Dragon Knights Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Knights Sentai ❯ Epilogue: Autumn is Cold ( Chapter 13 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Tetheus shivered beneath his warm, woolen coat. The wind in this part of town had its own quirks and seemed to change direction on a whim. He hadn't lived here since his parents died and he'd never thought that he'd ever miss it. It's funny what things can hold memories for you.

He looked up at the street sign on the corner Hedgemont Villas. He opened his coat, wincing as the cold wind delved deeper into his clothing. In his inside pocket was the clipping that Alfeegi had pressed onto him with the details of a house for sale and forced him to agree to view. He hadn't said why it was so important that Tetheus had to cut short his morning-after lie in and the director had no idea why he was standing in the coldest part of town, with his breath freezing as it streamed from his mouth, even though he was perfectly happy renting a loft apartment. Alfeegi hadn't complained about it before. If he really cared about it that much, why hadn't Alfeegi come along and given a second opinion. Maybe Tetheus could just go back and say that the place had damp rot, or something. The houses looked pretty old, after all.

Despite himself, he walked down the road, eyeing the terrace houses. Strangely, this street began with number 24 and went up. Maybe this was a surprise bit of urban planning - houses 1 to 23 could be half a mile away, or perhaps they'd been knocked down to build one of the apartment blocks that bookended the street. He counted as he went. House 25 had an art-lover living there, judging by the hideous sculptures proudly littering the garden. House 29 banged out rock music. House 32 was infested with cats, some of them wearing ear plugs and looking disdainfully down the road. Number 36 was familiar. He looked at the scrap of newspaper in his numb hand. This was it.

He opened the tiny gate, small enough to step over. As he expected, it squeaked. The garden stole his breath. The work wasn't finished; there were a few empty beds still awaiting plants - blue if he remembered correctly - and the witch hazel in the centre was far too small, but he could see what it would be, given a few years. He puzzled over it as he walked up the path - the wrong kind of stone was used, but a bit of weathering and a few years of grime and it wouldn't be noticeable. The number beside the door was hand-painted, rather than cut into the stone, but Tetheus traced his fingers over the numbers, exactly the way he used to, while he waited for the door to open.

The doorbell was answered by a completely surprising figure. He looked strangely normal with his hair tied back and wearing ordinary jeans and a sweatshirt, but Tetheus recognised one half of Nadil's twisted twin stars immediately.

"Yes?" scowled Shydeman, before noticing the newspaper clutched between Tetheus's fingers. "Ah, you have to ring the estate agents before you can look over the house. It's not ready yet." He glanced over his shoulder and muttered to himself. "I guess it can't hurt to show you around. We're not too untidy today." He stepped aside to let Tetheus in, closed the door and locked it, before taking his coat. "Be a pity to take a trip in this weather and not see inside."

Tetheus nodded. "It's cold out," he said, bruesquely.

"Well," said Shydeman, gesturing to the walls around him, "this is the hall."

This was also where the changes crept in. The colour of the walls was the same, but the panel for the alarm was new and garish - he hadn't noticed the box outside. The layout struck the right chords though. The stairs leading to the first floor was exactly where it needed to be and the door immediately to his right would obviously lead into the evening room and a bit of comfort as the night drew in. Shydeman pushed on the door and led Tetheus inside.

"We've turned this room into an office," he said, kicking some magazines behind the desk and exposing a stain on the carpet. Tetheus frowned. The room was too small. "We were planning to knock the door down and expand into the room behind, but we haven't gotten around to it yet."

He led Tetheus back out and down the hall into the reading room. "There's a lot of space here that we don't use - it's a library of sorts. We don't have that many books, so we mostly store DVDs and CDs here. They don't take up much room."

Tetheus nodded. "The front room would make a good place to relax in the evening, with the sun coming in the window. If you stole enough space from here," he said, marking out the area needed to restore the dimensions of the room from his childhood.

"That's exactly it," replied Shydeman, eyeing him curiously.

Tetheus smiled, imagining a huge, stupid picture of a goat over the fire-place - a bad idea in a room with so much paper. "This house... it's just like the house I used to live in when I was a child, before my parents died."

Shydeman twitched. "That's strange. My sister and I found this place a few years ago and that's sort of the reason we bought it. The outside is going to look the same, but we're putting our own stamp on the inside. It's not a shrine to our parents."

Tetheus opened his mouth, but the words stalled. A door from what could have been the kitchen opened and the other twin stormed in.

"This gentleman is thinking about buying the house," Shydeman said to her.

She glared at him. "Why do we have to sell up?"

"We can't afford to rent a new home and pay the mortgage on this one," he said reasonably, throwing a smile at Tetheus.

"You know what I mean," she said, plopping into one of the comfortable chairs. "Why do we have to leave at all?"

Shydeman sighed and shook his head. "We're filming in a different country. There's no way that we can do the work here."

"I hate Nadil," Shyrendora spat. "He says 'Jump', we say 'How high?' He snaps his little fingers and the pantomime's over and we have to work on some stupid show."

"He's our boss," sighed Shydeman. "We signed our lives away."

"I like pantomime!" she wailed, before twisting her body over and cackling "I'll get you my pretty - and your little dog too."

Shydeman laughed and grabbed her in a rough hug.

"Why can't we leave," she whispered. "Why can't we get work with another company or do more pantomimes for the kiddies?"

Tetheus coughed. "If you need work," he said, "I know a few commercials that are casting twins soon."

"We're not twins," said Shydeman.

"It was one of Nadil's gimmicks," sneered his sister. "That and the type-casting are two of the reasons why I love him so much."

"You're the older one?" Tetheus asked Shydeman, who nodded. "Then could you be...?" He stopped and frowned. "But your hair..."

Shydeman squeezed his sister and let her go. He walked over to the mantlepiece and brought a framed photograph from it over to his guest. Tetheus trembled when he saw who was in the picture. "Our mother was an actress. When we started in the business, we thought that we'd cash in by dying our hair her colour."

"It helped that I found her stash of dye when I was ten. I can't remember exactly what our natural colour looks like, but it was dark, like yours," said Shyrendora, getting to her feet. "Cup of tea?" she asked, giving Shydeman a quick hug and heading for the kitchen.

"There's not a contract written that can't be wiggled out of," said Tetheus, stopping her in her tracks. "Do you really want to leave Nadil?" They both stared at him, the potential sale completely forgotten. "I know one of the best contract lawyers in the business and I can have him working on this by the end of the day."

"It can't be possible," stated Shydeman, flatly.

"There are three strands of attack," replied Tetheus, ticking them off his fingers. "Firstly, you examine the contract to see if it has any opt-out clauses or if it breaks any employment laws. Then you can negotiate with your employer." Shydeman looked dubious. "If all else fails, then you resort to breaking and entering. If your boss can't put his hands on the contract, then he can't sue you for its breach." Tetheus laughed. "I'm sure that Nadil's improved security on his safe since Ruwalk's day, but I can afford to hire a professional."

"Why would you help us?" whispered Shyrendora.

"Do you... do you have an older brother?" he pleaded, his voice breaking. The blood drained from Shydeman and Shyrendora began to cry. "I lost touch with my siblings when they were still young and I've been looking for them ever since." He looked at Shrendora, trying to square the stunning beauty before him with the snot-nosed brat of his childhood. "The first time my sister went to a pantomime she was so frightened of the villian that she cried for hours and my mother refused to take her the following year." He then looked at Shydeman. "In school my brother was having trouble with maths, so I offered to help. After two weeks of tutoring, he ended up with worse grades than before and we both got punished."

"Tetheus?" whispered Shyrendora. He smiled and nodded.

"That's impossible!" said Shydeman, looking at the sensible suit, serious hair-cut and thick-soled runners. "My brother was the most disorganised person imaginable. He didn't know if he was coming or going. Without me, he wouldn't make it to work, never mind on time." His arms flailed as he continued to denigrate his older brother. "You can't be that messy, dishevelled, thoughtless slacker!"

"When my phone broke, I worked on it," he said, slyly. "The will to change is a transformative beast. Please forgive me for my stupidity."

"On three conditions," stated Shydeman, as his sister raced into his brother's arms. "One, you break our contracts. Two, you buy me a pony and three, you move into the spare room. We've too much catching up to do."

"Agreed!" shouted Tetheus, shaking his hand to seal the deal, before pulling him into a bear-hug. "Agreed!"

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Dragon Knights Sentai is fanfiction based on the works of Mineko Okhami.

Thanks for reading. I couldn't leave poor Tetheus without clearing up his loose ends. All feedback is appreciated, so please click on the review button. If you spot any typos, speak up.

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