They didn't need to count. They dashed out at the same time without any prompting.

"PK Love omega!"

Even with their offenses raised, it still was only enough to make Porky stumble. Claus added his cannon blast to the blow, and Lucas used PK Love again, as Claus dashed at Porky and he stayed further back, focusing on PSI attacks.

Porky giggled as he dodged Claus's sword. "Better slave, but still not good enough."

"Quit calling me that!"

"PK Love omega!" Lucas called, aiming at Porky's feet, then smirking as he fell.

Claus jumped at him, and the blade managed to pierce his skin, but even as Claus landed and prepared to do it again, Porky stood up- and the wound healed.

He giggled at the looks on their faces. "See toys? You can't win. It doesn't matter anymore that no one likes me. They can't hurt me. Even the ones who say they like me really don't. Since no one can be trusted, it might as well just be me and the dragon in an empty world."

"I've got news for you Porky! The reason nobody likes you is because you just hurt them until they say they do! But they don't mean it- how could they, after all you did to them? You just end up making them lie to you to get you to stop hurting them. That's all."

"You call yourself a king, and you might get people to do what you say, but in the end, you don't have any real power at all," Lucas said quietly. He thought he might be able to see it now- the pattern that had led to Porky being here- at this time and this place and being the monster that he was.

At another time, another place, before he made the decisions that turned him into this monster- we would have felt sorry for him. We might've even been friends. But pity won't erase the things he's done, and pity won't change the fact that we can't trust him- won't change the fact that he's evil.

Porky's face twisted. "I'll show you what power I have!"

The explosion seemed to come from nowhere, tossing the two of them against the wall.

"Who needs other people anyway? They never needed me, never wanted me. Who cares about them? Not me. I don't need anyone."

Lucas began pushing himself to his feet, casting PK Lifeup omega as he did so.

"Everybody who doesn't like me is about to disappear," Porky went on, drawing closer. "The two of you will just be the first, and the ones who go in the most pain!" Another attack of the same kind followed right after his words, one the brothers barely dodged.

"There's got to be some way to kill him!" Claus cried, frustrated.

"Should we try PK Love again?" Lucas asked anxiously as Porky slowly turned to face them.

"You can't hurt me~" he chanted, sing-song, his grin demented. "And I'm going to kill you."

"…Lucas. Maybe you should take Violet and-"

"No!" Lucas shouted, turning to face his brother, "No! We're going to make it out of this together!"

"I won't let either of you die!" In his brother's eyes, Lucas could see the same fear that haunted him- the fear of loosing the people he loved, the fear of failing them-

"You won't. Trust us," he said it softly, but Claus seemed to understand. His eyes widened- he still looked torn, but he gave a halfhearted nod-

"Claus? Lucas?" Violet called, peeking out from the rock she was hiding behind.

"Violet, get back!"

"Lucas, go to her," Claus ordered as the boys dodged again.

"I won't-"

"Just to make sure she understands," Claus said, meeting his eyes straightforwardly. "That guy- he's the type who won't only target little girls, but will think it's funny."

Lucas nodded reluctantly and dodged back to run to where Violet was.

She flung her arms around him. "Your attacks aren't working!"

"We noticed," Lucas said gently, pulling her further away from the fight.

"How are you going to win?"

"We'll find a way."

Something seemed to be on her mind. She looked from Lucas to the fight and then back again.

"…even if- even if your powers don't work- maybe the powers of a dragon could."

"I don't want you to fight," Lucas said quickly, and then wondered if that was such a good idea. It wouldn't do Violet- or anyone else- any good if they got killed. But he didn't want her to put herself in danger either-

"I could try to give it to you…"

"Huh?"

"The power of a dragon."

Lucas blinked at her, then turned to stare at the fight. Claus dodged once again, narrowly missing being chopped open by one of Porky's leg blades.

Lucas turned back to Violet and gave a determined nod.

Violet reached out both her hands and he took them.

He felt it immediately- a tingle that began where their hands met and spread out from there.

it felt almost learning PSI for the first time- a power surging through you that suddenly you understood- the difference was that PSI was a part of you, had been since before you were born- and this power, while friendly, was something very different from you.

Lucas suppressed a cry but was unable to avoid grunting in pain as the power finished flowing into him. He stumbled away from Violet and fell to his knees and hands, shuddering as fire swamped his body and changed it-

"Lucas!" he looked up- forced himself to look up- saw Claus staring at him worriedly. And behind him, looming up like a killer wave, Porky.

"Let's play some more, slave. The same games as before, remember?"

Giving a battle cry that shook the cavern, Lucas flung himself at the monster- soared over Claus's head, his older brother staring at him open mouthed as he did so- reached the Pig King, who was not afraid, who was just smiling at him. A foolish choice.

Lucas dug his claws into the machine shell that covered Porky's lower parts- he pulled the outer layer of it off and it clattered onto the floor as Porky stumbled back, still smiling, still giggling, but he wobbled and he stumbled-

Behind him, Lucas heard the voices of his siblings- heard both Claus and Violet- but he didn't understand what they said, couldn't focus on what they said because Porky was a threat, was the threat, the one who wanted to hurt everybody-

Lucas leaped at him again, but Porky kept smiling-

And then it felt like something picked him up and he was thrown back, like a giant hand had smacked him. He hit a stalagmite. The impact stunned him, and Porky had followed him and jumped on top of him and pinned him to the ground.

Porky was close too close- and then something slammed into them like a train, knocking Porky away. It was another dragon, red and magnificent- this dragon hovered in front of Lucas protectively and roared defiantly for all to hear.

There was no time to look, to ask- Porky was already jumping to his many feet, swaying from one side to the other.

"I can't die. I will never die." The voice went from high and squeaky- nails against a chalkboard - to down the scale- deep and dark and wrong- "I will live forever and ever, and there is nothing you can do to stop me."

The red dragon shot forward in response and Lucas followed his brother.

Porky just kept smiling- shot off another of the strange attacks from before- Lucas didn't know if it was a PK attack or not- it was so weird- but there was no time to analyze it now-

Both Lucas and Claus responded with PK Love, the psychic attack magnified by the dragon power running through their veins.

Their attack sent Porky tumbling, head over heels- and they followed that attack with another of the same.

Still tumbling through the air, Porky released a cloud of powder, sending it speeding towards them- a sick yellow green color-

Lucas's eyes stung briefly, then stopped- but he was only on the edge of the attack- Claus was hit worse, and he tensed- began to freeze up, started to stumble, but Lucas healed him as he flew and Claus jumped to his feet and they continued the chase together.

Porky was standing on top of a rock formation, smirking, his mouth stretching like an eerie smile. "I can't die. Even if you manage to hurt me, you can't kill me."

Not even bothering to respond with words, Lucas and Claus threw themselves at him, their new wings speeding them on faster than ever before.

Lucas grabbed Porky and smashed him into the wall and then Claus scooped him up and flew to the top of the cavern and then dropped him.

Porky plummeted to the ground. He pushed himself upright, then fell again, but remained upright and kept grinning at them. "I bet you're wondering how I got out of the Absolutely Safe Capsule, aren't you toys?"

As a matter of fact, the Absolutely Safe Capsule and the fact that Porky was supposed to be stuck inside of it forever had slipped Lucas's mind. He'd been more focused on Claus and what was going on with him.

Since the answer might be important, Lucas prepared a PK Love but held onto it, not planning to release it until Porky answered his own question.

Above them, Claus circled through the air, not changing course- stayed right above them, watching and ready.

"I ate it," Porky said, still grinning. "I ate it, and it's a part of me now too. I'm different now, haven't you noticed? I used to cough all the time, but now I feel so much better. I wonder if it's because of the Dragon waking up so close to where I was?" Porky tilted his head to the side as if he was thinking about it, and then his smile stretched out even wider somehow- and then sent off another of those weird attacks, one of the ones that felt like being shoved by a giant hand.

Lucas countered by releasing the PK Love and above them Claus opened his mouth and unleashed a rain of fire on Porky. When he finished and all they could see was a crackling sea of flames, Claus landed next to Lucas, a very satisfied look on his face.

The two brothers watched the fire burn for a couple moments, then Lucas turned away, intending to go back to Violet and make she was okay and then find out what to do next-

But then the flames began moving. Porky crawled out of the flames, shaking them off himself.

"Ow, that hurt," he whined as he finished, then turned to look at them. "That may have hurt toys, but I'm still not dead. See? You really can't kill me."

Claus opened his mouth and the flames roared out again and Lucas- not sure he could but will to try- opened his mouth too, and a stream of ice instead of fire shot out.

But Porky- changed again, now on even more legs than before, smaller legs that were closer to the ground- giggled and crawled away as fast as a blink, heading straight for the hole he'd entered in. "Come and try to catch me, toys who think they're heroes!"

Without needing to talk about it, Claus shot after him, and Lucas paused only a moment, only looking around long enough to look behind him and there was Violet, peeking out from behind one of the rocks, staring up at him, just as he knew she would be.

He nodded to her- smiled with dragon's teeth- letting her know that they hadn't forgotten her, that they would be right back- and then he took off after his brother. He shot up through the tunnel and into the light.

Finally out in the fresh air again, Lucas stretched as he soared towards his brother, just ahead of him. Yes, this was the world, blue skies and embracing ocean, the world that they wanted to show Violet-

But Porky was still there, scurrying along the ground with his giggles trailing after him the same way a slug left behind a trail of slime.

They dived at him, first hitting him with their dragon's breath and then following that with PK Loves.

Claus's flame just missed Porky, who dodged it just in time- looking more bug like with every move he made- but Lucas's ice covered a patch of earth in front of him, causing him to slip and then the brothers both nailed him with PK Loves.

One leg dropped off and then another. Porky wobbled for a moment then jumped, narrowly avoiding another attack.

The Pig King's whole body was changing, Lucas realized- like the rest of his body was being used as fuel to supply the parts of him that were being used to fight and run away-

Claus swooped low, strafing him with dozens of lightening bolts, more than he'd ever been able to do before.

Some of them missed, of course, but many of them hit.

Lucas shot ahead- managing to get ahead of even Porky- he flipped around in midair and shot off a PK Flash.

The bright light blinded him temporally, causing him to stumble. Claus dived down for the kill, but Porky tucked his legs up as he fell, rolling like a ball down the side of the cliff.

The brothers followed, sending both dragon breath and psychic attacks after him as they flew.

Porky was changing again- skin turning grey and shiny- almost matching the bug like machine legs he had now.

Claus summoned the lightening again but the bolts just bounced off.

Porky had grown himself a protective shell almost covering his whole body now, one that would be difficult to crack.

The dragon breath didn't seem to fare any better- the PK Loves shoved him and dented him, but before they could do it again, he arrived at the bottom and they kept following.

It was a junkyard, like the place where they'd found the Egg of Light before.

"Oh look what I've found toys!" Porky's voice echoed, sounding even weirder from behind the protective shell. "I've found the perfect place to kill the two of you. You're junk and this junkyard is a perfect place to leave broken toys."

Enraged, Claus unleashed the strongest PK Love he could and Lucas followed his lead-

It knocked him back but he only giggled and grinned wider at them. "Is that the best you can do?"

Claus was preparing another attack, but Lucas was pausing, was hoping he was imagining it, but he wasn't. The machines closest to Porky were beginning to move along the ground, pulled by an unseen force, pulling them closer and closer to Porky- until they were sucked in, and with each machine that was sucked in, he got bigger.

Claus- now realizing what was going on- changed tactics, targeting the machines around them instead-

"Too late~! Too late now~!" Porky chanted as some machines exploded from the twins' attacks and others got sucked in anyway, "You can't kill me, you can't-" a well timed and well aimed PK Love interrupted him and knocked him back- but only a step.

Starting at the ground around Porky and then spreading out to include the entire area, Lucas covered everything with ice. Porky broke out of the ice prison quickly, but not before Claus nailed him with an omega level PK Love, and just as importantly, Lucas had deprived him of a safe place to stand.

Claus swooped down and breathed fire as he flew- targeting Porky's legs on the right side, making them glow white hot.

The machines trapped underneath the ice began to quiver, but before they could break through, Claus dived past, burning as he flew and Porky howled as his right legs were sheared off and lay smoking on the ground.

Lucas shot off another PK Love and Porky fell- and then without moving, Porky used one of those strange attacks, and that invisible force tossed both Claus and Lucas, knocking them both out of the air. They tumbled along the ground- Claus being closer to the ground when the attack came and thus falling from a shorter height, bounced back to his feet first, with Lucas quickly following.

Porky was upright, and he had re-grown his legs, but he was also smaller than he'd been before, and he was scowling at them.

"Okay, toys, don't think that just because you managed to hurt me a little means you can beat me- hey, I'm still talking here!" the protest came when Claus took off into the sky again, summoning more lightening, and Lucas grinned as he strengthened both their shields as much as he could.

Claus dove closer to Porky, trying to the left what he'd done to the right - Porky sent off another attack, a beam of bright light, but Claus dodged and kept up the fire, and Porky's left set of legs ended up the ground too. Lucas used an omega level PK Love, blasting so that only ashes were left.

Porky roared- voice distorting even more- he twisted, beginning to change even more, but not wanting to give him the chance, knowing that would be a bad idea, both twins began pummeling him with everything they had-

Porky was blown backwards, blown out of the junkyard. Lay unmoving on the ground.

Lucas approached him cautiously, noticing the trail of machine parts that led to where he was laying. For a moment, he wondered if they'd actually succeeded in killing him, but then the boy that had become a monster and called himself king looked up at him, face twisted in a rage and pale and strange looking.

"Ugly human! You can't kill me! I will never die!"

Lucas just snorted and stepped forward, onto what had been the front of the mech, the part that stuck out, flipping him up in the air and then head butting Porky, like the balls he and Claus had played with when they were small, sending Porky higher into the air. Claus streaked towards him, then whacked him with his tail, as if his tail was a bat and Porky was a ball. Porky was sent flying further and further into the sky, the twins following and sending their dragon breath after him too, sending him further and further away, into the sky, until they'd left the planet behind and they kept hitting him.

Unable to stop, Porky kept rolling and rolling, over and over again into the eternal darkness, so far away that the brothers couldn't even see him anymore.

Satisfied, knowing that Porky would never be able to bother them again, Lucas turned and looked at where they'd come from. And he saw the planet that was their home from a different perspective.

It was round and gleamed like the marbles they'd played with when they were young. But parts of it were dark- not quite black, but a seeping dark, dirty looking brown-

There was work to be done. Porky was gone now, but he'd still left a big mess that needed to be cleaned up.

Lucas dived towards the planet and Claus quickly followed.

They dove through the skies, and then pulled up when they reached the ocean. Flying over it and looking down at the water beneath, Lucas saw their reflections- two dragons, strong and powerful, almost identical except for one being fire-red and one being sun-yellow.

The water looked good, looked the way it should- but the quickly approaching land in front of them didn't look so good.

They reached it and circled over it, studying it.

The whole land seemed to be scorched black by fire, or something worse. And there were huge swallowing cracks in the ground and black mounds that took a moment for Lucas to realize had used to be buildings, places people used to live.

This wasn't their island and it wasn't Tanetane Island either. The shape of the land was all wrong for it to be either.

For a moment, Lucas remembered what Leder had said about the rest of the world being destroyed, before turning his attention back to the task at hand.

Lucas dropped to the ground and breathed it back to life while Claus grabbed the edges of the cracks and pulled them back together again. When they finished, the land was alive again.

Lucas smiled as he stepped back, but then almost stumbled. This feeling- this dragging feeling at his limbs- it felt almost like running out of PSI.

The power that they'd been sharing, it had only been meant for one.

Oh no- what if they'd used too much power in fighting Porky, and now they wouldn't have enough to fix everything?

Lucas turned and looked at Claus, and by the look in his brother's eyes, he could feel it too. But there wasn't time for worries. They needed to fix everything. Everyone was depending on them.

They took off, briefly circling over the land they'd healed before darting over the ocean to the next mass of land. This one was in the same shape as the last one, and they fixed it in the same way, before taking off again and searching for the next part that needed to be fixed.

When they circled over the ocean without finding anymore that needed to be fixed except for the Nowhere Islands, they returned to space, just to make sure that they hadn't missed any.

Lucas stared down at the blue and green jewel that was the earth.

It was all blue and green now, except for the spot that was their island, and it shone just like Claus's green eye- and maybe his own eyes too, Lucas realized suddenly, remembering the pool in the sunflower castle and watching their reflections in it.

Claus playfully bumped into him and Lucas turned to look at him.

Claus jerked his head at the planet beneath them, beckoning him, then dove towards it.

Lucas quickly followed him, thinking as he did so.

Mother earth. That's what some people called it, didn't they? It was a good name.

The whole world was beneath them, waiting for them. They could already feel the power draining from them as they dove towards it, but it wasn't gone yet.

Once again, they came in over the ocean. Claus, flying just in front of Lucas, turned to grin at him before sticking his leg in the water, spraying his younger brother before darting on ahead.

Shaking the water from his eyes, Lucas realized that in the fast approaching distance, they could see land- the beach by the village- but part of it was cracked off, lying in the ocean. They landed in the water and shoved, moving it back into its proper position, and then into its proper place. When the edges touched, they melted together, becoming one again.

They took off again, circling over the island, studying it as they flew. It wasn't like the other lands that had been destroyed in the original end of the world- in the middle of it, there was a huge hole, almost taking up the whole island, leaving only the outskirts- Lucas was suddenly glad that Tazmily was on the far shore.

What could have made this hole? It was so huge, it dwarfed even them, and they were much bigger as dragons- suddenly realizing what that hole was, Lucas swooped down, followed by Claus.

Violet was waiting for them, her face turned towards the sky anxiously. She smiled when she saw them.

Carefully, Lucas landed in front of her- almost stumbled when she ran to him and flung her arms around his dragon neck, and then she did the same to Claus when he landed next to them.

Carefully, Claus gathered her up, and they took off into the sky, leaving both the deep underground and the gaping hole behind.

Tazmily wasn't untouched by the destruction- several cracks ran through it, one swallowing the center where the well used to be- but the village was still there.

They flew over it, heading to the plateau where their home was. The crack that had eaten the square had reached here too, stopping just short of the ocean. The path was gone, but most everything else was still there. The house was untouched, and what remained of the sheep shed was still there too.

The sheep weren't though. Lucas wondered where they were as he and Claus landed. Come to think of it, they hadn't seen anyone other than each other and Violet.

Claus- also directing a look at the broken and empty sheep pen- started to set Violet down, but she clung to him tightly. "Don't leave! Don't go! I don't want to be alone again!"

Lucas stepped closer, thinking of all the things he wanted to say. As he approached, she turned to face him, and their eyes met- and suddenly, just like before, just like when pulling the Needles, he could feel her mind just as clearly as he could see her. Unlike before, it didn't fade away after a few seconds- and he could also feel Claus's mind too.

We need to fix everything, but we can feel the power draining away, and we don't know if there's enough left-

I gave you everything I had- I was so scared, seeing you fight and seeing that scary guy throw you around like that-

So what we have is all there is.

It's just like a human's energy, really, only stronger. If you use too much, you run out.

Okay- we need to go fix everything-

I'm coming too!

It'll use more energy to carry you.

We'll be back. We'll be back as quick as we can, okay?

…okay.

Claus set her down gently, and then they started on the crack that stretched out from the village. They fixed it there, and then followed it into the village and fixed there too.

And after they fixed that, they found another and another, and each time, Lucas felt a little more of the power drain from him. But that was okay, just so long as there would enough to fix everything, that would be enough-

Going deeper in and fixing the land beneath them as they flew. As they fixed it, the land became recognizable again.

Some things though, didn't come back even when the land they'd been before was fixed.

The train didn't come back, and its tracks were completely gone as well.

Osohe Castle was gone as if it'd never existed too, and even when they fixed the land around it, it didn't come back. Lucas didn't waste time worrying about that. No one had lived there in a long long time anyway.

Slowly they made their way across the island, bringing things back as they moved.

They found the places where Pigmask buildings had been. They had been wiped out by the destruction that had followed the pulling of the last Needle, and there was nothing left of them at all.

They still hadn't seen anyone at all.

Lucas wondered where everybody was- but wherever they were, he knew they wouldn't come back until he and Claus had fixed things to make it safe for them, for everyone.

They were over where New Pork City had been. There was nothing left of it at all. The only reason they recognized this as the place where it had been was the faintest scent of the Pigmasks' pollution.

Lucas hovered over it, mentally pulling it and calling the land back as it had been. On the other side of the crater, Claus did the same thing.

When they were finished, they climbed higher into the air, surveying their work. It looked a lot like the Sunshine Forest now. A healthy forest, ready to welcome the forest creatures home. Lucas almost expected to hear a bird call out.

A lot of the power was gone. The weight of being without it dragged at his limbs, trying to push him down, but he couldn't rest while there were still things to do. Or were there?

Lucas turned to look at Claus. his brother was still in the air, circling and looking over the island.

Ponderously, Lucas leaped up, beating his wings and joining him.

The island stretched out beneath them- gleaming green with the forests and plants of all sorts reached for the sun, green and growing. And slowly, coming over the horizon, shining brilliantly, the sunrise.

Finally, everything was back together. Lucas relaxed with that knowledge, knowing that he and Claus had done their job.

And then they started to fall.

Falling, the power drained away, leaving them- dazed, less than half awake, Lucas watched his dragon front leg shrink, watched scales peel away and spread on the wind, revealing the human arm beneath.

They hit the ground. The warm sand giving them some cushioning.

Violet ran out from further in the island to join them as the sunrise came towards them. Her hands touched their cheeks as the light reached them.

The job was done and the three of them were together again.

Okay, Lucas decided even as he reached for his siblings and held them close, now it would be okay to take a nap.

He shut his eyes.

OoOoOo

I hope no one's disappointed by this chapter. I've been fighting with it for so long I can't see straight anymore, and that's turned out to be a good time to post chapters before, so hopefully it'll be okay this time too. The epilogue should be done within a couple days, hopefully.

As always, tell me what you think- if you liked it, if something needs to be fixed- I won't know unless you tell me. Also, thank you all for your support so far.

Chapter Text

Lucas woke up to the tide tickling his toes.

Reflexively, he jerked away from the cold water, accidentally bumping into Claus- who grumbled at him sleepily- and Violet- who protested softly, eyes still shut.

"Sorry," Lucas apologized softly as he sat up, pulling his legs closer to himself, not wanting to wake them up if they wanted to keep sleeping.

They were on the beach. The sun was setting, turning the skies all different colors, all bright and vivid, rose pinks and deep blues and purples.

Other than the three of them, the beach was deserted.

Claus was lying on one side of Lucas. His head was pillowed on one arm, the other arm stretched out in the direction of Lucas and Violet. His green and black striped shirt was short sleeved and he was wearing khaki cargo pants. He shifted slightly as Lucas watched him, beginning to wake up.

Violet was lying on Lucas's other side. There was a big pink bow in her hair, and she wore a white shirt and pink overalls that ended in shorts.

Lucas glanced down at himself and his favorite red and yellow shirt and a pair of jeans- pants, not shorts- before looking around again, trying to remember how they got there.

Next to him, Claus sat upright as he grumbled sleepily. He shoving his bangs out of his eyes and then blinked. "Lucas, why are we at the beach?"

"I don't know Claus. Before- weren't we somewhere else?"

"Yeah. We were-" Claus stopped short, and he and Lucas stared at each other as they remembered the doors- finding Violet- the transformation- finally stopping Porky for good- trying to fix everything-

Slowly, both twins turned to face Violet. She was still lying on the sand, but stirring and slowly opening her eyes-

"Hey Claus! Hey Lucas!"

"Fuel?" Claus said faintly, recognizing their friend coming down the path towards them.

"What are you guys doing here?" the dark haired boy asked curiously as he hopped down to meet them.

"We- uh- lost track of time while playing," Claus said, stepping forward. He twitched a bit as Fuel gave him a huge pat on the back, but then smiled and gave his friend one in return.

"I was looking for you guys earlier, since I was thinking about going fishing but didn't want to do it by myself and have no one to talk to, but no one's seen you guys all day. People were beginning to wonder where you three had disappeared to, but we knew you guys would get back in time for supper. It's too late to go fishing now, though."

"Oh," Claus said, glancing over his shoulder at Lucas for ideas, then turned back to face their friend. "Sorry about that."

Fuel waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. Want to go tomorrow?"

"Sure, sounds like fun," Claus said, and the enthusiasm was easy to hear in his voice.

Behind him, Lucas shook Violet gently, all the while noticing things. Claus's arms, matching and equally strong, and as sun browned as the rest of him. Lucas's own hands, large and strong, not as big as Dad's but getting there and the hands that attached to arms that, while not filled out yet, were no longer scrawny.

We're thirteen still. But Claus-

Their eyes met as Claus and Fuel turned to look at them-

His brother's eyes were both green, just like a forest full of sunlight, green and steady as a friend's strong hand helping you up.

Violet yawned as she sat upright, Lucas's hands on her shoulders.

"I see someone's worn out from playing all day," Fuel said with a laugh as he reached forward and ruffled her hair.

She blinked, startled and fully awake now, and looked up to see his face. She searched it and then smiled back, just a little shyly.

"You learned to swim yet, Vi?"

She shook her head.

"Well, I suppose Claus can't teach you how to swim the way he taught me," Fuel said with a mock sigh, "since he just threw me in."

"I did not."

"He did," Fuel said to Violet, grinning slightly. "Your dad had to fish me out."

"You were goofing off and tripped. It was your own fault you fell in," Claus said, folding his arms. The corners of his mouth of his mouth twitched tellingly, despite his stern pose.

Violet looked from one to the other, and then turned to Lucas, who held up his hands defensively.

"Don't look at me. I didn't see what happened."

"You know, the two of you are supposed to be on my side," Claus grumbled, mock angry as Fuel laughed.

"I guess they just know you too well, Claus."

Lucas turned away from the playful arguing and smiled at Violet. "Don't worry, learning to swim is fun. We'll both teach you."

"I'm sure you'll get other offers of help too," Claus commented as he and Fuel turned back to them.

"I wouldn't mind helping myself," Fuel said with a grin, "Dad's waiting for me though, so I got to head home now, alright? I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you then Fuel."

He ruffled Violet's hair once more, this time producing a quiet giggle, and once again exchanging pats on the back with both Lucas and Claus before heading back in the direction of town.

The three of them looked after him a moment, then they turned around to look at the others, then all around the beach. It was empty except for them, which wasn't really a surprise.

Going by what Fuel said and looking at the sky, it was getting late. Most of the villagers would probably be shutting their doors for the night right now.

"Are we back?" Claus asked, turning to meet the eyes of the other two.

"I think we are…" Lucas shut his eyes and focused, using the skills that he'd always had, but only recently learned how to use, that were as much a part of him as breathing.

Lucas opened his eyes and smiled, meeting the eyes of both his brother and his sister. "Yeah, we're back."

Claus breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally. But did we sleep here all day?" He shook his head disgustedly. "What a waste!"

"Well, we did do a lot," Lucas pointed out with a smile. "We did a lot of traveling and a lot of fighting, so it's only natural that we were tired out when we finished."

"Not to mention that we fixed the world," Claus agreed. "Still can't believe we slept through the whole day. Oh well. We're back now, and that's the important thing."

Lucas nodded in agreement.

Violet smiled too, but she also looked nervous. Seeing that, Lucas took one of her hands, and when she turned to look at him, Claus took her other one.

"Come on," Claus said softly, "It's getting dark and it's time to go home."

"It's time for all of us to go home," Lucas said.

Violet nodded slowly, took a deep breath- and the three of them walked down the path to the village.

The sheriff's station was empty except for the stray dog, who wagged his tail at them lazily as they walked past.

Reggie was in the middle of cleaning up after one of his artistic sessions. He was scurrying busily about, so the trio just waved as they walked past, and he waved back before returning to his cleaning up. Behind him, his tent stretched up proudly, untouched by lightening.

In the town, everyone was getting ready for the night. The well was being covered up, doors and windows were being shut. A number of people called out to them in passing, telling them hello and goodnight, and they- mostly Lucas, but sometimes Claus- answered back and waved and smiled at them.

Nobody seemed surprised to see Violet. She was greeted just the same as Claus and Lucas, greeted fondly and by name.

There were no hard paved roads, only the paths that their feet remembered from childhood. The well was back, the houses the same as they had been before the arrival of Fassad and the Pigmask army, and Lucas's breath escaped in a grateful sigh before he realized something.

Beside the well, Lucas slowed and then stopped. The other two turned to look at him.

"Lucas? What is it?"

"Let's go check on Duster."

"Duster?" Claus asked, glancing in the direction of the house where their friend lived with his dad-then understanding flashed across his face, followed by worry. "Oh…"

"Duster?" Violet asked, looking from one of her brothers to the other.

"He's a friend of ours. He got lost for a while- not like Claus did, but he did forgot who he was and how to get home. He only remembered after we went adventuring together."

This was news to Claus. He stared at Lucas and Lucas nodded, letting him know that yes, that was really true.

"I'm pretty sure that he and Mr. Wess and Kumatora are all okay, but I want to check on them and make sure."

"Right," Claus said softly. "And I should probably…say sorry…"

"I don't think you should feel too bad about what happened before Claus. You were lost and confused and that wasn't your fault. I mean, it's good that you want to apologize and I'm not trying to stop you from doing that, but I don't think you should continue to beat yourself up over it either."

Once again, Claus was staring at his younger brother in bewilderment.

"Yeah, Claus isn't bad," Violet agreed loyally.

Claus looked from his brother to his sister and sighed. But when he raised his head, he was smiling. "You two…"

"Come on, let's go see them. They'll be happy to see you- oh, and they'll be happy to meet you too, Violet," Lucas added, smiling down at their little sister, who smiled shyly back.

"Sure." Claus drew in a breath, then let it out slowly, "Okay, let's go."

From a distance, Mr. Wess's house and the building the Pigmasks had called "Old Man's Paradise" had looked alike- it didn't help that the dark was falling fast.

But when they crossed the bridge and looked up at the top of the hill, they could see it better, and Lucas breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that yes, it was once again Mr. Wess's house.

Then he blinked as he saw someone on the roof.

"Hello?"

"Oh, hi you guys," Duster said calmly, as he finished gathering up his tools.

"I haven't seen you guys all day!" Kumatora said, grinning at them as she continued to hold the ladder in place. "What've you guys been up to?"

"Er-"

"We were at the beach," Lucas said, wondering what to do and say. It didn't seem like they remembered their journey and the Needles, but he wanted to make sure, because their journey had been what bonded them together. "But- before that-"

"Oh, what are you three doing here?" asked a different voice.

"Hi Mr. Wess," Claus greeted the old man as he came out of the house. "What's up with the roof?"

"Nothing really," Duster said, reaching the ground. "It's just getting older and we want to make sure it stays in good shape. Don't want it to start leaking or anything like that."

Lucas winced, remembering the "Old Man's Paradise" and how badly it had been taken care of.

"Yeah, that would be bad," Claus agreed innocently.

"Well, we're going to go stick this stuff in the shed in the back."

"Be right back." Duster and Kumatora walked around to the back of the house.

"So… have you guys been working on the house all day?" Lucas asked. He wasn't quite sure how to ask what he needed to know, but he figured that question would be a good start.

"Yeah, yesterday too. We finally finished today."

Well, Mr. Wess obviously didn't know about the Needles and what had happened to the world. But then, he hadn't been there for the pulling of the Needles, just like the rest of the villagers, so that was probably why. Probably not even Grandpa would remember Claus going missing and that they hadn't always had a little sister.

But what about Duster and Kumatora? They had been there for the pulling of the Needles- not every single one of them, but neither had Claus and Lucas.

Lucas really hoped they remembered- because them depending on each other during their journey was one of the things that had made them such good friends- the things they'd shared together, the things they'd gone through together.

And here they came back again, around the side of the house.

"Oh Kumatora-" Wess said, turning to the older girl- huh, that was weird. Hadn't he always called her "Princess" before? "- did the two of you pick up the groceries I asked you to?"

"Yep, it's all done."

"Don't worry about it Dad, it's all taken care of."

"Right then, I'm going to start supper. The two of you had better come in soon and help me. And the three of you-" he added, pointing at the twins and Violet, "had better be heading home soon as well. It's time for kids like you to be in bed."

"Hey, we're thirteen now!" Claus objected. "We're almost adults."

Duster suppressed a cough.

"Not close enough," Mr. Wess retorted with a grin. "Besides, your little sister there isn't even that."

Claus opened his mouth, then turned and looked at Violet, and then shut it.

"I'll see you kids tomorrow," Mr. Wess said with a wave, as he walked into the house.

"Quit calling us kids!" Claus yelled after him as he shut the door. "Argh!"

"Well, that's Dad for you," Duster said.

"Yeah, he can be like that," Kumatora agreed, dropping to the ground and stretching as she studying them curiously.

"What?" Claus asked defensively.

"I just noticed your freckles- they're kinda cute."

"They are not!" Claus yelled, clapping one hand across his nose and glaring at her.

"Sure, whatever you say Claus," Kumatora said, smirking.

Claus glared at her, but wisely chose not to say anything else.

Lucas was disappointed. It looked like his friends didn't remember their journey after all. But at least everybody was alive and okay and together. That was the most important thing anyway-

"But I got to say, you look a lot better out of that helmet and those dumb orange pants. That whole outfit made you look stupid. It was an eyesore," Kumatora went on. "Just as bad as those pink pants I made Duster burn."

Claus scowled half-heartedly as he rolled his eyes. "Looks had nothing to do with why I stopped wearing the uniform and you know it. Besides, it didn't look that bad."

"Oh yes it did," Kumatora said, amused, then turned to Duster. "Told you I was right. You owe me now!"

"Owe her what?" Violet asked curiously.

"Wait, then you guys do remember?" Lucas asked as Claus slapped his forehead as he just realized what Kumatora's remark had meant.

"Only vaguely," Duster said with a sigh, leaning against the house. "Like a dream. In fact, that's what I was kind of hoping the whole thing was. Just a bad dream."

"No such luck," Claus said, slightly grimly. "But it's mostly a bad dream now. From what we can tell, Porky and his minions never came here, so none of that stuff ever happened."

"But we still remember it happening," Kumatora said.

"Yeah," Lucas said softly, suppressing a shudder at the some of the worst moments- falling and seeing his brother above him, face covered, both their hands reaching helplessly for the other- watching as his brother turned to face him and drew his sword-

"Yeah," Claus agreed softly, then said "Look, you guys…I'm sorry- ow, what was that for?"

Kumatora scowled as she lowered her fist. "Did you apologize to Lucas?"

"Of course!" both twins responded indignantly, and Violet nodded, supporting them.

"Okay then, we're good," Kumatora said dismissively, lying back in the grass.

Claus stared at her, and then turned to Lucas. "Lucas, your friends are weird."

"Shut up dummy, we're your friends too."

"We're just glad you're okay," Duster broke in, still smiling.

"But where'd you come from?" Kumatora asked Violet, sitting up again. "You weren't here before, right?"

Violet hide her face in Claus's back and Lucas patted her head softly.

"Don't worry, they're our friends."

"Yeah, they're not going to hurt you," Claus added. "Duster's a nice guy, and I'm beginning to see why he and Lucas are friends with Kumatora."

Violet peered around Claus, still shy but also less worried.

"Do you want us to tell them?"

"No… I can do it," she said quietly, remaining where she was before slowly lifting her eyes so they met theirs. "Hi…I used to be a dragon…the Dark Dragon."

Both Duster and Kumatora stared at her a moment.

"Well, you're a bit smaller than I expected," Duster commented calmly after the silence passed.

"Well, I always knew I'd get along okay with anyone who inherited your heart Lucas, but this isn't what came to mind," Kumatora said, and then grinned. "Ah well, who cares?"

She stuck out her hand and Violet took it, smiling shyly.

"Nice to meet you kid. I'm Kumatora."

"Hello Kumatora, I'm Violet."

Lucas smiled as he noticed how that was probably the most gentle touch Kumatora had ever given anyone.

Duster came over, also smiling, and they did the same.

Claus sighed slightly in relief at how well that went.

"There, now we're all friends," Kumatora announced with satisfaction.

"Hey, have you guys been home yet?" Duster asked, looking up from Violet with a thoughtful frown.

"No, not yet."

"You'll probably want to do that now then," Duster said.

"We'll still be here tomorrow, after all," Kumatora added.

"Oh, you're staying here tonight, Kumatora?" Lucas asked curiously.

"Actually, it looks like I'm staying here forever, right Duster?" Kumatora said, grinning at the thief, and he just smiled serenely back at her.

"So, I guess we'll see you tomorrow?"

"Count on it!" Kumatora replied with an easy grin.

"See you tomorrow!"

"See ya!"

The three of them turned and headed back to the bridge. Lucas turned back one last time before reentering the town, and saw Duster ushering Kumatora inside the house, one hand on her shoulder.

The town was quiet now, everyone already inside. With everyone gone, Lucas remembered how empty the village had been when everyone had deserted it for New Pork City, but the lights, warm and comforting, in all the windows, showed how different it was from then.

They left the town behind, entering the path that led home.

Still walking between them, Violet slowed. Looking down at her, Lucas saw worry parading all over her face- reaching down, he grasped her hand again. Claus turned to look at the two of them, and then did the same.

Violet looked up, still worried, but also surprised- she stared at first Lucas, then Claus.

"Take a melody

Simple as can be

Give it some words

And sweet harmony"

This was the special song. The one Mom saved for when they were sick, for when they were scared, for when they were hurt and bleeding. Whenever she sang it, they had been very comforted. Right now, that comfort that she'd given them was something Lucas wanted to give to Violet.

"Raise your voices

All day long now

Love grows strong now

Sing a song of love

Oh love-" Claus flushed as they turned to look at him, but didn't say anything, just kept singing.

Lucas smiled as they sang the next part together, repeating the verse that Lucas had sang.

Between them, Violet was still clinging to their hands, but her grip wasn't as tight as before- and she was smiling now.

They could see home now. Still in the distance, but getting closer.

"Love is our power

Love is our glory

Love is the beauty

And the joy of spring"

Light blazed from every window, eager to welcome them home.

Lucas and Claus both found themselves singing louder, hoping their voices would carry to anyone in the house, wanting them to know that the three of them were finally coming home.

"Love is our magic

Love is our story

Love is the melody

We all can sing."

Both Lucas and Claus turned to smile at Violet at that last line. Her smile was like the most warm and brilliant sunlight.

They reached the house. They stopped only briefly to reassure the sleepy sheep that they were them and not wolves coming to eat them, stopped to pet Boney, who thumped his tail in simple sleepy contentment that they were finally home, and then they approached the door.

The boys stopped singing and squeezed Violet's hands one last time to reassure her.

Claus opened the door, and Lucas led both his little sister and big brother inside, and Claus shut the door behind them.

"Welcome home."

OoOoOo

And we've come to the end.

I though I'd leave the ending a little ambiguous- did Hinawa come back, or is she still dead? Are Kumatora and Duster a couple now, or are they adopted siblings? Whichever one you like is the correct answer. I couldn't decide between the two options because I liked them both, so I decided to just let you guys pick.

I hope you enjoyed this final chapter as much as you enjoyed the others.