The Remnants of Time (Original Version)

The Intruders

The twins reappeared on the driveway outside their house, the sky only just starting to darken into nighttime.

Aris immediately started to cheer triumphantly.

"Oh yeah! Breaking into a prison, interrogating our long lost criminal grandpa, and escaping without getting caught? This makes hoverboarding over an African river filled with venomous snakes and alligators look like child's play!" he exclaimed. "Good work, sis!"

Athena didn't appear to have heard him.

"Good job, Aris" Aris said to himself with a perfect impression of Athena's voice. "Oh, brother, you're so brave and smart and manly, I'm gonna name all my kids after you!"

To his surprise, she didn't smack him or reply with a snide comment. Instead, she was staring at the ground, intent on not making any eye contact with him.

"Thena?" he asked with a concerned voice, as he put a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

After a moment, she finally looked back up at him, and while she was wearing her usual aloof expression, it seemed harder than usual and he saw that it had several cracks in it.

"Nothing" she deadpanned.

Aris was about to push matters further, when he suddenly heard something, coming from the garage.

Athena appeared to have heard it too, for her attention was now glued to the shut garage door, all traces of any hurt completely gone.

The two of them hurried over to the garage.

"Maybe it was just Not-Dad" Aris suggested, as he looked down at his watch. "After all, he should be home from work by now."

Athena had the dreaded feeling that that noise wasn't from their uncle.

She tilted her head up at the glass windows embedded at the top of the garage door.

"Aris, give me a boost" she said.

He gave her a questioning look, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, I can barely even do a pushup, and you're asking me to lift you off the ground?"

"Alright, then I guess that I'll be doing all the heavy lifting."

Athena bent down, grabbed her brother's legs, and swung him over her head until he was sitting on her shoulders.

"Whoa! Whoa!" he said, swaying back and forth as he struggled to keep his balance. "Hey, watch where those hands are!"

"Huh, did you lose weight or something?" Athena asked. "You're much lighter than I remember."

"Shut up."

When she finally managed to hold him steady on her shoulders, she walked up to the garage door, relieved to see that he was high enough to see through the garage's windows.

"What do you see in there?" she asked from below.

Aris's eyes widened in shock, and his jaw dropped.

"Oh my gosh!"

"What?"

"I think one of my eyes is bigger than the other" he said, as he squinted at his reflection in the glass. "Oh, and there's also some guys in black and green combat suits inside."

"What?!"

She immediately dropped her brother, who yelped in pain as he hit the concrete driveway. She then backed up, and suddenly bolted forward, launching herself into the air before vaulting off of her brother, who cried out in pain as she planted her feet into his body.