Arc The Lad Fan Fiction ❯ Aftermath ❯ Chapter 14 ( Chapter 14 )

Chapter 14

Kharg knelt beside his mother's grave with an assortment of gardening tools spread out beside him. A rosebush sat next to the tools waiting to be planted. He reached for the trowel only to find it wasn't where he'd put it.

"Looking for this?" a raspy voice asked.

Kharg recognized it immediately. "Morning Darc." he took the trowel away from his twin and started digging a hole for the bush.

Darc knelt on the other side of the grave, watching curiously. "What are you doing?"

"Planting a rosebush, mother loved roses. How's the leg?" Kharg asked worriedly. The cast had come off only a week ago and Ganz had said that it would be another two weeks before it healed completely. His twin still limped if he walked for to long or for to far.

Darc rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Don't you start too. It's fine. So what's a rose anyway?"

Kharg's head snapped up and he stared at Darc, mouth agape. "You don't know what a rose is?"

Darc snorted. "Duh, if I knew I wouldn't have asked."

Kharg couldn't help smiling at Darc's sarcasm. "it's a type of flower. I can't believe you've never seen one."

"Unlike some people I didn't have time to stand around and pick flowers," Darc retorted.

Kharg laughed, knowing exactly who Darc was talking about. "Is Lilia filling the house with vases full of flowers again?"

Darc wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Yeah, one in almost every room," he grumbled.

"Almost?" Kharg asked, raising an eyebrow.

Darc looked rather sheepish. "I threw the vase in my room out the window," he admitted.

Kharg burst out laughing, clutching at his sides. "You didn't!"

Darc smirked. "You bet your ass I did."

"Lilia is going to be furious!" Kharg gasped between bursts of laughter.

"I deny everything and I don't know anything about any vase," Darc returned.

Kharg finally stopped laughing, but his eyes showed his amusement. "Put the bush into the hole and hold it straight, would you?"

Darc shrugged and did what his twin asked.

Kharg poured water into the hole with the bush then filled the hole again. "Alright, you can let go now."

Darc did so and turned his attention to the gravestone, eyes solemn and distant as if he was also seeing something else.

"You alright?" Kharg asked softly.

Darc shook his head as if waking from a deep sleep. "Of course, I am." He pushed himself to his feet and headed away.

Kharg gave the grave a last look then stood as well. He had little trouble catching up to Darc and fell in step beside him. "You know you can't hide your feelings from me." It was the first time he'd ever even indirectly mentioned the strange link they shared. It had gotten even stronger with time.

Darc scowled. "Stay out of my mind, Kharg."

Kharg reached out and caught his brother's right arm, pulling him to a stop. He ignored the venomous look Darc gave him. "What's eating you?"

“Let go of me,” Darc hissed.

"No, not until you answer my question," Kharg said, giving his twin a stern look.

Darc growled and swiped at Kharg with his left hand.

Kharg avoided the blow then caught Darc's left wrist. "Gotcha." He smirked triumphantly at him.

"Kharg," Darc growled. "You're pushing your luck."

"I'm willing to risk it. Come on, little brother, talk to me." Kharg liked saying that since somehow they both sensed it was true. It also irritated Darc and that made it even more fun.

Darc's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Kharg..." he rasped, warning clear in his voice. He tried to pull his left hand free and failed.

Kharg just ignored all of it and waited patiently.

Darc finally let out an annoyed sigh, which they both knew meant that he was giving in. "I said some pretty harsh things to her before she died. I sort of wish I could have taken them back, could have told her I was sorry."

"Why?" Kharg asked, releasing him.

Darc frowned. "I was angry, confused and hurt." He shrugged. "Hell, I thought I meant every word of it, but now..." His voice trailed off.

Kharg nodded, understanding. "We all say things we regret, Darc and mother would have known you didn't mean it. She always seemed to be able to look through what someone said and know what they meant."

Darc sighed. "Maybe." He turned and started walking again.

Kharg would have liked to say more, but he knew Darc wasn't going to continue the discussion, so he followed silently.

Just as they entered the village Duncan came up to them. He offered Kharg a stack of papers. "Here's the reports from yesterday's patrols."

Darc swerved past Duncan, knowing the other man was uncomfortable talking to him. He kept walking towards the house.

"Thanks Duncan," Kharg said, accepting the papers. "I'll let you know if I have any questions " He hurried to catch up with Darc.

When they entered the house they were greeted by an assortment of delicious smells.

"Smells great, ladies. Is that your apple pie I smell, Paulette?" Kharg asked.

"Of course, I thought we all use a treat. Delma and Camellia helped me," Paulette said.

"So where's everyone else?" Kharg asked, sitting down at the table.

"Ganz and Tatjana are at the defense corps office, Volk went hunting. Bebedora and Maru went for a walk," Paulette said with a shrug.

Darc studied Delma with some amusement. "Getting all domestic on me, Delma?"

Delma scowled and snatched a rolling pin off the counter then started towards Darc.

Smirking, Darc backed away, hands raised defensively.

Paulette deftly snatched the rolling pin out of Delma's hand.

Delma whirled, startled by the speed of Paulette's reaction. "What the hell?"

Paulette put the rolling pin back. "No mayhem in the kitchen."

Darc flashed Delma another smug smirk before joining Kharg at the table.

Camilla daintily brushed flour off her gown. "Thank you for the baking lesson, it was quite enjoyable. I believe I will spend some time down by the lake where it's cool." She left the house and closed the door.

Delma poured herself a glass of water. She hesitated then glanced at Darc . "You want anything?"

"No, but thanks anyway," Darc said.

"So where's Lilia?" Kharg asked.

"Outside, she said something about broken glass," Paulette said, sounding a bit puzzled.

Darc and Kharg didn't dare look at each other or say anything, fearing they'd burst out laughing again.

That night Kharg was awoken by the same dream, but this was different. Cursing, he got up and put on a robe then went down the hall.

Darc was jolted awake when the door crashed open and his twin stormed in, slamming the door violently behind him. "What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded.

"Shut up, I had that dream again and this time you were in it, really in it. I could sense it. I want a explanation, Darc!" Kharg bellowed.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" Darc growled.

It was then the door opened. It was Lilia. "Darc...Kharg, is everything alright?" she asked uncertainly.

Kharg and Darc both glared at her. "GET OUT!" they yelled together.

Lilia flinched and quickly retreated, closing the door.

Kharg turned his attention to Darc once again. "Well?" he demanded.

"Well what?" Darc retorted.

"You know damned well what!" Kharg growled. "I dreamed of a cave with two dragon statues and a dragon carving on the wall and it's happened twice. This time I felt your presence as well. Come on, Darc." His voice softened slightly as he realized their yelling must have woken up everyone in the house.

Darc took a deep breath, forcing his temper down as well. “I’ve had those dreams as well,” he admitted, sitting up. "It's the dragon cave. It's in Dragon Bone Valley."

"Wait a minute, we were there and I don't remember seeing any cave," Kharg said.

Darc frowned thoughtfully as he considered. "I...seem to remember deep marks in the snow, directly in front of the cliff where the cave was."

"Of course! Lilia's airship, it crashed right in front of a cliff. The cave must have been behind it," Kharg said.

"Now that you've figured it all out can I go back to sleep?" Darc yawned.

"Yeah, sure, sorry about that," Kharg said. He went to the door and opened it. He paused and looked back at Darc. "We're going there first thing tomorrow and see if we can settle this." He left before Darc could answer.

"Damned Human," Darc muttered to himself, rolling over. It was a long time before he fell asleep again. It seemed like he'd just closed his eyes when he was awoken by someone pounding on the door. He peered at the window and noticed with annoyance that the sun was barely up. He muttered a few choice curse words. "What?" he growled.

"Kharg wants you to come on downstairs!" Maru called.

"I'm not moving from this bed until a decent hour. If Kharg doesn't like it than to damned bad," Darc snarled. He heard footsteps move down the hall and settled down again.

Ten minutes later someone began hammering on the door again. Darc snarled. "What now?"

The door swung open to reveal Kharg. “We have someplace to go this morning."

"Does every trip have to start at dawn? Are you afraid the cave is going to disappear?"

Darc grumbled. "Trust me, it won't, now go away." He rolled over, so his back was to

Kharg.

"If you don't get up you won't like the consequences," Kharg warned. No response came,

so Kharg picked up the bucket he'd left in the hall and moved closer. Hesitating briefly, he wondered if he should repeat the warning then he carried out the plan.

Suddenly Darc was doused with water...ice cold water. He let out a howl that probably was heard through Yewbell and was on his feet faster than he imagined possible. He stared at Kharg and the empty bucket he was holding.

Kharg shrugged. "I did warn you."

Darc's eyes narrowing menacingly, the look was rather spoiled by the wet hair that tumbled into his eyes. "You miserable little..."

"Time for me to leave," Kharg said, sensing the coming explosion. He dropped the bucket and ran. He heard footsteps as he ran down the stairs, telling him Darc was right behind him. He bolted into the kitchen and made it to the other side of the table just before Darc charged in.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Darc snarled.

Kharg laughed. "Come on, Darc, lighten up, it was just a little water."

"A little water my ass!" Darc retorted. "I'm going to throttle you with my bare hands."

Kharg smirked. "You're going to have to catch me first."

Darc's eyes flared crimson and he grabbed the table and hurled it aside with a crash then he lunged at Kharg.

Caught off guard, Kharg didn't move quickly enough and was tackled to the ground with Darc on top of him. He yelped in pain when Darc's fist slammed into his nose with a crunch.

Darc snarled. "That little stunt isn't so damned funny now, is it?"

"Crazy bastard! Get off!" Kharg yelled, he punched Darc in the eye.

Darc cursed and punched his twin in the jaw.

Kharg twisted and managed to flip them over, so he was on top then punched Darc in the stomach as hard as he could.

Darc gasped as the breath was knocked out of him then lashed out with his left hand, claws raked Kharg's face, leaving nasty scratches across Kharg's cheek. "Not so pretty now, Human!"

“Bastard!” Kharg yelled, he seized Darc’s right arm and yanked, lifting himself up slightly. He flipped Darc onto his stomach and slammed him facedown. He winced at the loud thud of Darc's face slamming into the floor, but he didn't dare let up. He pulled Darc's right arm behind his back and shoved it up hard.

Darc let out a snarl of mingled pain and rage. He tried to pull himself free.

Kharg just put more pressure on his arm until Darc stopped fighting. "Enough, spirits Darc, that prank is no reason to kill each other."

Darc gritted his teeth as pain shot through his arm. "I hate you, do you know that?"

Kharg winced, that comment stung, but he forced himself to pretend it didn’t. “You’ll get over it.”

Darc growled.

"What the HELL is going on here?" Ganz demanded.

Startled, Kharg looked up to see Ganz and the others staring at them. Flushing, he released Darc and got up. "We had a disagreement, that's all."

Ganz studied Kharg. "Your nose is bleeding and you're getting a nasty bruise on your jaw, besides the fact that you woke us all up."

Darc struggled to his feet. His nose was bleeding as well and Ganz could see he was going to have a nasty black eye.

Suddenly Darc punched Kharg in the eye, knocking him back. "I will go to the cave with you, but only to see what is going on, not because I want to be around you. Afterwards we're going back to Aldrow and we'll never cross paths again, brother." His voice was filled with sarcasm and disgust. He turned and stalked from the room.

Ouch, well, that was definitely more like Darc...This is a rewritten chapter and now I will start rewriting fifteen...Thanks for not skinning me for this! If the site will allow it, please review again and let me know what you think! If not, drop a comment on this with comments for fifteen. Thanks again!

& nbsp;