Criminal Love

Not Always Alone

Resurrecting after you died usually felt good. You felt refreshed like waking up from a peaceful slumber, ready to try and survive another day. Gone was the pain of your temporary death, replaced by the feeling of your strength and energy returning.

But Lifty didn't feel any of that.

His body felt heavy like someone had put a weight down on his chest, and he felt something around his abdomen squeezing him tight. Groaning softly, he shook his head side to side slowly to try and clear the heavy fog that clouded his head. He heard muffled voices and tried to open his eyes, only being rewarded with a red and green blur in front of him.

He felt a wave of sudden drowsiness hit him and he shut his eyes, falling back to unconsciousness. Lifty woke up hours later, feeling a little than before. He was able to open his eyes and see clearly. He turned his head, looking around and saw he was in a darkened hospital room, stripped down and in a patient's gown. The thief then noticed Flaky sitting right next to his bed, snoring softly as she slept. Lifty smiled softly, seeing the girl had tried to wait for him to wake up, only to fall asleep herself. He reached out, running his hand through her curly red hair and she jumped slightly as his touch jolted her from her sleep. She stood up and before he could even blink, Lifty felt her arms wrap around his neck as she held him tightly.

"I-I thought you w-were dead. . ." Flaky whimpered, as she held him tighter as though he'd fade away if she let him go.

"Takes more than a little bullet to put me down, sweetheart," Lifty wrapped an arm around her back and murmured into her neck, a small grin on his face. He then pulled away and raised an eyebrow as he wondered out loud, "So how did I get here anyway?"

F-Flippy drove you in his jeep while I ," Flaky sniffled as tears came to her ruby red eyes, "While I held you in the back seat, trying to stop the bleeding. You were so p-pale. I thought I was gonna l-lose you again."

Lifty frowned, and asked the question he dreaded, "What happened to my brother?"

"In the c-confusion to get you to stop bleeding, we forgot a-about him," Flaky said, pinching a lock of her red hair between her fingers, "When we went to get him, he was gone."

Lifty's frown deepened as he let events of the past few hours sink in. His brother had tried to kill him. His own flesh and fucking blood tried to murder him simply because he refused to hurt his friends. His real friends. And now he was gone and Lifty was wasting away in a grimy hospital bed with a fucking hole in his stomach. Several emotions flickered across the thief's eyes and Flaky barely saw them before they vanished by his signature bored gaze. But she saw them all alright. She saw the pain of betrayal with being shot by his own family. She saw the hint of anger and what almost looked like regret.

Lifty opened his mouth, ready to say what was on his mind, only to be interrupted by door to his room opening. Lumpy poked his head, dressed in a doctor's coat and gave a dopey smile at the patient before him.

"Hey, guys! Sorry but Flaky needs to leave. Visiting hours are over for the night."

Flaky was more than a bit reluctant to go, but Lifty just waved her away, saying that he'll be okay for the night. She nodded, is a little unsure, but went ahead and left the room after giving Lifty one more hug.

Lifty let out a sigh when everyone was gone and he was finally alone, feeling the day's events catch up with him as he felt exhausted mentally as well as physically. He shut his eyes, starting to quietly doze off before he heard the door to his room open again. He didn't even open his eyes as he let out a grumble, thinking it was Lumpy again.

"What do you want now, doc? You think I'm a visitor too?"

"No, I think you're my brother."

Lifty's eyes snapped open as the voice greeting him wasn't the blue-haired moron, but the one of his brother. He stared at Shifty, who stared back with an expression that made it seem like he hadn't just shot him a few hours ago. Lifty felt anger boil his blood and had to use all of his willpower to keep from throwing himself at his older brother.

Instead, he just glared, gritting his teeth as he spat out, "What the fuck are you doin' here?"

"I'm here to see how my brother's doing."

"Oh, I'm fantastic," Lifty scoffed, "Not like my own brother fucking shot me or anything, right?"

"I had to. I knew you'd just abandon me again," Shifty frowned, "Like last time, you'd get to be happy with your new life," Shifty's eyes gleamed dangerously as he stepped closer towards his weaker brother, "While I just rotted away in that dump of a house. Alone."

Lifty's heartbeat quicken as his brother got in his face, his own face was a mask of anger. It seemed his brother's fall earlier had more than scrambled his already messed up psyche. He backed away, pressing his back against the pillows behind him as he tried to distance himself from his twin.

"Are you serious?" Lifty eyed his brother, a hint of pity mixed with disgust in his eyes, "Are you that fuckin' delusional that you still think all this my fault?

"It is! If you hadn't lost our loot in that heist, then none of this would've happened!"

"I didn't mean to! It was a mistake, you moron!"

I know! That's why I tried to find you, but I couldn't! It's like you just vanished. Then I saw you in the supermarket and tried to get to come back, but you wouldn't."

"You didn't want me before, you kicked me out like I was trash. Why would you want me then?"

"I was wrong, cause you are my brother!," Shifty's voice cracked with genuine emotion as he felt tears come to his eyes, "And I was gonna be damned if I was gonna lose my only family to the people who've done nothing, but outcast us since day one!"

Shifty buried his face in his hands as he stared down at his boots, saying nothing else. Lifty frowned, remembering just how alone the two brothers felt when they moved to Happy Tree Town. Even before they started their thieving antics, the twins were alienated due to their own isolated behavior as youths and the already close-knit bond the rest of the town shared. He knew how it felt when you only had a family. He knew what it was like to alone and shunned simply because of who you were. Lifty knew his brother was crazy, but he also knew that in his own crazed and twisted way, Shifty loved him. He was just scared of being alone and would do anything to not lose his brother. Even if it meant killing him and everyone he cared about.

The younger twin reached out, grasping his brother's shoulder with his hand. His touch made Shifty react as he raised his head to stare at the other green-haired man with a frown and confusion in his emerald eyes.

"You're nuts, Shifty," Lifty had a small grin on his lips, "And you're my brother. No matter what."

"You're not mad that I shot you?" Shifty smiled sheepishly

"Oh, no! Don't worry, I'm pissed." still grinning, Lifty gave his brother a quick smack across the back of the head, "Next time you shoot me, better make sure I stay down."

Shifty grinned despite being hit and let out a chuckle, "Jesus, you're a dick."

"Love you too, bro."