Lost In Your Eyes


    Mmph.
    Altair desperately tried not to sneeze.
    It wasn't easy. Not in the dusty, stale air of the room 
he was in.
    Controlling himself by sheer will, he finally managed 
to stifle the dangerous annoyance. He sighed quietly in 
relief. 
    If I had made any amount of noise, little as it would 
have been, it could've set off half a dozen alarms. You 
have to admit, the Evil's security is tighter than a prissy 
Light perfectionist. It covers every single square centimeter 
of this entire complex... 
    He nervously glanced around in the empty room he had
slipped in from the underground tunnels the Light army had 
established. Yeah, I heard it took years just to create 
that tunnel without the Evil dudes finding out. Let's hope 
the work pays off with this gamble... After relaxing for the 
moment, he quickly got to work.
     Len's brash voice rang in his mind. "Yo, Altair! No 
regrets on this mission, 'kay? It's straight and simple, in 
and out. First one finishes gets to harass the one who 
hasn't! I know what sector you'll be in!" His silver eyes 
glinted with reckless, mischievous laughter, his forest 
hair drifted out like the dark leaves of the few remaining 
forests on their world. 
      Altair shook his head in amazement. Kind of 
overconfident isn't he? If anyone finishes first, it'll be 
me. Altair told his friend silently, across several blocks 
of dirt. Len was in another area, setting up his own 
object, following orders.
      Orders... his superior's face flashed into his mind. 
Vega's normally expressionless face had raised an eyebrow 
at his tenseness just before they entered the tunnel. 
"Altair, you're not bothered by what the others say, are 
you? Those cracks are just because you're new. They do that 
to every new recruit. Don't take it personally." Altair had 
started. Vega's impulsive manner was nearly impossible to 
attain by anyone else, except for Altair. Vega had taken 
him in immediately when he entered the ranks of the Light, 
unceratin and unsure of his position. For which he was 
grateful. "I have faith in you." The simple sentence struck 
home and Altair was determined not to mess up on this 
mission. It was incredible enough that the famed Vega was 
going on this deadly mission with him, it'd be drop-dead 
humilating if he were to botch it up in the face of his 
'idol.'
      Carefully controlling his breathing, Altair bent over 
his drab knapsack and quietly withdrew the components. 
Skillfully, he started to assemble the standard issue bomb, 
brushing back his tawny hair with one hand, wiping away 
sweat as well. Straight and simple, just as Len said. This 
shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes. He clicked 
the bomb into place, completed. 
       Yep. Now comes the hard part. Hacking into the 
stupid computer system without any of those Evil buzzards 
finding out. Altair removed his small laptop from the 
larger area of his colorless knapsack and flicked open the 
lid cautiously, switching the power on with a noiseless 
click. He entered his codename and password. Keys clicking, 
he typed quickly and without error as he entered the Evil's 
database for this center and hacked his way through to set 
the right circumstances for his bomb to go off, as prior to 
his instructions.
       Done, he said to himself, satisfied. He stood up and 
turned to make some last minute adjustments to his bomb. 
Then I'm going to jock over to Len's and throw his words in 
his face! Silently, of course. He started to bend down.

Elsewhere...
      An Evil commander angrily studied the screen. Even 
after a month since the incident that had set off his foul 
mood, he still smoldered inside, burning for revenge. I 
know I should leave this kind of stuff to the technicians, 
but I want to check it out for myself. This is the most 
likely base the Light people ought to attack right now, and 
I'm going to make sure that won't happen! 
      The computer beeped. His vigorous and analytical 
program had found an unusual occurance to the normal 
patterns and readings in the normal signatures of the 
everyday activities.
       The commander sat up and stared intently at the 
screen. Hey! I've got something! He reached halfway for the 
button to the alarm when he realized... Wait. It could be 
*him*. If it's *him* I want to deal with *him* myself. I'm 
going down! He entered a command to shut down every sensor 
in the area the computer sensed the anomaly in and 
holstered a neutron disruptor. If it's *him*... Lord, am I 
going to hurt *him*. He left his office, barking shortly to 
the soldiers guarding outside his door about some excuse 
that they accepted.

      *BANG!*
       The sharp crack startled Altair and stopped him 
where he stood as a huge clash of energy hit his arm, 
damaging it heavily. He fell to the floor with a thud loud 
enough to set off the alarm. Pain shot up his nerves, but 
Altair quickly focused at his attacker. Oh great. An Evil 
soldier. How did he discover me?! I didn't make any mistake 
that would've caught attention unless... unless he had been 
looking for it. Ivory hair sprang wildly, falling over 
feline sapphire eyes.
     "So it is you," the guy hissed. "I'm going to have 
your ugly head, you sorry piece of supposed morality." 
Heavy sarcasm liberally adorned the last word. "I'm going 
to take you apart and make you wish you've never been 
born!"
     Altair winced and then studied his situation more 
carefully. The alarm would have bought over a hundred 
soliders here already if it had gone off, but nothing's 
happening so... this guy must have unplugged it or something. 
Which means... Altair pieced it together with the enraged 
guy's words. "Is it just me," he gasped out, his reasoning 
done with a flash, "Or do you have a grudge against me 
personally?"
     "Grudge? More like a blood vow of revenge!" The angry 
words cut like blades into his ears.
     "Mind telling me what I did that was so offensive?" 
Altair asked with some irony in his voice, resisting the 
urge to add, 'Lemme guess, I poured salt into you coffee 
when you got up on the wrong side of your bed or cot or 
something.' Altair wondered tightly why the man hadn't 
killed him yet and sounded the alarm.
     "Don't you remember that little girl you killed a 
month ago, Light soldier," the teen sneered, wild hatred 
glinting from electric blue eyes. "Gienah, remember?! I 
read the reports, you're the one who killed her, weren't 
you?! Well, guess what, *Light*," the boy made it sound 
like a curse," soldier. "Hasn't it ocurred to you that she 
might've had a family? People who cared about her? I'm her 
older brother, Scheat."
      Altair froze.

     "Scheat..." the wordless whisper moved the small, 
fragile girl's lips for the last time. The regretful, 
disappointed look of failure glimmered in her amethyst eyes 
as she died.
      Altair stood in shock, staring frozen at what he'd 
just done. He hadn't even thought, just reacted. Attacking 
an enemy outpost and fighting against full-grown, 
bloodthristy Evil soldiers were one thing, but the 
unexpected valient charge of a girl barely nine years old 
had thrown him off. She had actually gotten to him and 
unsheathed the razor knife strapped to her thigh before 
Altair registered the fact that a supposedly undecided girl 
of nine, still about four years from determining where 
she'd be in the war, was attacking him with lethal intent. 
He reacted automatically, firing his gun at point-blank 
range. He didn't miss, not even a butterfingered moron 
could miss at that range and he was one of the best 
marksmen in his troop.
     Len had been with him on that mission; he too had been 
freshly entered to the Light army at thirteen as was Altair 
himself. They had met and quickly become best friends. 
"Hey, man!" he broke uneasily into the zombie-like state 
his friend had fallen in. He alone was staring concernedly 
at his friend, the others on the team had shoved past him 
in disgust, or ignored his turmoil entirely. "Snap out of 
it! If she made up her mind so early, she must have been a 
hard ambitious gal. Don't dwell on it, or you'll get mowed 
down! Move it, man! You may have powers and abilities the 
rest of us 'commoners' may not have, but ya still don't 
know how to use 'em! Maybe in a couple of years you'll be 
hotshot like your god Vega, but for now, get outta the way! 
Forget the girl, she's not innocent!" Len yanked him out of 
the path of oncoming soldiers and Altair snapped out of his 
daze. He moved mechanically after that that, his mind on 
remote.
       She was innocent. Altair said to himself, I know she 
was. She just believed in her side, and she fought for it- 
died for it. Scheat... he must have being someone important. 
Her role model probably, that's why she decided so early. 
She knew she failed to protect the outpost, that's way the 
pain, resignation, and despair flashed through her eyes... 
Altair shivered. I'm never going to forget this. Besides 
ruining my reputation, I'll never forget that look in her 
eyes... God, I feel so dirty. I can't believe I killed a 
sweet little girl over a worthless hunk of land... I did so 
coldly and- and- savagely. Is this what fighting in a 
never-ending war is like? God... if it is... I don't want war 
to exist at all. 

     So this is 'Scheat.' Altair thought, totally out of 
the home range of what he should have been thinking. The 
pain in his left arm surged up from the dull throb that had 
been tolerable. He shook slightly from his position on the 
floor, droplets of beaded red falling down with his 
convulsions.      
      Scheat had calmed down slightly from his former fiery 
tirade, but was now lecturing intensely about the 
'morality' of the Light. Each of his words stabbed into 
Altair's heart and he kept seeing the sweet, round-eyed 
face of the nine-year old girl that was his attacker's 
sister.
     "Doesn't it bother you?!"  Scheat told Altair 
heatedly, "To hear the screams of the murdered, the tears 
of the innocent, and to see the devastation you've 
wreaked?!" Scheat stood here breathing heavily in his 
passionate display, still aiming the neutron disruptor at 
Altair's head.
     There was a deep silence. Scheat shifted nervously as 
he raised his eyes to focus more on the wounded form on the 
ground. He started to speak but was jolted silent as Altair 
suddenly spoke up.
      "Doesn't it scare you?" a soft whisper murmured, "The 
feeling of the dead haunting your every step?"
     Scheat blinked, surprised at hearing an echo of his 
own thoughts, then stared suspiciously at the form. "You 
have odd views for a Light soldier."
      "Odd? No," the voice replied slowly, "Don't be so 
quick to judge all of us when you've only meet a few. Not 
all of us have such horrible views..." Altair raised shining 
eyes to meet Scheat's confused face. "Though I thought all 
the Evil soldiers were like that. You and I... our views 
aren't that different are they?"
      Scheat shook his head, attempting to clear it from 
that breathy undertone. Why am I listening to this guy? He 
killed my SISTER!! But why does he make sense?! I should 
have killed him quickly instead of listening to him! Now... I 
can't. That's not the way I operate. It's immoral... As if 
step with his thoughts, the form moved to a sitting 
position. Scheat automatically cocked his weapon unerringly 
at the figure. 
      "If you're going to fire," Altair said, clutching his 
wounded arm, "you'd better do it now. What if one of your 
people found you conversing with the enemy? Not a great 
picture is it? Finish me." He obstructed his eyes with a 
curtain of light falling hair.
       Scheat stared, then snorted, noting the surprised 
jerk in Altair's reaction. "That's not the way we do 
things," he told him mildly. "I guess the Light have 
stricter and crueler principles than we... Harsh."
      The soldier, a kid really, finally looked straight 
into Scheat's sapphire eyes, confusion written all over his 
face. Scheat studied him more carefully. "I won't kill you 
defenseless. It's not honorable. However I certainly can't 
let you go of course."
      A small smile quirked the delicate face. "Indeed... I 
really apologize for... though I know it wouldn't be anything 
to you. I hope you could forgive me... It may sound lame, but 
I really didn't mean to- to hit her. She just- defended her 
side, your side. She was incredibly courageous."
      Scheat stilled at his words. "Hn. Of course being 
sorry wouldn't make up for it. Nothing you can ever do 
would. Now, come on," he shoved his weapon into the small 
of Altair's back. "Let's move. We're going to see the head 
supervisor-"
     "ALTAIR!" A familiar voice shouted in alarm.
      Altair froze. Len? Then he realized what his friend 
would do. No! I don't want-
     BOOM! A concussion tore over concrete to strike out at 
Scheat.
     Altair pushed him out of the way in less than a second 
before it hit over their heads.
     "Len! Stop! Don't shoot!" Altair screamed, struggling 
up.
     "WHAT?!" Len yelled, his voice a pitch higher than 
usual.
     "Don't shoot!" Altair could feel rather than see the 
stunned gaze Scheat was boring into him.
     "What are you talking about?! He's an Evil member! 
He's holding a bloody gun to your head and you-" Len's 
tirade was cut short by the sudden pounding steps of a 
troop of soldiers.
     "Sir! Look out!" an alarmed voice of a well-trained 
soldier boomed. A click, and then-
     An explosive force tore through Altair's chest, 
sending a fine spray of fiery crimson out with its 
entrance.
     **BAM!!!**

     **BAM!!!**  
     A frightened six-year old stared wide-eyed from 
beneath a hidden panel in the floor. 
     "Don't move. Don't leave there for any reason. Don't. 
For the love of Light, just this once, Altair, do NOT think 
of disobeying! Please..." the begging whisper ran through the 
boy's mind. Words that his mother had hissed to him before 
pushing him roughly in the secret panel. Then the insistent 
pounding started, thudding on the specialized metal of the 
front door.    
     Bam. Bam. Bam. BAM. BAM. BAM BAM BAM *BAM**BAM*.
     Then came that awful, splintering **BAM!!!** Shards of 
metal shot out from the explosion, becoming deadly 
projectiles of flashing razors. 
     The sickening sound of metal dully ripping through 
flesh resonated through the air. 
     "AHH!" screams from his parents who were defiantly 
standing in front of his underground place. 
     His father gritted his teeth and quickly tried to pull 
back the trigger of the laser slicer he'd gotten a few 
weeks before.
      Too late.
      A sudden wave of darkness in the form of shadowy 
clothed people flew in through the destroyed remaints of 
the door and--
      A brief haze of flaming light and nauseating slicing 
clouded through Altair's mind.
      Finally, finally, the shadows left. They vanished 
soundlessly back out the door.
      Altair distantly remembered standing up from the 
panel. He remembered walking as though in a dream, to the 
sticky, glassy vermillion pools welling from tattered flesh 
and limbs scattered across the wreaked and splattered room. 
He didn't know how long he had stood, impassively watching 
the rippling waves of darkening red.
      A whisper of a movement. 
      Altair raised his head and looked around him. He 
finally recognized a large and relatively untouched chunk 
of- of- He started slowly, then sprinted. He fell to his 
knees and grasped a hand, ignoring the wet and metallic 
scent of scarlet liquid soaking into the material of his 
pants. "...Mom! Mom!"
      Clouded eyes managed to focus onto his face, 
bloodless lips curving into a faint smile. "...Al...tair..."
      "Mom! Hang on! I'll get help! Don't move-"
      "...good... safe..."
      "Mom?! Don't move!"
      The bloodied hand tightened slightly and Altair 
stared fixatedly on the barely moving lips.
      "...stay... safe. Don't let... Evil... change... you... "
      "Don't move, mom! Don't..." a sob choked his throat 
through the futile words. Tears ran down his cheeks as he 
pulled the bloodstained hand to his cheek. "I- I promise!"
       A sadly joyful sweet smile formed on her face and 
her lips moved as if to speak again, but she fell limp in a 
single expelled sigh.
       "Mom? Mom..." Altair squeezed his eyes shut. 
       God... the tears... they won't stop. They won't stop. 
Why do they hurt so much? Why does living have to hurt so 
much? Why... Why... Why did this have to happen? It- it isn't 
FAIR!! 
       Hours later... the sound of running steps sounded in 
the path up to Altair's house. Loud panting wheezed through 
the form that had suddenly stopped at the broken door. 
       A sharp gasp... 
       "Oh my... GOD! Mom! Dad! Altair...!" Altair's older 
brother screamed in horror.
       Altair looked up. His face was utterly dry and 
expressionless as he stared up at his brother with frozen, 
still, deadened eyes. "Vega... Vega, the Evil people came 
today..."
       Vega only stared with shocked eyes as he numbly 
listened to what his younger brother told him. Tears 
started streaming in a trickle down his face as he pulled 
his remaining family into a fierce hug, sobbing. 

     Scheat stared in horror as Altair slowly crumpled to 
his kness, a dark stream of brilliant red cascading from 
the torn organs showing faintly through a gaping hole in 
his chest.   
     Uh... Altair's mind froze completely, oblivious to the 
fact that his chest was practically in shreds. That's 
right, isn't it? I promised mom... I wouldn't let Evil change 
me. Did I break that promise? I don't think so... Did I?
     Dimly the sounds of shouting and running reached his 
ears.
     "Soldier, halt! I am NOT under attack! You are NOT to 
shoot any Light soldiers until further notice from ME!" 
     Scheat's voice... Altair thought, Does that mean... he 
doesn't hate me anymore? I hope so... I don't want him to 
hate me... I never HATED Evil... Does Vega? He... he had changed. 
He had grown indifferent since then; becoming stronger and 
more focused...
     "Altair!" Hands caught him, gently holding him up. The 
urgent voice struggled to register in his mind, but it was 
all fading away.
     Mom? Is that you? Altair could see a familiar warm 
face, hear loving laughter, feel the gentle brush of a soft 
hand against his cheek...
     "ALTAIR~!" Two strident voices rang out in horror, 
bringing him slightly out of the daze he'd fallen in. 
That's right... I can't leave until I...
     Altair opened clouding eyes. He saw the vaguely 
familiar form of Scheat sigh with relief above him and 
suddenly realized that the shots the soldier and Len had 
fired had alerted all the others and... the Evil members at 
the HQ they were suppose to infiltrate. People were surging 
forth like an unstoppable tide.
     Some stealth spies we are...
    Altair weakly managed to raise his failing eyes, 
concentrating hard on finding one... no two faces in the 
blurring crowds of Light and Evil. He met Len's eyes. 
     "Len... why does Evil exist? Why can't we... just have 
peace? Why does *evil* always... always appear to come back... 
no matter what... in any form... to destroy everything I love? 
Why do I always have to fight against... and am expected to 
win? Why can't I ever be allowed... to... lose? Why...? Vega... 
why?" He whispered softly, finding the other person he 
loved as the closest to his soul, speaking to him alone. He 
looked into Vega's shocked, familiar eyes and smiled a 
soft, lonely smile, his lips curving ever so slightly and 
closed his shining eyes. Altair gasped out a gentle sigh. 
     All his muscles went lax.
     A sudden silence descended upon all those present.
     A formidible lady with flame hued hair strode forth 
slowly and called out, "Scheat! Report! What is going on 
here!?"
     "Shaula..." Scheat whispered, "Didn't you hear him? This 
Light soldier? He has, had, views like- like-"
     "Like us," Shaula finished shortly, her penetrating 
emerald gaze lingering on the still form. A strange look 
that resembled empathy was sparkling from her eyes. "Very 
odd. Still what are we going to do with these 
infiltrators?"
     All the Light soldiers tensed; some dropping the wince 
they expressed at hearing the infamous Shaula's name.
     "Great.... All of us are caught because of that stupid 
green kid," Scubens, a high ranking officer, commented 
bitterly. Her blue eyes were hard and unforgiving, she 
tossed her flaxen hair back comtemptuously. "I knew we 
shouldn't have taken such a dumb, ignorant, fresh out here 
to do such important stuff--" 
     *BLAM!!*
     A fist caught the obnoxious moving mouth and threw the 
almighty lieutenant back six feet, sucker-punching her 
hard. Len stood with his back to the raised guns of the 
Evil side, breathing hard and looking positively murderous. 
     "Shut up! Altair was way better than YOU. He gave it 
all he had and you diss him for an unexpected element! I 
don't believe this!" Len cursed unpleasantly for a minute. 
"@$$! If I had known there'd be !@%&$# like you, I'd 
probably never joined! Those Evil people even act better to 
each other than you guys!" 
     "Stand down. All of you," a slightly choked voice 
ordered roughly. It was Vega, his normally expressionless 
face a mask of chaotic turmoil. "No one is to attack any of 
the Evil. No one. Understand?"
     Roughly twenty eyes swerved in unison to stare at the 
sudden order. Some of those belonging to the Evil party. 
The rest took it calmly more or less and stood down, 
obeying orders they didn't really understand.
     The Evil just stood there. Their confusion was obvious 
as they turned to their own superiors for orders.
     "I also order you to stand down," Shaula ordered. 
"Don't fire unless they do, but don't let them leave the 
premises until we figured all this out!" Scheat simply 
nodded his agreement as his own troops looked at him 
questioningly.
     "Man, I don't believe this!" complained another high-
ranking Light soldier. "Vega! What are you doing? Just 
because some low-ranking kid screws up and gets killed, 
another idiot socks a lieutanant in a way higher rank for 
criticizing, you're commanding a halt to this mission?!  
Plus, that messed up kid ruined the whole thing by 
protecting an EVIL soldier, right? Boy, wait 'til the 
report comes in that we messed up something planned for years 
because some-"
     A fiery plasma blast abruptly enveloped the offender 
and evaporated him.
     Vega stood calmly with his arm extended, showing his 
hidden powers for the first time in full view. There had 
been whispers of a precious few that had the inborn ability 
of supernatural and magical powers. 
     It looks like the sayings about Vega are right... Len 's 
mind ground out slowly. Though I'm sure he shouldn't have 
just busted out his cavalry like that in public. 
     "I have no use for those who diss our members for no 
reason. Does anyone else share that sentiment that that 
former piece of bull just said?" Vega paused, waiting. 
"Good."
     The Evil looked awed and even a little frightened as 
they heard who was also among the party that had intruded 
on their premises. "Vega..." the hiss was whispered through 
the crowd. Shaula looked impressed.
     Len looked shocked, along with a considerable number 
of other people, but it was he who asked, "Um... Vega?" 
     Vega turned and looked down at Len, who cringed 
slightly at the expression in his eyes and continued 
nonetheless. "If you don't mind me asking... why's Altair so 
important to a superior like you...?"
     Vega stared at Len for a long moment, his lips pressed 
into a thin line. Then he smiled bitterly, and slowly 
answered in a soft voice, "Because... Altair is my younger 
brother."
     Len fell over. Jaws dropped all around the room. "Br-
Br-Brother?!" he yelped, then stopped short as he realized...
     A single tear crept steadily down Vega's pale ivory 
face, followed by another and another. "Yeah..." he said in a 
strangled undertone. "My brother." He squeezed his golden 
eyes closed. Eyes that were nearly a duplicate of Altair's.
     Brothers. The crazed thought raced around Len's 
stunned mind. I do not believe this...
     "Brothers..." Scheat stared incredulously. "We didn't 
have any information on this!"
     A slight smile, bitter and rueful, twisted Vega's 
lips. "Maybe, you weren't suppose to know, for a reason. 
Can't you think of what it is?" Pain-filled eyes drifted 
involuntarily to the form in a small pool of glassy, bright 
red. "A fat lot of good that did," he continued fiercely.

     The Evil soldiers stood around uneasily. This wasn't 
in the manual. They were suppose to fight their enemies, 
not stand around listening to one of their dramas unfold. 
Nonetheless, some had tears creeping secretly out of the 
corners of their eyes which they hastily wiped away, 
glancing surreptitiously around to see if anyone had caught 
their sympathy.
     "Come on," another Light spoke up, vehemently, "The 
great Vega, the one who has led the Light to dozens of 
victories, is giving up just because someone close to him 
is killed? This is war! We have to fight to defend our 
people! Don't you care about who's right?!"
     Vega spoke harshly and bluntly, with impossile tears 
falling from his eyes. "I don't care who's wrong- or right. 
I just don't want to fight anymore," he told them all. 
"Altair was the closest to my heart, he's the *reason* why 
I fight in this war! I'm not going to be the one to call 
him a fool for his dreams of peace."  Vega strided over to 
the limp and motionless form on the moist ground, nearing 
the Evil troops.
     They tensed, but didn't do anything.
     Vega knelt down and gently picked up Altair's small 
form, affectionately brushing back damp locks of hair from 
the cold, childish face.  
     "Ah, bro. You always had a good reason for fighting 
for the Light. Unlike me, who just wanted to-" A 
crystalline tear fell from darkened eyes. "Wanted to avenge 
mom and dad. You wanted to fight, so that there wouldn't be 
any more like us. Any other kids who'd lose their parents 
to war. So you fought for the Light, thinking it was the 
morally correct side to fight for... I guess you... and I, 
gambled wrong. Or right." A mysterious, thick mist 
gradually enveloped Vega. 
     Both sides started. Vega looked up, straight at Len 
with piercing eyes. A soft smile, like Altair's, curved his 
mouth. "Len... we'll be back. One day... when everything's 
clearer, we'll be back. Wait for us... wait for him. Wait for 
Altair." The mist condensed and turned opaque for a moment 
then abruptly dissipated in a burst of wind. Vega and the 
sweet soul he carried were gone; leaving the milling, 
confused armies of Light and Evil to battle it out by 
themselves.
     Len stared after them with solemn silver eyes. "I 
will," he spoke softly, almost inaudible to himself. 

Epilogue

     On a lonely and forgotten beach near the sea... a 
draught of arcane fog swirled briefly, revealing a dark 
figure. The tall person walked into a home, aged and 
shabbily fixed up, pausing by the torn door, closing vivid 
eyes. He let the sea breeze weave into his raven hair, 
remembering.
     This is where it began... and even so, afterwards we 
still had never truly abandoned this place. Because we left 
a part of our soul here, that's why it could never be 
forgotten. We came often to remember... oddly, it became one 
of our favorite retreats. Secret, private this was a place 
where you... sad eyes looked over the still burden he held in 
his arms, and I loved to be together at our most tormented. 
You claimed you could hear father's voice in the wind, 
mother's touch in the sand... but that was a long time ago. 
Are you with her now? Are you with dad? 
     The figure opened his eyes and stood silently. Call me 
selfish Altair, but I can't do this again on my own. I'd 
rather... Forgive me. If this works, I hope you'll forgive 
me. If it doesn't... I'll join you in peace.
     Vega drew a deep breath and trailed in the door, 
turning left in the hallway, still remembering the house's 
nooks and crannies even after so long. He paused, then went 
back to the dusty, worn kitchen, which was the room closest 
to the door. Rips in the floor, tears in the wall, all were 
the signs of the battle that had taken place so long ago. 
He gently propped up the form he carried in his arms 
against a tattered wall.
     The place of our resurrection should be in the pools 
of blood from which our condemnation arose. Where our 
parents died, we shall arise once again to this mortal 
world of sin and emotion, or fall to the sweet darkness of 
oblivion. Vega slowly raised an arm, brilliant pinpicks of 
light and color sparkled along his form and Altair's. They 
thickened and spun themselves into thread that wrapped 
steadily around both men. A slender, hollow clear thread 
attached itself directly to Vega's wrist, glowing on 
contact and fastened itself onto Altair's wrist.
     Vega winced at the sudden wrench, expected as it was. 
He gritted his teeth and bore it. For Altair... anything, 
everything I would give. Anything to take away that look in 
his eyes when I had raced home that day; when I heard about 
the attack on our house. Anything, but Death is not the way 
I want that blank, dead gaze to disappear. That same look 
in mom and dad's eyes... Vega shuddered, his breathing turned 
shallow and he relaxed almost unwillingly. He looked 
through slitted eyes at Altair's vanishing face as the 
building thread of the spell he wove obscured his own 
vision. Brother... one way or another, we'll be together 
again... Darkness.

     The glistening cords, translucent yet opaque, 
eventually completely hid the two beings concealed inside 
it from view. The thin line connecting two dry chrysalises 
glowed, pulsing with life. 
     Abruptly, the chysalis containing the motionless form 
of a sandy haired teen shimmered, the other throbbed in 
time with the heart of the one inside of its chamber.
     Slowly, the still form took a breath. Then another. A 
thin thready pulse began inside slowly mending wounds. 
Altair lived. Inside the safety of the chambers the 
chysalis provided, he lived. In time, he might become well 
enough to live outside of his cocoon. It was all a question 
of will, strength, luck, and time. Vega's life supported 
his loved one's. 
     It was all a matter for hope.

*End*