* FiVe * Surprise

Everyone has a secret.

I opened my eyes slowly, and bright light poured into them. I heard a muffle of talking maybe in a different room. I heard groaning behind me and tried to sit up quickly, but my hands were tied behind my back. So I rolled over and ran into someone else lying on the ground.
"Ow!" I heard Tai's voice.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't think you were that close," I said, looking at him, who is also tied up. "Where are we?"
"How would I know?" he answered groaning again. "My head hurts, and I can't rub it!"
"Guys! What happened?" I heard Shylo behind Tai.
"I don't know. Someone knocked us out, I guess," I said, trying to remember. "Where's Kei and Elias? If they're not here...does that mean they knocked us out?!"
Tai looked at me with wide-eyes, "I remember! I saw Kei go over to you! Then I saw him lift his fist as to give a blow, but I guess Elias got me, too."
"I tried to grab Kei, after he hit you, Taryn. But Elias must have got to me faster than I thought," Shylo said calmly.
"But...why would they attack us? I don't get it," I said, shaking my head.
"We all don't get it," Tai said, sighing.

At that moment, a door banged open; and some man I have not seen before came in. "Ah, you three are finally awake," he said, rubbing his chin.
"Who are you?" Tai and I asked in unison.
"Me?" the man asked with an amused face.
Then Kei came in saying, "Father, where are my weapons?"
"Kei?!" I exclaimed.
"'Father'?" Tai questioned with a confused look.
"Hm, Koki, I told you they were in the dining room," the man said calmly, looking at Kei...or is he "Koki"?
"'Koki'?" I asked, obviously confused.
"Oh, did you think I was some 'Kei'? Well, I never was, sorry," he said, smirking.
Tay said something this time, "I knew there was something evil about you!"
"Really? Are you so sure?" Koki said. "I mean, I could be like Kei's evil twin brother or something."
"If you are, then where's Kei?" I asked with anger.
"Somewhere, I guess. Maybe dead...maybe alive."
"Maybe never existed," the man came in with an evil grin.
"But we knew him since we were younger!" Tai stated.
"Well, that's for you to find out," the man begin. "I am Rio, and I don't plan to keep you long, children."
"I bet you're a Ruler, huh?" Tai said with a face I cannot explain.
"Why do you guess that, boy?"
"Because Taryn's and my weapons are nowhere around here. Only Shylo's is sitting on that table. So you probably are trying to pull them apart or something," Tai said with seriousness.
"Observant boy," Rio said, rubbing his chin again.
Right then, a really loud alarm went off, and I scrunched my eyes as if it would help me plug my ears. Rio looked puzzled, "Koki, go look to see if it's him."
"Yes, father," Koki replied and ran out of the room.
"You! Stay here!" Rio said and ran out, also.
About two seconds of silence passed. "YEAH, WE WEREN'T PLANNING TO GO ANYWHERE ANYWAY!!" Tai tried to yell over the alarm.
I bent my knee to get my boots close to my hands. Once I could feel my boot, I pulled the knife I had in the pocket on the back of my boot. I quickly cut the rope then cut Tai and Shylo free. Shylo grabbed her bow, arrows, and knife from the table. Then we left the room cautiously. We went to the dining room that was straight ahead. I looked at the table to see our weapons and some other weapons I have never seen before.
"Hey, Rio told Kei-er Koki-that his weapons were in the dining room. But these are different from the ones he usually had," Tay noticed.
"So they could actually be that guy's weapons and the others were Kei's, but those weapons aren't here. So maybe there really is a Kei!" Shylo said with a "I think I figured it out!" voice.
I looked at the weapons, "Maybe..."
"What is it?" Tai asked.
"Should we drag these with us, so 'Koki' is unarmed?" I suggested.
"Sounds good," Tai answered, taking the dagger and handing me the Uzi.

All geared up and ready to go, we ran for the exit with the alarm still blaring. We walked out and saw that the building we were in was perched at the top of a hill with trees everywhere. There was one path, obviously the way to a village. We darted for the path, but eventually we heard rustling in the trees to our right. Someone ran to us and bent over out of breath. He looked up and said, "I finally escaped and found you guys!"
"Kei?" Tai looked at him with confusion.
"It's hard to tell!" Shylo said with shock.
"He could be trying to trick us," I said through closed teeth.
"Huh?" Koki or Kei asked with supreme confusion on his face. "I was captured, thrown into that building, and locked in a room for I don't know how long!"
"Are you Koki or Kei?" I asked with my hands clenched.
"Koki? You-you actually met Koki?" he asked with wide eyes. "Koki? My father? They were the ones who captured us?!"
"What are you saying?!" Tai demanded.
I looked at him closely, "I think he's acting."
"What? I'm not Koki! I'm Kei! Koki's my twin I never told you about, because he was a jerk! I ran away from home when I was eight. Then I met you guys," he said in an almost pleading state. "How am I supposed to prove it to you?"
"Yeah, really? How is he supposed to prove it to us?" Tai said, looking at me.
"I don't know," I said calmly.
"When were you captured?" Shylo decided to ask first.
"After that huge man knocked Taryn out."
"Right. So what happened afterwords?" she continued.
"Well, he knocked me out. Then he took me to some mansion and stuffed me in some closet. I didn't bother screaming or anything though," he explained. "I heard the man talking to someone saying he'd go to the library. After about three or four hours of searching through the junk in the closet, I found a huge piece of sharp wood. So I smashed it onto the door hinges and escaped. I ran to the library to see if the person he was talking to was there, but there was only the big man's body. Eventually I was knocked out again and taken here."
"Do you remember saying anything to Taryn when you were still with them?" Shylo said, looking at me with my frustrated look.
"'I'll come running,'" he said calmly. "But I don't know how these are going to help prove when Koki came afterwords and you probably think I'm lying. Ugh! This sucks! There's no way to prove it!" He held his head in frustration.
"I have an idea!" Shylo said, perking up with a smile. "Go get Koki, if there is one, and show him to us!"
"I hate to admit it...but that's a good idea, Shylo," Tai said, rubbing his neck.
"Really!? You're finally noticing I can be smart?!" she said, looking at him with big eyes of wonder.
"Truthfully, yes," and right as he finished she hugged him tightly.
I looked at the scene and chuckled. "Okay, Mr. I'm-Kei-and-not-Koki," I ordered, poking his chest, "go get your brother."
"Ow," he said, rubbing where I poked him. "Geez, you don't have to be a jerk about it," he said, smiling the goofy smile and walking toward the house.
"You know he could be Kei, he has the assault rife and hunting knife," Tai pointed out on Kei or Koki's back.
"Also, if he was Koki, he probably wouldn't go back into the building. Because we could always run away, which would ruin his evil plans," Shylo said, giggling.
I watched him go into the house quickly and thought how true the things those two said were.

We decided to sit close to the path and wait for him but tried to stay where Kei or Koki could find us. Well, more like both, if it's true. I thought of scenarios that could happen. One: it's actually Kei and he brings Koki here, and two: it's Koki bringing his father.
"I wonder how many Rulers there are," Tai thought aloud. "Rio is obviously one."
"Yeah, hopefully there aren't many," I came in.

We waited for half an hour, then we heard movement on the path. We stood and looked up to see two figures one behind the other. They were both the same size. The light was finally on them, and it showed two identical boys. The one behind the other was holding the other boy's arms behind his back. The one being held captive had an angry and beat up face, while the other looked calm and had a huge gash in his arm.
"So who's who?" Tai asked with a goofy facial expression.
"Taryn, ask them both something only one would know," Shylo suggested, pushing me toward them.
"Ummm...when Tai asked if you saw any Rulers what did you answer?"
The one captured looked behind at the other. The other calmly looked at me.
"Well?" I urged.
The one behind finally sighed and smiled, "I said something like, 'It's not like they wear shirts saying, "I'm a Ruler" on it.' Then I looked at Tai with anticipation." He ended it with a goofy smile at Tai, and Tai glared at him.
"Yay! We figured it out!" Shylo said, laughing and jumping.

Author's Note

This was a more serious chapter than the others. Though it's hard to be funny when everyone's so serious. They would just glare at you with a "Shut up!" look.