Author's note: I had to post this chapter with the previous, to avoid giving anyone a heart attack.

Chapter 12: The Aftermath

A bright light heralded their appearance, as Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and the Marut appeared...

...in the same room as the til'Cats, Majeres, and Bro-bots!

“What the frag!!” Sunstreaker swore, shocked beyond all understanding, then swore again when he realized that all their wounds were gone. The Voice was quick to speak up.

“What were you doing? You weren't supposed to interfere. We agreed!” The Marut looked up.

“I was making a point that you needed to hear.” He let the Autobots go.

“What gives?” Sideswipe asked. “I – I thought...” The Marut looked at them.

“I spoke the truth when I said my current mission was the last before I return to Mechanus, and that I had come for your brother. I never said your brother was my last mission.” Continuing on to the Voice, the Marut pointed first at the til'Cats. “Ninety-seven.” Then he pointed at the Majeres, then the Bro-Bots, then the Autobots. “Ninety-eight. Ninety-nine. One Hundred. One hundred pairs of siblings have been tested. Have you found your answer?” The Voice sighed.

“No, and I guess I never will. Very well. I will keep our bargain.”

“Bargain?” Zentarou murmured, as the relieved Autobots hurried to their friends. “Who could make a bargain with an Inevitable?”

“What's an Inevitable?” asked Proto.

“A creature of great power,” Raistlin whispered softly, as if unwilling to draw the construct's attention. “Each subtype has a specific ethos it enforces with single-minded clarity. Maruts pursue and deal with those who would cheat death, like liches and powerful necromancers, as well as those who would for example allow hundreds to die to save themselves.”

“Look!” Zantar gasped, pointing. A glowing door had opened, and a human had stepped out.

He appeared to be in his mid-twenties, with shoulder-length black hair and brown eyes. He wore a simple robe of gray with a dark blue-black line down the front, and all in all looked at first glance like someone who blended in to a crowd, like someone you'd look over and never notice. Abruptly, Raistlin gasped and clutched at Caramon's arm.

“Brother! He doesn't change!”

“Huh?” Caramon wasn't the only one confused.

“To my eyes! He – he doesn't age! He doesn't change!” The man looked over at us.

“No, I don't supposed I would, Raistlin.” At last the brothers had met the Voice face to face. He gave a shiver, and suddenly became translucent.

“He – he -” Zentarou stuttered, “He's a ghost!” The man sighed.

“Yes. I am a ghost. And the Marut is here for me.” He looked at the Inevitable. “I am ready, Milost Konnera. Oh! Before I forget.” He gestured, and four glowing circles, like the others marked for each pair, appeared on the floor. “I promised to send you home, and it will be as if only a moment has passed, I promise.” He gave the four pairs a wistful smile. “Thank you for trying. I guess my question is truly something that no one can answer.”

“Don't be so sure,” the Marut said, stepping up to the man and reaching out to touch his head. “Now, go to your rest.” With a sigh, the man simply vanished. “At last, my final mission is complete.”

“Wait a minute!” Sunstreaker blurted out. “You're not going to leave us here to just go home, without some kind of explanation!” The others voiced their own agreements.

“Very well,” the Marut acquiesced. “I will tell you what I know of how you came to be in this situation.

“The ghost you have just met was once a man by the name of Konhex. He grew up on a world far from here, with one companion: his older brother, Keskin. For many years, the two were nigh inseparable, that is, until Keskin began to train in the ways of the warrior. He was the stronger brother, and had a natural skill. Konhex, however, was less talented. He tried when he came of age, but just couldn't grasp what his brother took to so easily. Frustrated, he turned instead to the study of words, quickly becoming a scholar.

“Keskin couldn't understand this, however, and bullied and ridiculed his brother mercilessly, until it seemed a hatred had sprung up between them. They would go months on end hardly saying a word to each other, for all that they lived in the same house, even after their parents died and left it to them. They worked the farmlands, kept house, and passed the time, all in near-silence.

“Konhex was brokenhearted by this. He loved his brother dearly, and couldn't comprehend what he had done to earn his brother's wrath. Or, more precisely, he knew what he had done, but try as he might – and he tried to learn the ways of the sword again and again – he failed to become a warrior.

“Then, one night, their farm was attacked by raiders. Keskin ordered Konhex to remain indoors, as he 'wasn't strong enough to defend their home,' and he went out to meet the raiders alone. Watching from the window, Konhex saw the battle unfold, and thought that there was no way his brother could win. There were too many enemies for him to fight alone. The thought pierced his mind that if he could fight, if he could prove himself, he could earn his brother's love once again. Taking up his brother's spare sword, he charged out into the fray. But his skill was pitiful, and he was quickly mortally wounded. Furious, Keskin drove the raiders away, and slaughtered many besides, before kneeling at Konhex's side.

“Konhex tried to explain, but Keskin was blinded by what Konhex, and indeed Keskin himself, took to be anger.”

“What in the Abyss were you thinking?! I told you to stay inside. Now look what you've done!” The voices floated on the air in the room.

“Bro...ther....”

“Shut up! You're always too weak, you always have been! Damn you, Konhex! Damn you!”

“Keskin did not understand his brother,” the Marut said. “He believed he could bully his brother into living, make him angry enough to fight off death, if for no better reason to spite him. But he was wrong. Every word was another knife in Konhex's heart, and drove him more to his fate. He might have lived... if only Keskin had said what he really felt, said simply, 'Don't die.' But what he said instead...”

“I hate you, Konhex!”

All the brothers cringed at that.

“Those were the last words Konhex heard in life. 'I hate you, Konhex.' Konhex perished at that exact moment, in Keskin's arms. Upon realizing that he was dead, Keskin finally realized what he thought was anger was really anguish, and wept, pleading with his brother to return to life. But it was too late.

“Konhex's spirit, however, wouldn't rest. Tormented by those four final words, he fled his world as fast as he could, seeking what it was that gave siblings such a tight bond as he knew existed, as he himself once had, that he had so lost as to suffer what he'd heard. A ghost, he fabricated this place, as a study to question siblings, to find his answer.” Images flashed on the wall, of a shorter blond human standing next to a person in a suit of armor, of a blond man and woman, of identical elves in red and even a pair of bronze dragons, all talking to Konhex's ghostly form. “Pair after pair he questioned, but none could say what it was that bonded them. Eventually, he decided that it must be something that they weren't aware of, something subconscious. So he created the maze, and the tests that you yourselves went through, pitting their bond against mental and physical strains. Eventually, his tampering with time – pulling people from their worlds and then placing them back at the moment they left, sometimes removing their memories in the process – and his denying of his fate attracted the attention of myself and one of my fellows, a Quarut, an Inevitable of Time and Space. Between ourselves we decided I'd be best able to handle him, as brothers are a specialty of mine. It is why I have chosen the name Milost Konnera. It means 'Mercy's Brother,' in an ancient tongue of men.

“I approached him, and he pleaded with me to make a deal: Counting all those before, let him test one hundred pairs of siblings, and if he hasn't learned his answer in that time, then I could take him without a struggle. I agreed, and have waited patiently while he continued his test.”

“And we were the last,” Mega said, understanding. “That's why he seemed to be so rough on us. We were his last chance to understand.”

“But what does bond siblings?” Zentarou asked. “Honestly, it's something I can't put into words.”

“Me neither,” Sideswipe agreed. “Sunny's my brother, and that's all there is to it.”

“So, even if we weren't the last,” Caramon said somewhat sadly, “we still couldn't have helped him.”

“Wait!” Sunstreaker said, turning to Milost Konnera. “When we appeared you told Konhex that you were making a point that he needed to hear.” Milost Konnera nodded.

“That I was. He had planned that fight against the invisible monster to be your final test. I intervened, to show him just how deep a brother's love will go. Even death itself cannot stand up to it.” He gestured at Sideswipe. “You begged me to take you as well as Sunstreaker, just so you wouldn't be apart. That is true brotherly love. He saw that, even though he couldn't interrupt or be heard. I believe it was what finally convinced him to stop fighting me, and go on to his afterlife. Although the wounds we took were real, I would not have allowed it to go further than it did.”

“So I haven't cheated death too much?” Sunstreaker asked with a small glower.

“You are front line fighters,” Milost Konnera stated. “You do not cheat death; you are his dance partners. And when he decided to take the lead from you, you won't be able to fight it. Such is the way of warriors.”

“What about Konhex?” Mega asked.

“His fate is kinder to him than he has made it to be. By now, he has his answer, from the one who he needed to hear it from the most.”

“What do you mean?” Raistlin queried.

“Six months after Konhex died, Keskin, who had forsaken the way of the blade, feeling it caused his brother's death and cost him more than he thought possible and became a priest, was defending a small farming family in another village from raiders with holy magic. The raiders were defeated, and the family saved, though it cost him his life. He has been waiting for Konhex all this time, to ask forgiveness for his words.”

“And Konhex didn't want to go!?” gasped Proto.

“He wouldn't believe me that Keskin was waiting. He couldn't see how his strong brother, whom to this day he saw as powerful and nigh invincible, could have died, much less be waiting for him, the brother he by his own words hated.” The Marut sighed. “And now, it is time for me to return to my native plane. I have been gone far too long. Take care, and hopefully we will never meet again.” With that, Milost Konnera cast, and vanished, leaving the eight there with the glowing rings.

“Well, I guess this is farewell,” Zentarou said.

“Yeah,” Sideswipe agreed. He grinned. “If you're ever in our neck of the universe, drop in.”

“We'll take you for a ride like you've never had,” Sunstreaker grinned.

“Same here, if you're ever in New York,” Mega and Proto agreed.

“Somehow I doubt any of you will ever be on Krynn,” Raistlin commented, “but if you are, you can drop in to visit.”

“Yeah, just go to the Inn of the Last Home,” Caramon asked. “Best spiced potatoes in Solace.”

“There's a place for you to stay in Kylado if you stop in,” Zantar promised, and Zentarou nodded.

Each pair of twins went to their appointed circle, took one last look to say goodbye, and stepped in.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Konhex had kept his word. All the twins appeared a moment after they had vanished, as if nothing had happened. Even for them, it took some internal convincing to believe it had all taken place. But memory was just too strong to deny it.

That night all of them dreamed the same dream, though they could only confirm that their twin had shared it. They saw a man with dark hair and brown eyes in a gray robe, approaching a shining light. And sitting down just outside of it was another man, with the same brown hair and eyes only a shade darker, perhaps a year or two older. They saw the brothers meet, startlement on the former, shame and regret from the latter, and they saw, after some conversation and a brotherly embrace, the two walk into the light, side by side.

As they all knew they'd go someday, side by side, twins, brothers.