The Dark Side of Monkey Island

 

Part One

Chapter two: Coren’s Dark Secret

“This is unbelievable.” Guybrush murmured. All his life he had had a twin brother and he never even knew about it. He had always thought that he was the only one in his family left, no parents, no aunts or uncles, no cousins, no grandparents, and certainly no siblings. His mind was spinning under this new intake of information.

 

There wasn’t just that though. Part of him was overjoyed to find out that he actually had a living relative…but there was still a strange feeling floating around Coren. A feeling that kept telling him not to trust him. There was something unusual about Coren, but Guybrush couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

 

Coren mumbled something unintelligible under his breath…or said it out loud. Guybrush couldn’t tell. A memory he never knew he ever had was quickly coming into focus; a panicked situation. People were running everywhere, screaming at the top of their lungs as a large group of men, armed with torches and cutlasses, slashed and burned their way through the crowd. He remembered being tossed around the in the horrified crowd next to another boy of about three, Coren, and being forced toward one of the men that was torturing a group of elderly women. The man paused briefly to look in their direction, and both of them froze in horror as a sadistic smile spread across his scarred face.

 

“Ar mates! We be needin' some target practice once we leave port, and I be thinkin’ I found some targets!” He shouted to the other men as he pointed to him and Coren and laughed evilly. 

 

Before they could realize what was happening, a pair of unusually hairy arms grabbed them, and held them in midair by the collars of their shirts. Both of them kicked and clawed at the air to try to get free, but the hairy man just laughed maniacally at their futile attempts. That is, until Coren kicked him with a well-aimed shot in the pills. 

 

The hairy man’s eyes crossed and rolled back into his head as he let out a loud groan and dropped them to the ground. Both of them bolted through the crowd without looking behind them…and in Guybrush’s case without looking in front of them either. He tripped over an unseen object in front of him and he skidded painfully across the cobblestone headfirst. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see another one the masked men grab Coren, hit him outside the head with the side of his pistol, and shove him into a potato sack. The last thing he could remember was his head colliding with the toe of someone’s boot, and everything going black. 

 

“Guybrush…Guybrush…GUYBRUSH!” 

 

Coren shouting his name and snapping his fingers in his ear, looking genuinely concerned, snapped Guybrush back into reality.  

 

“Are you ok? You spaced-out on me for a few minutes.” 

 

Guybrush looked up at him with a whole new wave of shock. Now Coren was staring at him with a serious expression on his face. “You remembered it too, didn’t you?” He said solemnly. Guybrush nodded, but before he could say anything else, shots rang out from the other side of the mansion, and two musket balls missed the top of his hair by inches. 

 

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!” Elaine yelled as she jumped out from the bushes with two large pistols aimed at his head. “Put your hands in the air and turn around slowly…Oh, Guybrush, it’s only you.” She said with a hint of relief in her voice as Guybrush turned around. 

 

“Yeah, do you think you could stop aiming your guns at my face? You’re making me kind of nervous.” Guybrush said. Elaine was still clutching his weapons in attack-mode. 

 

“Sorry,” she said, tucking the guns back into her belt loops. “I heard screaming and I thought you might be having another panic attack.” Her voice was trying to conceal a laugh, but was failing at it. 

 

Guybrush finally let himself smile again; momentarily forgetting that his long lost twin brother was behind him. “You just love to pick on me don’t you?” 

 

Elaine nodded, still trying her best not to laugh. “Anyway,” she said, trying to get back on topic, “what was that screaming I heard?” 

 

Guybrush grinned. “Oh that’s just Murray. The dogs are…er…playing with him.” 

 

Elaine let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. “Now he’s coming back over and over? I’m telling you, we need to get some restraining orders…” She trailed of and stared over Guybrush’s shoulder. She had finally noticed Coren. 

 

“Elaine,” Guybrush began awkwardly, “this is my brother Coren. Coren, This is my wife Elaine.” 

 

There was a long pause. Then Elaine did something Guybrush never thought he would see her do; She passed out. 

 

“This is your wife? Way to go!” 

 

“Hmmmmm…I guess she was a little surprised. You should probably scram before she wakes up, you know, just to give her some time to get used to the idea.” Guybrush said, trying to get Elaine back on her feet. 

 

“Yeah, I was about to suggest that myself. I’ll be back in a few hours.” Coren said. With that, both brothers said goodbye and Coren made his way back towards town.

 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

 

As Coren passed through the archway into town, a cold, evil smile spread across his face. “Step one completed.” He said to himself as he ducked into the alley in between the church and the general store. After making sure nobody was watching, he closed his eyes and said an incantation under his breath. While he said it, he brought his hands to the top of his head, and lowered them in front of his face until they were level with his chest. 

The changes were slow at first, but they grew faster every second as his skin began to lose its color, and his hair became blacker than death. To finish everything off, when he opened his eyes they were no longer sky blue, but an unnaturally bright shade of green, which let off the same odd glow as his pale skin. This was not Coren Threepwood. He was still Guybrush’s brother all right, but he was Alaster. The boy who had sought out LeChuck and offered him help in defeating Guybrush. 

 

Alaster walked through the door in the back of the alley that said Employees Only, and was greeted by LeChuck’s skeleton, Billy, in a uniform. 

 

“Going down sir?” He said in a very high-pitched voice. 

 

LeChuck must’ve accidentally snagged this one before puberty. Alaster smirked amusedly at the thought. “That’s the only other direction isn’t it?” He told the operator with a tiny hint of sarcasm. Actually, it did a lot more than just go down. Ever since LeChuck had become a ghost, he had had a voodoo spell on the elevator to transport him between Melee and Monkey Island. The elevator led to a newly rearranged group of dimly lit tunnels. The first time Alaster had been here he had had trouble with them, but by now he had memorized the constantly changing tunnel’s patterns. (It was also a lot easier without skeletons fighting him with every other step.) After a short walk through the twisting hallway, he found LeChuck at the ending of the Roller Coaster of Death, barking orders at a new group of skeleton pirates. 

 

“An’ don’t just go runnin’ inside in broad daylight when everyone can see ye! Wait ‘til their defenses’ll be down. Get ‘er when she’s sleepin’ or somethin’, and DO IT WHEN GUYBRUSH ISN’T AROUND! If he gets in the way before we’re ready he’ll ruin everythin’!” 

 

“Hey, Frosty the Snowman! Back here!” Alaster called from behind LeChuck loudly. 

 

Furiously, LeChuck turned around to face whoever had insulted him. But when he saw that it was Alaster, he looked slightly disappointed that he couldn’t turn him into a human icicle. “Dar…’tis only you. I told ye not to come back ‘til…” 

 

“Already done.” Alaster cut in. “Everything should be in order by tonight.” 

 

“It’d better be. If even one thing goes wrong, you’ll end up worse than Largo.” LeChuck growled at him.   

 

When Guybrush had escaped LeChuck’s old Fortress, LeChuck had vented all of his anger at the time towards Largo, and he had a lot of it to vent. Not only had he lost his Screaming Chair, but Guybrush had also reduced half of the Fortress to rubble. To make up for the loss, before he went after Guybrush in the tunnels between Monkey and Dinky Island, he threw Largo into the voodoo acid. Although LeChuck did have to admit Largo’s many screams of pain were a small consolation; he still used his bones to decorate his thrown just as a warning to the skeletons on what would happen if they slipped up. 

 

Alaster could see right through LeChuck’s fierce expression and empty threat. It all came with his powers. LeChuck was, in reality, relieved to have a right-hand man that was evil, intelligent, and fully competent for a change. They were rare qualities to come across these days. So few people were willing to become full-fledged megalomaniacs. 

 

“Tonight, after making sure that Elaine will be alone in the mansion, Guybrush and I will take a little walk,” An evil grin spread across his face. “Leaving you and your…um, men,” he said glancing uncertainly at the skeletons, “free to do what you wish with the governor…” He trailed off. “…And leaving me free to do what I want to Guybrush.” 

 

“Only stun him, I want him in good shape for when I kill him. It’s been a while since I’ve had a good game of Cat and Mouse.” LeChuck snarled. “When the time comes for him to die I’ll be the one to kill him.” 

 

Alaster noticed a stern tone in LeChuck’s voice. Killing Guybrush seemed more important to him than he suspected, but he was extremely let down by it. 

“Can’t I just beat him up some? Just a little bit?” Despite his best efforts, there was a hint of a whine in his voice. 

LeChuck glared at him, but he knew that the boy wasn’t going to budge until he was allowed to do some damage. “All right…beat him up and then stun him. But leave somethin’ behind so he’ll know where to look. It’s more fun to deal with him when he wanders right inta our hands. 

Alaster silently agreed with him, but he had something else on his mind. “I’ve got a better idea. Just attach a tracking device on him so you can ambush him every time he comes close.” 

LeChuck gave him a puzzled look. “How would that get him closer to us?! He’d try ta get as far away as possible!” 

Moron. “Because that will make him think that he’s onto something. He may not show it that much, but Guybrush is smarter than you originally imagined. He catches onto things quickly. Think about it, won’t you. He may run away first, but after another minute or so he would think ‘Hey, they wouldn’t just jump out of nowhere and attack me for no reason. They must be guarding something important,’ and he would keep following the trail. 

Alaster waited a moment for all of this information to sink into LeChuck’s tiny brain, and then decided to let his sarcasm loose. “Do you want me to repeat it more slowly for you?”  

About three seconds later, he had to dodge a blast of ice thrown by LeChuck. “Next time I won’t miss.” He growled. Alaster kept his mouth shut; he knew he was serious this time. After another moment of thinking, (Alaster smiled as he imagined a grimace on LeChuck’s face during the time) LeChuck finally answered, “Do whatever ye want. Just don’t kill him! Save that for me.” 

“Fine.” Alaster just wanted to end the conversation and get on with his plans. As he turned around and left the room, he heard LeChuck mutter something under his breath but only heard the phrase ‘…Damned kid…’ come out clearly. 

Alaster loudly retorted by calling him a word, in most cases, not allowed to be put into print, then quickly running away before LeChuck could take aim.