Kaden Threngard

Born in Salisbury, England, Matthew and Harriet were very surprised to find that they had twins. They had been preparing for one child because it was expected of them, they agreed. That's just what families did – you got married and you had kids. They had agreed that one child would be enough for them, but then just so suddenly there were two. Neither remembered having a history of twins in their family, neither of them knew of any tragic accidents where a twin became only one, but here they were. They were proper British, though, and adjusted for the addition. The nursery grew just enough for two babies to be in and they called it good. The problems began to arise when they realized that the babies had wildly different personalities – while Kalira was quiet and tended to keep to herself, Kaden was talkative and outgoing. Their parents agreed they would have been much more prepared if the twins had been...well, more twin like. They did some things that were very twin, but they were still wildly different from each other and if their parents were being honest, it was a bit frustrating. The two couldn't be talked to in the same way, the two couldn't be encouraged the same way. Who knew that twins could be two entirely different people? Kaden's parents began trying to figure out a work around when they realized that Kaden and Kalira were pretty much like any kids: they wanted a parents love. The parenting they had given was fairly hands off, often leaving them in the hands of nannies or daycare teachers, usually just holding them close at parties when their image was a big part of everything. As the twins got older, they turned it around and began to manipulate. There was no real rhyme or reason to it, there was never anything that was herald as the "best" behavior. Sometimes Kaden's more outgoing behavior was applauded, sometimes Kalira's more quiet nature was pushed forward. Both, how ever, were more or less pit against each other academics wise. Whoever had the best marks or the best meetings with teachers were fawned over, fussed over, given all the attention, and the other was left to feel like they had failed.

Despite their best attempts to stay solidly together, to be a united force, their parents began to push a wedge between them. Kaden often felt like he was the black sheep – his grades were often scrutinized in a way Kalira's weren't, his habits picked at endlessly of "this is why". It didn't matter that, logically, he knew Kalira was probably going through the same thing, going through constantly belittling, but it didn't feel that way. Eventually the twins felt like strangers to each other, picking at each other almost as badly as their parents did. They were in a direct competition and they knew it. As they grew older, Kaden was determined not to lose to her. Their entire teenage years were spent trying to outdo the other. Honestly, Kaden was petty enough that he was ready and willing to take this on for the rest of his life. And then something odd happened: he got to university. He went to university and he started staying in the dorms and he realized he was lonely. He had his multitude of friends, but there was just something missing from them. For roughly an entire year, he wondered what he was missing before he realized it was Kalira. Kalira had been his built in best friend, she had been his go to person who understood him. She was his twin. He knew that they were competing for their parents' love, but a part of him just...didn't care. He was older now and being away from home and his parents made him realize that nothing they had ever done was ever really enough. It was a bad night when Kaden realized that his parents were probably never actually going to love him and there wasn't much he could do about that. Approaching Kalira was probably one of the hardest things in his life and, if he were being honest with himself, he thought that maybe they would never patch things up.

They did, sort of. After too many years of being put against each other, they were never going to be like they were when they were kids, but they got better. They started talking more, they started working together on things. They helped bolster each other up and Kaden felt better for having done it. Now he felt like he could actually enjoy university. Suddenly the world seemed to open up: he was an adult who could do things as he pleased and with his sister at his side, nothing could stop him. He didn't have to go home for holidays and he didn't have to live by the rules his parents set for him. Just like that, Kaden realized he could go into the field of study he wanted and he did it hardcore. So hardcore, in fact, that before graduation, he was headhunted by the Supernatural Reserve Unit of England and pulled on to study the possibility of life in space and what things on Earth had been touched by these beings.

The rest of Kaden's story is explored in the To the Moon, Through the Stars story, Under the Burning Stars.

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