Connor and Brie both felt their breath catch at that accusation. It took a long moment before either could find their voice. Brie always being the more vocal one when it came to all things concerning their children’s welfare, found hers first, “when you say ′destroyed you in every way,′ how literal are you being?”

Sky just shook his head, “you really want the details of the life that was so terrible we had to create an entirely new one just to survive at all?”

Connor managed a few of his own words then, “you say our crimes were so great that you had to literally erase our minds to survive being our children again. I think that garners us the right to a little more of an explanation, doesn’t it?”

“Well, I did just tell Star I was sick of having to hide things, so you two might want a drink, or five. It’s not a pretty story” Sky told them as he tried to force his tone to remain even, despite the more than anxious look on Star’s face then.

“Just tell us” Connor stated quietly as he and Brie gave one another an equally anxious look.

Sky took a long breath, trying to decide where he could even begin. It was true that he and Star could most likely just psychically put all those erased memories back. But somehow the thought that it could turn their now seemingly loving parents back into the detached scientists who didn’t think of them as human at all; that was a risk they wouldn’t take. Instead, they would tell those now ‘loving’ parents, in all the heartbreaking detail, exactly why they had done what they had done to save themselves.

“For starters, you two did everything in your power to convince us we were actually twins; up to and including fake birth certificates. All because you were afraid of what would happen if we ever became lovers. Which means you were more than aware that that was all we had always wanted to be. So, instead of telling us the truth and letting us love one another; you convinced us that we were sick and demented and twisted and horrible human beings for feeling the way we felt for each other. And like I said, that was for starters” he repeated coolly.

Then Star added, “don’t forget. The night she told us about the so-called proof of us being twins, that was when Sky first tried to kill himself. Because that’s how horrible the two of you wanted us to feel about loving each other. Even though we were literally made to love each other; and you knew it” Star sniffled sadly, as Sky’s eyes dropped back to the table; both of them trying not to even look up to see their parents’ reactions then.

“Where to go next?” Sky stated with a heavy sigh, “oh yeah, our one last ditch effort to convince ourselves that we weren’t as sick and twisted as you wanted us to think we were. The blood test. We got our science teacher and a doctor to test our blood, just to prove that maybe we really weren’t related after all, and maybe we wouldn’t burn in hell for caring about each other. Then both the science teacher and the doctor ended up dead. Guess that’s when you finally did tell your bosses about what we were. So they could clean up that little mess. And after they knew about us... that’s when things got so much more....” he just shook his head again.

“Of course there was the next day” Star added, “after we found out about our teacher getting killed and after we could no longer even reach the doctor about the tests. That was when Sky found me crying in the shower, afraid that we had somehow gotten at least one, if not two, innocent people killed just by trying to find out who we really were” she sighed again. “That was when we first just accepted whatever damnation was waiting for us, and finally just stopped fighting what we felt” she took another deep breath. “Then, when you found out the two of us had finally given into the desires we couldn’t fight if we wanted to; that’s the first time you locked us up in a house full of cameras to document what we could do when we ‘combined.’ Did I mention we were fourteen at this point in time? And that we had spent most of that year giving ourselves to college kids, in that way, just to try and forget what we felt for each other?” she added pointedly as Brie and Connor just listened, more and more shocked and upset by every revelation they were hearing about this other life their children had led, and at such a young age at that.

Sky then spoke again, “we also forgot to mention that Curt tried to rape me in that other life too. Only Star was able to save me that time. Only, when she told you what happened; well mom, you asked what I did to bring it on. And dad, you pretty much had already told us that we deserved what the other kids did to us since we look the way we look. That really helped with the guilt we were already feeling about being ‘twins’ who were in love with each other and just trying to bury it in any other people we could; let me tell you.”

Then Star added, “and again, this was all before we even turned fifteen.”

Ignoring the continued shock and horror on their parents’ faces, Sky pressed on, “so then came that ninth grade holiday season. The one where Curt forced us to have sex with each other, at gunpoint so he could film the twins going at it and show it to the world. In that life, we used our abilities to kill him, and Tim, and his other friend Scott for what they did to us. That was when your bosses covered it up so you could drug us and lock us up for the next two years, trying to get us to, wait for it; have sex in a house full of cameras. Of course, unlike the now dead asshole and his friends, you guys didn’t want anyone to see that shit, except your bosses of course; so you could document whatever little tricks your fourteen year old children could do when they made love to each other, again, in a house full of cameras. Cameras that you two spent eight hours a day monitoring, for two years. But hey, you two did finally admit to us that you had lied about us being twins all our lives, and hey, we’re actually sixteen by the time this part ends; so there’s that at least” he added with a pained sarcasm, trying to ignore how both of them were struggling, and failing, to hold back their emotions as they listened to all of this.

Star took a breath, as this was the most painful part of the story yet, and Sky had suffered enough, so she tried to force her way through it instead. “Then, your bosses got impatient after two years of us not cooperating, and they took us away to some other lab, with some other team of scientists. And this is where we find out our little code name: Project Nebula. And then they just beat us, and drugged us, and forced us to have sex with each other every day, while they watched, and filmed us, and took their notes, and tried to see what little tricks the sixteen year olds could do when they had sex, whether they wanted to or not. Then when we no longer could feel anything anymore, and our powers wouldn’t work at all because of it; that’s when they told us they wanted us to just have a child or two for them to study instead. That’s when we killed them all too, by forcing ourselves to make love to each other one more time, after that year of horror” she finished, ignoring Brie’s now more than apparent sobs and the tears Connor was trying to bite back then as well.

“Let’s see, what else?” Sky asked as he took a breath.

“There’s more?” Brie bit out through another sob of disbelief.

“I guess we could just fast forward past the summer where we could no longer even touch each other and just spent every night in bed with strangers to try and get back that control we had had stolen from us for an entire year; and just get to the part where we run into you two again.”

“What?” Brie asked through another sob.

Sky continued, “yeah, that was when dad had the idea to try to take away our powers once and for all. Which would have most likely meant taking away the love we have for each other too. Which was pretty much the only thing we had left at that point. And again, this was all before we were ever even so-called ‘adults.’ Needless to say, we couldn’t lose that one last, most important piece of ourselves. So that’s when we did the mind wipe, and tried to give you guys another chance to be our parents. And try to give ourselves any chance at all of even wanting to go on living another day after all that we had already been through” he stated, forcing back his own tears then.

Then Star finished for him, “and so we broke space and time, and erased your memories of what we were, and then started our lives over again, as your children. Hoping that you would actually love us in this life, if only you didn’t know what we were, even though it was the two of you that made us what we were in the first place” she finished, her tears matching those of every single member of that family that she and Sky had tried to finally make for themselves.

So, after another long silence filled only with tears and sniffles, Sky finally took one more breath as he looked between them, “so, you two can lock us up in some lab again, or worse, if that’s what you feel you have to do because of us being ‘too dangerous.’ Even though you spent seventeen years not thinking there was anything dangerous about us at all, and just being our parents; but if that’s how you feel now... then do what you think you have to do. But we reset the whole entire world before, we can do it again if we have to. We were just hoping that it wouldn’t come to that again.. in this life, anyway.”

And with that, he and Star both stood and left the room, leaving their makers to think long and hard on what they honestly thought their creations deserved to be treated like in this life, after all they had already endured in all the ones they had already lived.

It was well over an hour later when Brie and Connor finally left the dining room and dared to enter the living room. There, Sky and Star sat on the couch, hands interlocked as they waited to see how exactly their ‘parents’ did truly think they deserved to be ‘dealt with’ in this life as well.

Brie and Connor each took a breath as they looked at each other, then back at Star and Sky. Finally, Brie was the first to speak again, “Your powers only work when you... when you’re intimate?”

“That’s how it was in life number one” Star stated sadly, “but that was a really long time ago. We can control them now. No sex needed” she added with another sad look down.

Then Sky added, “I think the fact that you lived in the same house as us for our entire lives and never had a clue about any of our abilities at all; that pretty much proves how much control we have in this life.”

Brie and Connor gave each other another cautious look before she spoke again, “so, how did what happened to you happen, on Thursday,” she added as she looked down again, “if you really do have all these abilities?” she directed the question to Sky.

Sky let out a heavy sigh, “this isn’t just our second attempt at life either” he admitted, “in the last one, we did use our abilities to try to protect ourselves. Once again, it ended up with us in a lab. But at least it wasn’t you two that put us there, that time. And once again, we found ourselves having no choice but to go back for attempt number three at having a life. Take three: parents who love you and abilities no one else can ever know about, no matter the cost. That’s this time around anyway.”

Star put in, “and we really don’t wanna have to figure out life number four, even though this one has turned out a lot worse than we wanted it to. At this point, there's still no one else who knows about our abilities, at least” Star stated sadly as she squeezed Sky’s hand again.

Sky then added, “and, that’s the trade off; we can try and try again, but we still have every bit of every life still there inside our heads, forever. Making it that much harder to deal with the next life, no matter how perfect we try and make it. What’s in our heads will always be there, in any life.”

Star then almost smiled, “so now you can see why you telling us you didn’t want us to sleep together was so... laughable” she decided on, “to us. After the lives we’ve lived; that was so low on the list of...” she just shook her head. “But we still tried to respect your wishes as best we could. Don’t think we’ve ever had sex in this house once; at least in this life anyway” she had to add.

Connor and Brie just gave each other another look, as if they had no idea what to even say at that point. Connor finally spoke then, “so, how long have you two actually been doing this? Trying to live these lives over and over until you finally get it right?”

Then Star and Sky looked at each other with sad shrugs. Star finally gave some answer, “I think we’ve technically been alive for over twenty years; but time is sort of relative when we’re... ‘between realities,’ so maybe longer” she stated sadly.

After another long pause as their parents silently digested all the information they now had been given, Sky finally had to speak again, “so, are you gonna try to lock us up and study us again now? Just wanna know if I should bother with my homework tonight; or just pack for life number four” he stated with a weak attempt at humor to cover he and Star’s very real worry about that being the case now that their true natures were once again known to their parents.

That was when Brie and Connor looked to each other for one more bit of courage before Connor responded, “you shouldn’t fall behind on your homework, Sky. We have colleges to visit this weekend.”

And thus began life number three, part two: parents who still seemed to want to try and love them, and make up for some part of what they had already endured; even though they knew what the two of them truly were, at last.

Now, all they would have to deal with in this life, was trusting that their parents would stay their parents, and not revert to just their makers. And of course school, and Curt, and the upcoming class trip, and all the rest of the minefields they were sure were still waiting to trip them up. And lastly, the final thing they’d have to deal with in this life was the same as what they had always had to deal with; all the power, and the horror, locked up inside their own heads.