Ninjago Shorts

Twins Till the End

Warning: this story is made to make you cry.  However, I do not know everything on this topic and I am sorry if I offend anyone or remind anyone of their own experience. Read at your own risk.

Travis has always had trouble with his breathing, ever since he and his identical twin brother were small. They both had the same wavy, slightly curling brown hair passed down from their mom who got it from her mother. The both wear navy blue t-shirts and jeans and sneakers, identical down to every freckle and hair. And even the same powers. Everyone in their family has powers, they have power to speak the language of all animals and they can command them to do anything Travis or Felix wanted, though they don't like to force that upon others. The only two things that tell them apart are their eyes and their snakes. Travis, the older brother by about six minutes, has green in his brown eyes and a pet female yellow tree python named Fern. Felix, the younger brother, has red in his brown eyes and a pet male boa constrictor named Ripple. And the third thing that no one likes to bring up is Travis's breathing problems. He doesn't have asthma, though he has an inhaler that does little to nothing to help when his breathing becomes bad and he starts to struggle. They were five when Travis's breathing problems first became known...

"Ready?" Livien asks her three year younger brothers, Travis and Felix, who are lined up beside her on their makeshift race track. She has feathery black hair down to her shoulders and crystal blue eyes, wearing a silvery lavender colored shirt with jeans and sneakers. The two boys nod eagerly in sink. "GO!" Livien shouts and the three of them explode forward over the starting line.
Like always Livien pulls ahead with the longer legs, but it isn't Travis who takes second, it's Felix. The two siblings cross the finish line and turn to see Travis cross the line after them, but he isn't there. Halfway down the track Travis is bent over on his hands and knees, his breath coming in gasping wheezes.
Livien and Felix dash to him. "I'm okay." Travis insistas as he wheezes.
"You don't sound okay." Felix replies.
Travis forces his breathing to become deep and calm. Once he's breathing normally he straightens. "Don't worry. It happens sometimes. Lets go play another game." And with that he leads the way inside.
For several more years he's able to hide his breathing problem from his parents but then on his and his twin's fifth birthday, it becomes known.
They decided to have a picnic in the park and after they ate Luke had started a game of tag with his family, they are all running around when Travis collapses, gasping for breath. Luke runs to him and picks him up while Lily falls to her knees beside them with Felix and Livien standing behind her.
Lily strokes the hair off of Travis's forehead. "Travis, dear, what's wrong?"
Travis only wheezes.
"He probably just has asthma." Luke tries to reassure his wife then stands and gets everyone into the car before driving to the hospital. Once there, the doctors take Travis to a room then call in his family later after giving him a check up.
Lily sits on the bed and holds Travis's head on her lap, gently stroking his hair. Travis is unconscious with a clear plastic mask over his mouth and nose, a tube conection the mask to an oxygen tank. Livien sits on the end of the bed beside Travis's feet. Felix is pale and trembling, his fear of hospitals making him press against Luke who holds him close while talking to the doctor.
"So he does have asthma?" Luke asks.
"Yes." The doctor says. "The inhaler worked well enough for him but it seems that the oxygen mask works best. Though those are quite expensive compared to the inhaler."
Lily looks up. "My friend, David Droid, is a doctor but he works by making house calls though he'll stay with us sometimes." She smiles. "He really likes kids and is a good family friend. The kids like to call him uncle or great uncle Droid. So we'll buy the inhaler and if it doesn't work then we can call Droid to use the oxygen mask."
The doctor nods and leaves then the next day Luke comes and picks Travis up from the hospital.

~oOo~

Livien skips down the garden path and stops to smell the stargazer lilies, her favorite because her mother was named after them. There's a flash of tan scales in the bushes beside her and she freezes, swallowing hard in fear. Nervously she tucks her hair behind her ear and backs up the path. A triangular scally head follows her and she pales in fear. A snake. A cobra snake.
"D-DAD!" She shouts, her voice coming out like a squeak.
She turns and tries to run but a fiery pain seeps into her ankle as the cobra sinks its fangs into her skin. Screaming in pain, Livien falls to the ground and curls up in a tight ball on the path. She holds her ankle and hardly notices Luke dropping to his knees beside her. He pulls her hands away. There are four bite marks on her ankle and her hands are smeared with blood and some yellow liquid. Livien turns whiter than white and passes out.