The Lion's Tale Episode 1

***Enji***

Enji rummaged through his younger twin's backpack. Alastair had toothpaste, a toothbrush, a hairbrush, floss, three pairs of underwear, three shirts, three pants, an extra pair of shoes. Even the blanket Star had as a kid was there.

Everything seemed fine, but Enji couldn't shake off the feeling that something was missing. Alastair could use a pair of gloves. For all he knew, Nachima could've been a cold world. Plus, it helped cover up his brother's birthmark.

"Hannah and I already packed everything," Alastair snapped, snatching his backpack away. The younger twin cradled a pillow in his other hand. He seemed nervous.

Enji hadn't told anyone, but he was too. This would be the first time the two of them would be separated for a long period of time. Even after the car accident, Star remained by his side. As had their kid brother, Noah.

Great, he had made his brother mad again. En wasn't sure how to get along with his brother. Whenever he tried to help him, Alastair would get mad, thinking he was looking down on him.

Enji calmly walked over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of gloves. "I just wanted to make sure you had everything. Did you pack spare gloves?" Enji hadn't seen a single pair, but he didn't want to point that out for fear of making things worse.

All he wanted was to protect his little brothers. He promised his mom he would before Noh was even born.

Before Alastair could answer, the door squeaked open. In came their sisters. They were twins just like him and Alastair. Though, the two pairs weren't related by blood. Everyone in the household was adopted. Enji's only biological siblings were Alastair and Noah.

"Wouldn't Hannah make sure that Star did that?" Ivy asked.

Maybe Enji had missed them after all. Hannah usually was on point about such things. "I'm sure she did." He walked up to his brother and zipped his backpack closed. The older twin stroked the girl's head. "But it's always good to double check."

"Even triple check?" Ivy asked.

"Yeah, better safe than sorry. It might be cold where Atty's going. Plus, sometimes it's better to keep our birthmarks hidden."

The younger twin girl raised her eyebrows. "Cuz we're not supposed to talk about being K.K.s?"

"And some people like to ask about the birthmarks. It's not something we always want to talk about." That was especially true for Enji. He hated people asking him such questions. Strangers talking to him in general irked him. All he wanted was for them to mind their own business.

Ivy furrowed her eyebrows. "That's why Star has gloves that aren't for winter?"

"Yep."

"Heard that you're going to have a sleepover from Randy. Mind if we join in?" Ivy asked.

That Randel, he sure was a blabbermouth. Enji didn't trust the guy to keep a secret, even if his life depended on it.

"I don't think we can all fit in here," Enji said.

"Oh…"

He ruffled her hair. "We could set up in the living room instead. We'll all fit out there."

Alastair smiled and signed to his older brother, 'Let's have s'mores!'

Enji nodded. 'I'm sure the kids would love that. We should ask everyone else, too.'

"Wow." Len glared at them. "You two hate speaking English."

Enji looked away. What was her problem? Did she have an issue with other languages?

Ivy glared at her twin. "Eleanor…"

Noah who had been doing his own thing at the corner of the room walked over to them. The little boy grabbed Len by the hand and smiled. "You'll like this."

As soon as Enji and the gang stepped out of the room, they spotted a tall young man in front of his and Alistair's room. "Hey guys, where are all of you going? Hope that your big bro here is invited to the party too!"

Enji leered at him. Why was he asking? Alastair had already invited him to the sleepover. It was his room after all.

Alastair grinned from ear to ear. "S'mores!"

"Why didn't you say so?" he almost shouted.

En rubbed his right ear. The guy was so loud. Did he lack an indoor voice?

Sighing, En motioned for him to follow.

A girl with black, twin braided ponytails giggled as she joined them. "Why don't I make some hot chocolate?"

Enji smiled slightly. Betty was always so nice. She was the only one in the house beside Noah and Hannah whom he had anything near a close relationship with.

Alastair put his fingers to his lips and moved his hand down and forward to say thank you like Hannah taught him to when she first brought him and his brothers home.

"Atty said thank you!" Noah said, grinning.

Len looked at Noah sideways. "How do you do that?"

He shrugged. "I've been signing since I was a baby."

As had Enji and Alastair. It helped that their mom was a special education teacher. She had also taught them to read braille, read lips, and use Morse code.

Ran rubbed Len's shoulders. "Why don't we get set up outside while Betty makes the hot chocolate?"

*** 

Alastair ran toward the kitchen.

"I thought Noah was the little brother," Len said.

There she went again, with the rude remarks. Enji wondered what bit her to make her so cranky.

Ivy took her sister by the wrist and pulled her away.

"Ivy!" Len snapped as if she were a little girl getting grounded.

Ivy kept looking forward. "Noah might be the baby, but he's acting more like a grown-up than you are."

Enji smiled slightly. Ivy was miles better than Len. It was odd that Star didn't seem to mind the blunt twin given how she would often make remarks as his expense. Did he not understand?

Noah tapped En on the shoulder. 'Who's older again?' the little brother signed.

'Ivy is the older twin,' En signed back.

'Oh… Okay. Good.'

When Alastair went to open the sliding glass door, En ran over to him and signed, 'Coat.'

Alaister's eyes widened with realization. He ran back upstairs. Once Alastair came back with his coat, he and Noah cuddled up together on the couch outside.

Ran returned from the kitchen with sticks and a bag of marshmallows.

Star took one from his adopted older brother.

'Marshmallow?' Alastair signed, holding it toward Enji.

En gave his twin a look. "Wait for Betty and the twins," he said aloud.

Alastair sighed and looked down at Noah. The cub nodded. Star smiled and popped it into the eager Noah's mouth.

Enji shook his head as he sat down next to his brothers.

After some time, Betty came out with the tray full of hot chocolates. She carried that thing like an expert. In a way, she was. Betty worked as a waitress on the side at a Mexican bar and grill. She planned to quit once she had become an established photographer.

"Where are Len and Ivy?" Betty asked, looking around.

"They should be out in a minute," Del said as he used his powers to create a ring of stones around the stack of sticks he had prepared. "I think they wanted to talk a little."

Alastair looked at Enji with puppy-dog eyes. He must've really wanted s'mores before bed.

Betty giggled. "We can start now."

Taking that as his cue, Enji stood up and walked over to the fire pit that Del had made. As he did so, the female twins came out while Betty set the hot chocolate down.

Len's cheeks were all red as she sat down, which made Ivy rub her sister's shoulder.

Enji smiled. Ivy must've given the brat a good talking to.

He turned his attention back to the fire pit and thrust his right hand forward, launching a tiny ball of embers into it. A sizable fire flashed to life in no time.

Ran gave Alastair a stick before passing ones to Noah and the twins.

Noah had the biggest smile on his face as ran over to the fire. The kid giggled and put the marshmallow stick over the flames his big brother had made.

Enji took a bag of chocolates and a box of graham crackers from Del, opening them up for his little brother.

Len slowly sipped her hot chocolate. A sigh escaped her lips as she put her flower mug down on the grass.

Betty leaned against Del's shoulder. "It's such a nice night."

"Yeah." Del put his arm around her. "It is."

Enji turned away and grumbled. Couldn't they do that elsewhere? Enji hated such lovey-dovey displays.

"Did you want s'mores for any special reason?" Len asked.

Alastair shrugged.

Enji sighed. His brother's actions could be so random sometimes. Even as his twin, he struggled to understand him sometimes.

Randel smiled as ran his fingers through Betty's hair. "There's nothing wrong with cuddling up with people you love to have a few s'mores."

Enji pulled his knees toward him himself until his kneecaps were touching his chin. Why had Betty chosen that buffoon? He was smarter than him. Maybe it was Randel's strength, or his jokes. Enji wished he could muster the courage to make a joke, but none he made came out right. People would always look at him funny as if he had grown an extra appendage out of thin air.

Ivy hugged her twin and giggled.

Len looked like her cheeks were on fire. "I-I have a question."

"What's that, kiddo?" Betty looked into her eyes and smiled. "I'd love to hear it."

Enji smiled. There she went again, being like a big sister.

"I know that we're all Key Keepers, but what do Key Keepers even do?" Len asked.

Del put a marshmallow on a graham cracker before he shrugged. "It depends, really."

What kind of lame answer was that?

"What does that mean?" Ivy asked.

Enji snickered under his breath.

"The worlds are different." Betty sipped her hot chocolate. "Some are more old-fashioned. There might be a couple that are very similar to Earth, and I'm sure there are worlds with tech we can't even dream of yet."

Len threw her hands up. "But what do Key Keepers do in those worlds?"

"Sometimes, it's a conflict with nature being out of whack." Del bit into his s'more. "Other times, the Key Keepers are in conflict with people. There might be as many conflicts as there are Key Keepers."

Ivy looked a little stiff. "Do you know what Star's supposed to do?"

Enji lowered his head. He wished he knew.

Betty squeezed Del's free hand. "We're not too sure. Hannah's friend didn't really say."

Len folded her arms. "So, Hannah's friend is going to be Star's protector, right? What exactly do Gatekeepers do other than watch over Key Keepers?"

"They support Key Keepers while they're working," Randel replied. "They protect you from yourself, too."

"Protect you from yourself?" Ivy tilted her head. "What does that mean?"

Enji crossed his arms. Star might need that. There were times when they were kids in which his brother would hurt himself when he couldn't handle a situation. Hopefully, whatever Atty was to do, it wouldn't be too hard.

Betty stroked Del's arm. "If you try to work when you need to be in bed, your Gatekeeper won't let you."

"Is Hannah a Gatekeeper, too?" Len asked.

Betty shook her head. "Hannah is a person called a Keychain."

"Keychains work more with KKs who aren't working," Del said. "Like how Hannah made sure we had a home and belonged to a family."

Enji glanced at his brother. He had a smile on his face as he made another s'more. He was getting a chance to be like Del, Vi, and Chan. Enji might've had a hard time reading him, but he did know that Atty had been looking forward to it for a long time. As soon as Hannah told him, he started gloating that he got to be a Key Keeper before his big brother.

Such behavior simply made Enji worry more. Did he not realize the gravity of the task? It wasn't fun and games.

"It would have been nice if Hannah could've helped Star prepare a little more, but there's no use crying over spilled milk," Betty said.

"What milk?" Alastair asked.

Enji face palmed. How could his twin be so dense?

Betty smiled. "It's just an expression."

"I've got an idea." Del set his stick down. "Are you done with your s'mores?"

The redhead nodded before tilting his head.

Del looked at Alastair with a big grin on his face. "Why don't we have a little spar in the basement?"

"Right now?" Len stared at Del like he had two heads.

Enji shrugged before he smirked at his twin. 'Might help them sleep.'

Alastair glared at his twin before running inside.

Enji sighed. What had he said wrong now?

He and the others followed them into the basement.

"Don't go to crazy, alright?" Betty said. "Even if I can heal you, you shouldn't let it get out of hand."

As long as Randel didn't hurt Atty too bad, there was no concern that his brother would go overboard. But if he did, then Alastair might go wild. It was a frightening sight to see.

Ran gave his girlfriend a goofy smile as he saluted.

The tall young man turned to look at Star and bent his hand halfway and opened it several times as a way to taunt Star to attack.

En's twin didn't rush at Randel. Instead, he held his hands out, causing liquid metal to flow out of his palms and condense into the form a small, slender copper cat.

The metal cat lurched at Randel.

The larger young man struck the cat with a gust of wind, but it stood its ground.

"She's getting sturdier," Randel said, grinning.

Alastair smiled proudly.

He pointed his index finger forward, causing the cat to scratch Randel. Star took the chance to fire a shot of electricity from said finger.

Randel slammed the cat away and stomped his feet on the ground. A stone wall rose in front of him, blocking both the cat and Atty's attack, all while causing the ground to tremble.

Alastair winced. He seemed as if he wanted to drop for cover.

Randel smiled as he skated on mud. The metal cat jumped at him, but missed, falling into the mud. The still shaken Alastair looked up and saw Randel coming closer. He tried to raise his arms but realized they and his feet were shackled to the ground. The older boy cut Star on the forehead, marking his victory.

Alastair hung his head back down in defeat.

Noah and Ivy rushed over and put their arms around him.

Alastair leaned against Noah.

Randel patted his little brother's back. "You did well with Kurena." The young man's stomach growled.

"How can you be hungry? We just had s'mores!" Len exclaimed.

Betty walked over to Alastair and used her powers to fix his forehead then giggled. "Train hard, eat hard."

Randel had the biggest smile on his face.

'Do you want something to eat, too?' Betty asked Alastair.

'Applesauce,' the short twin responded.

"Can I help you make food?" Ivy asked.

Betty nodded. "Of course."

"I'm going to get more work done while you're eating," Enji said before he went back upstairs.

'Don't overdo it, alright?' Betty said.

Enji simply waved.