The Twins

Sir, yes Sir!

Part 4: Pink

   It was a sensation unlike any other. Matthew knew he wasn't actually falling but all is senses thought otherwise. It was compleatly dark but Matthew thought he could see flashing lights pass him as he hurtled down.  "Well this is really weird." He thought almost casually. Somehow Matthew knew he wasn't in danger.

  Slowly the flashing lights got clearer.  Matthew didn't know if he was slowing down or the lights were speeding up but either way he started being able to see them. As they got clearer he saw that they were actually pictures.  Each light was a frame and as he fell the pictures semed to move seamlessly together. "Very cool Carson, I've never watched a movie while falling before." Matthew called out sarcastically, unsure if the old man in the body of a child could hear him.

    The film was about him. It showed almost everything that had happened to him up to that point. He watched passively. It seemed like so long ago since it had all started. A feeling of loneliness started to creep up on him. He missed his parents, his home, his school. He'd never finished the video game he had been playing before he left. He also had a few dozen unfinished books he wouldn't be able to read.

   Marthew shook his head. Those things didn't matter. He was alive. He was with his sister and Amani and he was finally figuring out who he was. That was worth more than any book or video game in the world. This revolution was worth more than those things.

  Eventually the film started to continute to what Matthew assumed was the future. It's bacame fuzzy, and very confusing, like a whole bunch of videos had been stacked on top of each other. Matthew realized that's probabky exactly what was happening. He was seeing all the possible futures at once.

   He was only able to pick up a few things but first he saw his sister. Marie was healing people but in a whole new way. She wasn't just closing wounds and putting bones togather, she was manipulating people's injuries at the atomic level. Matthew smiled. He knew Marie would be ridiculously powerfull.

    Then he saw himself. It was harder to tell what exactly he was doing. He could see that his senses were hightened. He could do things like catch objects while blindfolded and there were a few parts wheere it was obvious he knew things that there was no way he could have knows otherwise. It seemed like he coukd do akk the things he did now, just way better. Then the film took another turn.

   It became almost abstract. He felt more emotion than saw anything. It was like he could feel everything and see everything, but everything was dark in front of his eyes. It was like another plane of existence. Or maybe it was existence itself. Whatever it was it was giving Matthew a headache. He wanted to leave. All the emotions he was feeling began to overwhelm him and became a kind of agony he had never felt before. "I want to leave!" He screamed. Still reality crushed him. It was like he was being shown everything but couldn't understand what that meant. It was the truth that he was seeing, but it was too hard to bear. He couldn't decipher that the truth was, what it was trying to tell him. "I WANT TO LEAVE!" Mathew screeched one last time until he awoke back where he had started.

   Marie woke up right when he did, though she was considerably less distressed. Her face was cold, and stone like. Meanwhile, Matthew was sweating horribly and almost shaking. Carson looked at them both in understanding, but not pity. "Do you both understand your visions?" He asked casually. Both siblings nodded.

   A few hours later they were standing together in a flat field with huge lights around the perimeter. Huge obstacle courses were set up to the left and to the right there was a circular track with an empty dirt field inside. The teenagers had spent some time recuperating at Carson's orders and were now back for the second part of their training.

   "As you can probably tell this is the physical section. You need to be in good shape to fight, because your Token won't work in every situation. You need to be sure that you can rely on your own strength to get by, without any fancy powers." Carson explained in a soft voice. He looked around the area. There were plenty of people there already, some that Matthew recognized from their walk to the camp,"we'll start with the obstacle courses." Carson continued, walking towards the courses,"you'll need to stretch first, and I'll see if I can teach you some basic acrobatics for the arial ones."

   Marie lit up,"wait we're going to do flips and stuff?" She asked excitedly. She had always wanted to learn gymnastics so she could do parkour with her friends, but when their parents found out that's why she wanted to learn, they cancelled her lessons. Parkour was illigal in Edis, because they didn't want people breaking the wires and cables on the roofs. Matthew had to admit, he had been interested in learning how to do acrobatics too, but he never liked doing phisical acitivity and decided against it.

   "Yeah you'll be doing it. Whether you like it or not." Carson replied with a smirk,"oh i'm pretty sure I'll like it." Marie replied, grinning in a bit of a confused way. Carson chuckled,"we'll see." The siblings glanced at each other,"ok well i'm definitly concerned now." Mathew thought.

   Carson was right. By the time Matthew and Marie were done their warm up,  and two obstacle courses they were almost unable to move. Carson was grinning. Marie glared at him,"it's like you enjoy our pain." She snapped to which Carson's only reply was a slight snicker. "I'll get you water." He responded then sauntered off.

    "I think we're gonna die." Matthew muttered to his sister,"I'm certain he has more in store for us than that." A few minutes later Carson confirmed Matthew's suspicions as he returned with the water. "Drink up and then we're doing some sparring." Both siblings groaned. Slowly Matthew got himself off the ground and looked up. He blinked a few times then realized what he was seeing. Amani was on the edge of the field getting ready to do an obstacle course. He looked up after a moment then smiled and waved at Matthew. Matthew waved back then swore as he felt his arm cramp up. As he looked back at Amani he was laughing with someone else.

    "You're crushing hard aren't you?" Marie asked teasingly. Matthew immediately felt his face go red. "What do you know about crushes, you've never had one!" He snapped back. Marie laughed and Carson tried to hide his smile,"I know about crushes because i know about you. And you have caught major feelings for mister tall, dark and handsome over there." Carson joined in,"it's really obvious man." Matthew swore again then muttered,"shut up." Marie refused to shut up though. "I mean dating is gross but if that's your thing you've gotta go for it. Don't let your dreams be dreams!" Matthew decided then would be a good time to ignore her.

   "Hey Matthew, you wanna impress him?" Carson quipped. Matthew stared at him silently. "All you've gotta do is get your ass up again and go do sparring. Who knows, if you do well maybe he'll come and watch." He teased. Marie nodded vigorously,"Yeah! Come on Matthew let's get you a boyfriend!" Slowly Matthew agreed and walked over to the dirt patch on the track.

    First Carson taught the twins some basic moves then let them practice on each other. Marie won three times in a row until Matthew got fed up and ended up winning  four times after her. Unfortunately Amani never did come over to watch.

"Alright great first try i think you're ready to wrap up." Carson finally said to which the twins both collapsed in a pile. As he walked away he called over his shoulder, "I'll see you here tomorrow at 5:00." Marie sat up quickly,"wait what? That's so early!" Carson chuckled,"you've gotta start early if you wanna get all this done again." The twins screams of horror rang out in the dusty air for well over a minute.

   "Hey Matthew, do you want to go for a walk?" Amani asked the blond boy from the tent door,"I thought it would be nice before bed." It was a few hours later, when a lot of the lights had been turned off. Matthew smiled softly,"yeah sure." As he stood up and left the tent with the taller boy. They walked off into the night together leaving Marie in her bed, smiling as she watched them leave.