The Cauldron Guardian sighed, knowing that now it was time to tend to the next on her list. Behind her, she could faintly make out the shuffling of approaching footsteps. She spun slowly on her heel to face the figure shrouded in darkness. Recognizing it, she almost let loose a breath of relief, but then restrained herself.

"You almost scared me," she admitted.

"Is that so? I knew I'd never be able to sneak up on you," the raspy voice half-teased, then inquired, "You followed procedure, correct?"

"Yes," the Guardian replied with a bit of distaste in her mouth. She sighed again and then added, "Well, I must be off. So many things to do, so little time."

The figure saw the discomfort in the Guardian. "How true, how true," the voice murmured after the Guardian's receding figure. Then, after she was out of ear shot, the figure muttered, "I wonder how our dear twin murderesses are doing. Hell they gave, and hell they will receive. They won't even know!" the voice proceeded to chuckle a laugh that sounded foreign and almost like the figure was choking. Then, the figure turned on heel and seemed to dissipate in the mist.

At that moment, in another far corner of the universe, in a lonely solar system, on a backwater planet, the first sun was beginning to rise across the desolate landscape. Its light pierced, illuminated, and tore the darkness away. It shone through the windows, gently prodding the sleeping souls from their dreams and back fully into the world of the living, for it was time to wake up.

The eyelids of two twin sisters were slowly opened in this manner, awakening them in a prolonged state. They had been sleeping in a double bed, with sheets that brought back memories of carefree times of yesteryears. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, one twin murmured to the other, "Where are we, Chi?"

"Home?" Chi hoped.

"Could it be?" Phi queried. "Well, I guess there's only one way to find out." She finished, with a sly smirk creeping into the corners of her mouth. On the silent count of three, the covers were torn back, and the twins ran from the room into the kitchen where questions and answers awaited them.

Instead of finding the whole family seated around the table, as it had been in the days of the past, their older brother was the only one present in the kitchen. He was seated in the far chair of the dining table. As usual, his nose was stuck in a book, but he raised his head when they came scrambling in. "So, you two mischief makers are finally up?"

There was a sly gleam in Chi's eyes as she replied with an answer that had been used numerous times in the past. "Well, you know we love to sleep in!"

"Is that so?" He asked facetiously. Chi and Phi sat down in their respective chairs, glancing around every so often. Their brother continued his silent reading, but everyone knew that question and answers were soon to follow. They did.

Chi was the one who baited the hook. "Where are mother and father?" She craned her neck, searching for them.

"Dead. Buried," he answered a tad bitterly, averting his eyes. In the silence that followed, he cleared his throat.

"Ah, so they finally kicked the proverbial can, eh?" Phi noted, with a bit of her bluntness and rebellious attitude thrown in.

Disrespect was one thing their brother could not handle. Phi had never really highly regarded mother or father as she should've. He, on the other hand, had always been the faithful, kind, and understand son. He couldn't put up with it any longer. "They loved you! They loved you until the end, even when they shouldn't have! They even loved you more than me, which I will *never* understand, seeing as how you have decimated the family and disgraced our name! While you two were out destroying and ravaging, I was trying to build a life for myself. It wasn't easy, seeing as how I had to carry *your* reputation on my shoulders! I'll have no more of this! I've reached my breaking point! I found you two out on the steps last night and thought that maybe you had reformed, but no, you're still the same as ever! I will not take this disrespect in *my* house, especially when it's aimed at those who loved you so much! Get out! Go see what you have done to this world! Go see how well you have 'protected' it! GO!"

Phi jumped from her chair and turned, running out the door. She had always been the more impulsive and blunt of the two. Chi followed, but not before leaving her brother a fact to chew on. "You're not the brother I once knew. My brother would never turn family out, no matter how disrespectful one member was being. We may have committed heinous crimes that which you may never be able to forgive us for. Please, do try, though, to understand that we're here to try to make all right in the world once again, if that's possible. We may have changed, but so have you!" With that, she joined Phi on the front porch, where her twin was presently gawking at the dramatically changed landscape. It looked as though they were immersed in a desert junk yard. Basically, it was a complete opposite from its former perfection.

"What... what happened?" Phi voiced her thoughts to no one in particular.

Someone did answer, though. "You left. All havoc broke loose. You two- you were supposed to protect us. Our planet was not strong politically and had potential enemies, which decided to kick us while we were down, leaving this land in ravages. Everything looks like a scrap heap."

The twins simultaneously turned to find the mouth the words belonged to. Their suspicions were confirmed as they saw their younger brother sitting on a chair on the far corner of the porch. "I can't believe that you... you left me behind!" he spat at them, the fire gleaming in his eyes.

"It wasn't like that," Phi said. "We were trying to protect you..."

"Bullshit," he blurted, interrupting her. "Your were power-hungry and didn't want to cut me in on the deal. I can't believe I shared the womb with likes such as you. You disgust me. I don't care if I was the third in the set of triplets! As far as I'm concerned, I only have an older brother. I have no sisters!"

They stood, stung, too shocked at his words and disposition to emit any emotional response such as tears. This was their sensitive brother who wouldn't so much harm a fly and had never cursed before. What was wrong with this picture? What had changed? Things like a person's warm heart, don't usually just disappear. Chi softly called his name, while tears threatened to fall.

He turned his back. "No, leave, strangers. You are trespassers, who won't find what you're looking for here. I have no sisters."

They turned slowly on heel and tread off into horizon, their vision blurred by salty tears, rolling down their faces. Deep down in her gut, Phi knew that something was wrong with those encounters. Both her brothers had acted abnormally. There was something else, though. Something that she couldn't quite put her finger on. If she could figure out this 'something', she was sure she?d know what was wrong.

Day became night as it always had, the sunlight slowly fading away, until it was only seen in the glimmer of an eye's memory, promising to return yet again tomorrow. As the day drew to a close, Chi and Phi were sitting on wet grass in a graveyard. There were two reasons for their trip to the graveyard. One of which was to visit the grave of their parents. The other was that the graveyard was a fairly safe place to sleep because most people were superstitious. Chi thought back to Papillon, the Soul Hunter, wondering where she was and what she was doing. She then pulled herself back to the present, as Phi was placing flowers on their parents' graves. They were buried separately, which slightly bothered Chi for reasons unknown to her.

"Phi," she stated. "Something is wrong here..." They both looked at the stars, which were just begin to come out. Stargazing had always been a favorite hobby of theirs, whether the gazing was done from a front porch or from a garden while guarding it. "Uh... Chi?" Phi asked, at which Chi looked over to Phi, waiting for the remainder of the question. "Will you remind me exactly how this whole thing happened? You're the great story teller, after all."

"Certainly," Chi agreed, half-stifling a giggle.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just remembering what ma would say..."

"You're stalling!" they said in unison imitating their mother's attempts to be stern.

"But we only want a bedtime story, Please!" a voice seemed to beckon from the past.