meanwhile...: Tales of the Berylverse

by Shinzakura

I Am Who I Wasn't

It was interesting…if she thought about it, she could remember everything:

The battles.

The betrayal.

The deaths, especially….

Her alarm went off and she crawled out of bed. Normally, she would have stirred into wakefulness once more, her eyes gazing at the gentle whirring ceiling fan in the bedroom of the house that she shared with her twin sister and their best friend. The house, in Pacific Palisades, overlooking the beach and the southern California coast, where they enjoyed their home and the unofficial headquarters of The Chocolate Twins.

Walking up to the mirror, she looked at herself: a gorgeous dark-skinned woman with long dark-green hair and eyes, and a body that wouldn’t quit. Milk Chocolate, the older of the twins, and one part of the strangest anomaly that had been their initial claim to fame: her younger sister Mint, was a white girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. Most people didn’t really believe they were related, much less fraternal twins, until they realized that skin tone and eye and hair colors aside, they had the same facial features and the same general attitude. And now, here they were, media celebrities, with fame and fortune and a house paid off in full.

But when she thought about it, she knew she and her twin sister had once been sisters only in declaration, not in blood or genes. That she had once, in a time that never happened, been a Canadian rogue military operator named Evergreen Pine. And that she and Mint – or by her old name, Sunny Side – had been as close as sisters, though not really so.

There was a knock at the door and before she could say anything, the door swung open, revealing her and Mint’s best friend, Piano Bliss. The three of them had been as thick as thieves, and even though Piano was a sort of second fiddle to the twins when it came to their career, they had never seen her that way.

But for a moment – just a moment – Milk thought she saw Piano Bliss, the psychotic protégée of Cantata Blast, a person both she and Sides had never wanted anything to do with. Then the moment was gone and Piano stood there – the Piano she’d known all her life.

Piano didn’t remember a thing about the time that never happened. Lucky her.

“Hey, Milk, you okay?” Piano asked. “You look out of it.”

“Didn’t sleep well last night,” Milk admitted; it was true enough. “You?”

“Me neither. Must be a black girls’ thing,” Piano yawned. “Your white-ass sister probably slept like a dream.” Though the words were clearly obnoxious, Piano had known the two Chocolate sisters long enough that they both knew it was Piano simply being impish. “Well, it’s her turn to make breakfast this morning, so at least we don’t have to worry about that.”

“Yeah,” Milk agreed. “Good to have some time off from the show. We needed the break anyway.”

Piano nodded, running her fingers through her silvery hair, her gray eyes flickering with mirth. “Yup! Three weeks of me lounging around the house in nothing but my underwear, drinking beer, eating pizza and not having to be the fashionplate that so many kids think of me as.”

Milk grinned. “Well, the girls, maybe. The boys….”

Piano pouted. “I swear, next time, we get bodyguards, okay? I mean, yeah, we all took self-defense courses and trying to keep up with you and Mint in exercising makes me feel like I’m practically in the military or something but I swear, if one more snot-nosed over-hormoned teen boy comes up to me and gropes me, I’m going to deck his ass.” She groaned. “I really did not need for that picture to end up on TMZ.”

“Could be worse. Remember what happened to Pineapple Dazzle.”

“Yeah, but she had it coming to her. That’s what happens when you base your public personality on flirting with everyone – you end up with a stalker, and a gated house up in the Hills.”

“Well, if you two are done bitching, maybe you could come downstairs and have breakfast?” Both women turned to see the third of their clique, Mint Chocolate, standing there, a spatula in her hand.

“Sis, I’m in my pajamas. Hell, Pia here is in nothing but a bra and underwear.”

“Yeah, and we have privacy bushes, the anti-paparazzi beacons that cost a fortune and a reputation of being squeaky clean,” Mint reminded them. “So if you want to just come down and have breakfast buck-fucking-naked, who the hell’s going to care? Our house, anyway.”

Piano rolled her eyes. “I’m sure that’s what Smoldering Smile thought before that drone caught her in—”

Mint ticked her response off her fingers. “One, not our problem. Two, she didn’t have the anti-paparazzi beacons installed like we do. And three, she practically dared the shutterbugs to do it, so they got creative. You should know that shit: when you live in LA, you live and die like it’s LA. And now she’s paying the price – and it’s not my job to fix the lives of idiot starlets who get caught fucking someone on their kitchen table.”

“Especially with breakfast still on it, no less,” Milk yawned. “We have way too many freaks in show business, you know that?”

Mint laughed. “Including us, sis?”

“Especially us.”

Sated from an outstanding breakfast, Milk leaned back in her chair, savoring the meal she’d just had. Both she and her sister were identical in so many ways, but if there was one major difference between the two, it was that Mint was the better cook, and the remains of an eggs hollandaise, hash browns and fresh-squeezed orange juice was only proof of that.

“Well, that was good,” Piano said, getting up. “Now I gotta go up, hit the shower and then go out and do some shopping – I want to take some me time while we still have it.”

“You mean before that extensive mini tour we need to do in Russia in three weeks?” Mint pointed out.

“Exactly. Russia. In the fall. When snow is probably showing up and shit and black girls like me and Milk are ‘exotic’ and shit. I’ll probably have some brick wall of a guy try to offer his family’s cow or something in exchange for my hand in marriage.”

“We’re touring the major cities, not the backwaters,” Milk reminded her. “And we’re doing a double-tour with that Japanese girl group.”

“Yeah, maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll just hound them instead,” Piano commented. “Either way, I want to make sure that I have enough stuff on-hand because I don’t want to come back with fifty shades of frostbite or something. Need me to pick up something on the way back?”

“I can put in an order at that place in Santa Monica for the pastries, if you’re willing,” Mint offered.

“Fuck yes! I need me some good calories! Well, showertime for me.” With that, Piano headed towards the stairs and her bedroom.

As Mint began to pick up the dishes from breakfast, Milk wondered how to broach the idea with her sister.

“So, want to tell me what’s on your mind, sis?” Mint asked and before Milk could add anything, the younger sister said, “We’re twins, so I can tell when something’s wrong.”

“I…I was thinking of the time that didn’t….” Tears started to fill Milk’s eyes. “You died, sis. You died in my arms!” Involuntarily, Milk wrapped her arms around herself, the memory hitting her like a truck:

The unearthly wail that came from her mouth as Pine, in hysterics, held Sunny Side. Sides had a hole on one side of her neck, and a massive exit wound on the other, a big enough blast that it was a small miracle that she hadn’t been decapitated by the blow. But the blank look on Sides’ face was clear that she hadn’t even had time to react.

“You’re gonna be fine, sis,” Pine said while panicking, holding her dead sister close to her, ignoring the gushing blood coming from the wound. “You’re going to be fine! I just…. MEDIC!” she screamed. “I need someone here!” Her world, already one that was not fit for anyone, was coming down around them like a landslide.

“No! I’m not going to let you die!” Pine screamed as she cradled the now-dead Sides. All of this had been abstract professionalism to her before, detached and just another day. But now the person she considered a sister had been shot and—

She could feel Adagio Dazzle’s hand on her shoulder as the younger girl said the words she never wanted to hear: “Greenie…she’s gone.”

“No!” Pine was in tears. “She’s not! We can save her!”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sonata Dusk shout at her, “What, do you think you’re the only one who got to lose someone, Greenie? At least you get to say goodbye! I never got to see Maddie again!”

“Sis, you’re not helping,” Adagio gently admonished before turning back to Pine. “Pine, she’s gone and you can’t get her back. I know how you feel – I lost someone I loved as well. But we have to fight now in order to make sure that no one else dies. Our loved ones weren’t innocent – they fought just like we did.” She pointed beyond one of the walls, adding, “There are billions of people out there that will be victims of Cantata Blast and her boyfriend if she succeeds – a whole world of Sunny Sides that will die if we don’t stop them!”

She barely felt Adagio embrace her as the girl said, “It’s what your sister would have wanted.”

Tears were streaming down Milk’s cheeks. “You…died. I was alone, and I wanted to die! I failed to protect you! I let you die and how could you forgive me for—”

Mint immediately set down the dishes and moved to her sister’s side. “I’m not dead, Milk. I’m alive. Feel me, hear my heartbeat.” She cradled her sister and Mint herself felt misty-eyed as she felt helpless to help her sister’s trauma. It was something she could never comprehend because she hadn’t lived that part; in fact, the fact that she hadn’t lived that part was what had caused it.

It took several minutes of listening to the older sister wail before she could recompose herself. At that point, Mint’s shirt was soaked with her sister’s tears and she felt absolutely helpless. But help Milk she would, no matter what.

“Well, I need to change my shirt and you need to go get dressed,” Mint finally told her sister. “C’mon, sister’s day out. Pia’s clearly got plans, so I don’t think she’s going to mind.”

“I don’t know if I’m in any shape to go out right now, sis,” Milk pled.

“And that’s why. You’re focused on something that didn’t happen to us. I mean, sure, it happened to us, but it didn’t happen to us. Not in this life that we’ve led, not now. And yes, I remember how backwards our lives were compared to it. The fact that Pia is our best friend still shocks me and probably would have sent my head spinning if I was still the person I was before. But I’m not Sunny Side – I never was. And you weren’t Evergreen Pine. We are Mint and Milk Chocolate and I’m going to remind you of that fact, got that?”

Milk nodded mutely, unsure of what else to say.

“Now I’m going to do the dishes and change my shirt. You get ready and then we’ll get going.”

A little over an hour later, the two found themselves, well east of home, in the very suburban San Gabriel Valley, specifically the working-class town of La Puente. It was as far away from the glitz and glamor that one could find in Los Angeles and it was here that the two found themselves.

“Wow, it’s still standing.” The two got out of Mint’s Model X and stood before a slightly battered reproduction of the Great Sphinx of Giza. Milk lowered her sunglasses to get a better view of the building and the surrounding, equally-faux Egyptian decor. “Haven’t been here in years. Didn’t even know it was still around.”

Mint closed the driver’s side door and grinned. “Yup! Pharaoh’s City of Fun! Minigolf, go-cart racing, arcade, the works! Remember when Mom and Dad used to take us here? Before we got famous?”

“Like I said, I’m still surprised this place is standing. Didn’t the company go out or business or something ages ago?”

“Well, yeah, WorldWonders Funtertainment went belly up back when we were still doing The Chocolate Twins show and Dad was still managing our finances. And most of the properties are gone now. Rome’s Realm of Magic, out in El Monte? It’s a Costco now. The Berlin Haus of Funtime in Norwalk? It’s now some hardware store. The Great Wall of Goodtimes, out in Pomona? I don’t recall what it is, but that was the first to go.” She pointed. “But this one, this one was special. And well…this is ours.”

Milk looked at her sister curiously, and Mint nodded, continuing. “Dad bought the property when it went up for sale. Thought it was important to keep some part of our childhood, so that we wouldn’t end up like so many Hollywood brats that turn to drugs and shit. He wanted us to have something to remember when we were ‘normal’, quote unquote. Plus, to be honest, he also wanted an investment property or two for us in case our careers didn’t pan out. So he kept it quiet and now Pharoah’s City of Fun is owned by CT Leisure Company, which is owned by us. To be honest, even I didn’t know about it until he told me. He would have told you as well, but you really don’t pay much attention to the financial side of things.”

Milk nodded; she had to admit that much. Of the two of them, she was the more creative and “flighty” of the sisters and the driving force behind most of their media efforts. “It looks…like I remember it.”

“Yeah, well, we have it closed right now for repairs. State requires some maintenance to the track and the sphinx building and I had the manager call a contractor in Burbank to see about getting it back up to code so we can reopen as soon as possible. In fact, the new plans even call for a water park to be built over there where the old car dealership was. An annex for the whole place!” She then held up some keys. “Anyway, want to go relive some memories?”

“Really?”

“C’mon – let’s go see if the laser tag system still works. I think you need your ass kicked a few times.”

An hour later, Milk collapsed against one of the fiberglass walls that looked like something out of a generic sci-fi film, her chest panel glowing from four hits. So close….

Across from her, her chest glowing with five – and indicating she’d lost the match – was Mint, seated on the ramp painted to look like rusted metal. “You always were the better shooter, sis,” Mint gasped between breaths before shutting down the laser reader.

“Yeah, but you gave me a pretty good run for my money. I haven’t worked out like that in a while!”

“We haven’t been able to go shooting in a while because the filming schedule kept us too busy,” Mint reminded her. “I mean, seriously, we had to film in New York, then make it down to Miami in time for the concert, and then head to Austin for Pia’s interview and the second concert? And then do it again the next day? Now I know why Mom says she feels old – we’re less than half her age and I feel like I’m ancient at this point!”

“Yeah, but we used to do so much more when—” Milk immediately cut herself short.

Mint wasn’t buying it. “Out with it.”

Milk sighed. “After you died…after Sides died…I…I was going to throw away everything. And I do mean everything. I wanted to die, but at the same time I wanted to protect the triplets. They didn’t deserve to lose their sœurs, and after everything that had gone down, they were going to end up in jail or worse. As much as I was destroyed, losing you, I couldn’t let that happen to them. So I was going to take the fall for everything.”

Mint’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

“Because it didn’t happen, like you said. We’re not them, not the people we used to be.”

“That’s not the point! You were going to throw your life away! Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

“Not without you!” Milk gasped. “You were dead, and I had nothing! Can you even imagine what….” She cut herself off again, then shook her head. “Does it matter? Those are lives we didn’t live. You’re alive, I’m alive and we have each other.”

“And Pia.” Mint shuddered. “I still can’t believe she was turned into….”

“The Piano Bliss that was in the past didn’t have a chance to have a life that we do. She had a sœur that made her into a weapon, and nothing else. The Pia we know would have been terrified of that Piano Bliss and would have been just as horrified to find out what happened to her. The Pia we know loves shopping, has hobbies and a life. The old Piano’s pasttimes involved weapons and following Cantata’s orders.”

The two sisters were silent for the longest time as the truth washed over them. Neither wanted to say anything and so the only thing that could be heard were their breaths and the sounds of the bass thumping from the techno music playing through the tinny speakers above.

Finally, after endless minutes, the two sisters looked at each other and said one simple word:

“Lunch.”

Greasy’s wasn’t your typical food place – or even your typical fast-food place, for that matter. No, Greasy’s was the kind of fast-food place that most dietitians would clutch metaphorical pearls over, all the while cursing its existence. Greasy’s was a small, LA-based chain of burger joints that specialized in dumping hot chili on everything – burgers, fries, breakfast burritos – except drinks and they would probably do that as well if asked. It was a messy, cholesterol-and-carbohydrate nightmare that someone of the caliber of the Chocolate Twins would never be found dead at.

So, as some of the patrons of Greasy’s in nearby Diamond Bar found themselves looking at two girls that looked exactly like the two young starlets, they honestly wondered if it was truly them or just a pair of girls who happened to look like them. After a while, the two were chomping away with enough abandon that the patrons thought a pair of celebrities wouldn’t risk their good images eating stuff like this.

Which was what Milk and Mint were counting on.

“I know we like to eat at the one down the street from our house,” Milk said as she grabbed another napkin to wipe her mouth with and then add to the small mountain of soiled ones already building on her tray, “but you’re right, we need to get out and be normal more often.”

“Yeah. Thinking about taking Mom’s advice and buying a VW or Toyota or something normal so we won’t have to stand out with our luxury cars. Easier to get around in, too.”

“Sounds fair enough. Think we should grab something for Pia and bring it back?” The two sisters immediately laughed as a result of Milk’s comment; as much as a fashionplate as their friend was, she hated the thought of even getting greasy chili stains on some of her pristine clothing.

Pausing to wipe her own mouth and fingers, Mint reached over and grabbed her strawberry milkshake, taking a huge gulp before adding, “And this is our lives, sis. Strange as it is, but…whatever that past was, it’s not who we are.”

Milk nodded, finally calming down in her heart. She could let that go. Evergreen Pine’s life was going to be miserable, whether or not she sacrificed herself for the sake of the triplets or not. Her life had been over the moment her sister figure had been killed. That wasn’t the life Milk Chocolate lived, and she was forever grateful for that.

“And you’ll always be there, sis?”

Mint, in response, got up from her seat and plopped in the seat across from her sister, grabbed her phone, and took a selfie of the two of them, laughing, smiling and at peace.

“This is who we are,” she said as she looked at the image on screen. “Sunny Side and Evergreen Pine loved each other like sisters and they didn’t deserve what happened to them. But…” Mint’s eyes shone with ageless knowledge for a second. “…they would have done it all over again if it meant that they could result in us.”

Milk could only reach over and hug her sister as a reply.