DISCLAIMER: I make no money off this. I'm just borrowing the characters from DC Comics, and no infringement of copyright is intended.

Lightning flashed across the sky.

Beleaguered Orando made known its agony at being yanked from its own universe. Rains pelted the planet. Earthquakes rumbled and fire spread. The weather spheres held back much of the assault, but no mere man-made technology could contain the wrath of a planet.

And overhead, the lightning streaked at the will of its Lord and Master.

“YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN MY TWIN!” Mekt roared. Bolt after bolt of sizzling electricity sparked from his hands, bleeding out from his eyes. Ayla screamed as the lightning coursed through her, white-hot. But somehow the Legionnaire stood again, raising her hands clenched into fists, to send forth lightnings of her own. Their battle raged with devastating fury; the brother who felt he’d always been abandoned by his siblings, forever alone, and the sister defending her life and that of her friends.

“We’d like him to come home with us,” Garth said, voice tightening despite his best efforts. Imra leaned forward, adding her voice to her husband’s. “He needs to be with family.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Ranzz, Mrs. Ranzz, but he’s not ready at this point in his therapy to see either of you. We don’t want to risk a relapse.” The doctor gave the couple a sympathetic smile. “Believe me, please, we are trying to do what’s best for Mekt. When he’s further along in his recovery, we will look into the possibility of his returning to you both.”

***

“So what happened?”

“Well,” started Ayla with her infectious grin, “The most extraordinary thing happened! Just when I thought nothing would ever get better and I’d be an Only forever, my brother came back to us!”

“Garth?” asked the young kid with a rainbow across the front of his shirt. Umbra rolled her eyes and Thom stifled a laugh. Spark opened her mouth to answer and a voice from behind cut them off.

“No, me.”

Everyone turned to look but Umbra, and another of the young girls on tour sighed. “It’s Live Wire! He’s sooo cute!”

“Hush, he’ll hear you!” whispered the pale antennaed girl furiously.

Live Wire draped an arm around his sister’s shoulders and gave her a peck on the cheek. Then, with a hint of maliciousness in his grin, he threw his other arm around Umbra and kissed her cheek too. Fuming, the blue-skinned Legionnaire pushed him back and stalked off, small tendrils of darkness oozing off of her. Spark giggled. “You shouldn’t tease her, Mekt.”

He ruffled her hair before returning his attention to the kids. “You see, I was out, living on my own, no credits, no food, and...” Mekt trailed off for a moment and a shadow passed over his face. Ayla squeezed his hand. “And I realized that more than anything, I wanted to belong somewhere. So I gathered up what little courage I had left and went to see if my family would forgive me.”

His parents stared at him in shock, and for a brief, wild moment he thought he’d made a horrible mistake. Anger swirled in him, directed at himself...

...And then his mother held out her arms and hugged him.

Nothing had ever felt so good in his entire life, and he swore he’d never be so foolish to give it up again...

“Then there was the assassination attempt,” Ayla was saying, and Mekt focussed on his little sister’s narrative, “On our Presidents. Mekt and I stopped it, and won the Presidential Medal of Honor. It was the first time Singles had ever won it.”

“Pretty soon everyone was calling us the ‘Lightning Twins’ which was pathetic – oof! Ayla, you have such sharp elbows.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “But we decided we liked the twins part.” He grinned.

“When Garth found out he came home, too, all in a rage.” Several of the children’s eyes widened. Spark shivered.

“You’re not his twin, Ayla! You shouldn’t even be here! You should be with me. Come on, just leave him behind.”

“Leave her alone.” Mekt’s voice cut into the room like ice. “We’re both her brothers, Garth. She doesn’t have to choose between either of us.”

“STOP IT! BOTH OF YOU, STOP IT!” Tears streaking her face, Ayla turned to her twin. “Please Garth, can’t you just be happy he came home? Can’t you just come home too?”

Mekt walked up and placed a hand on Ayla’s shoulder, reaching out his other towards Garth. “I’m sorry, brother. Please come home.”

“You’re sorry.” He looked between Ayla and Mekt and laughed bitterly. “’The Lightning Twins.’ You’re MY twin, Ayla, not his.”

“If you’re going to act like this maybe I shouldn’t be yours.”

“So Garth – Lightning Lad – resigned from the Legion. He went and joined Workforce, and he hasn’t talked to us since,” Spark finished, looking depressed.

“Do you want to talk to him again?” asked a kid dressed all in green.

“Of course!” said Mekt immediately. “We’d love it if he’d come home. After all, everyone deserves a second chance, don’t you think?”

END