Protect Me, Love Me - Chapter 17 (Part 2)
Chapter 17
“Part 2”
Disclaimer - I do not own Four Brothers
Pairing - Bobby/Jack
Rating - M
“Talking”
‘Thinking’
x-x-x-x
~~~~~~~~Jack’s POV
When the door was secured he looked at his cousin, “He said… and I quote ‘That night never should’ve happened and I had no right doing anything with you.’” Jack said, voice and eyes dark in anger and pain. Xander stared at him before opening the MD bag and pulled out a cheese burger and offered it to him.
“Ignore him… he doesn’t know any better and plus… he’s an asshole.” Xan said and Jack had to laugh at the way he said it.
Shaking his head Jack finished his joint before opening his wrapped his burger. He nodded to his iPod stereo on his desk and the thing turned on to the song ‘Unwanted’ by Kill Hannah. Laying back on his bed Jack slowly ate the burger and listened to the song.
“Seth is bein’ an ass, like always, I swear he won’t let up! ‘Jack you know you need to do this’ ‘Jack you know it’s for your own good’…” he paused eyes flashing in anger “’You’re too powerful for your own good, Jackie’… I swear a broken fucking record!” he snarled and threw the half finished burger across the room.
While it was still in the air it caught fire and was a bunch of ashes before it hit the ground. Turning his head to Xander “See perfect control…” he said softly and Xander snorted before crawling into bed with him, laying his head on Jack’s chest.
“You’re angsty today…” Xan said softly and Jack shrugged “Had weird feelin’ all day… like somethin’s gonna happen…” he replied just as quietly.
He rubbed Xan’s neck, the only piece of flesh that he could reach, “I don’t know what to do…I don’t wan’ my family to know what I am…” he said softly while his thumb soothed Xander’s tense frame.
“I don’t want my parents to know either… plus I mean what’s the big deal about the whole mate thing? So what we wanna be single, is that so fucking bad?” Xander asked facing the wall.
Licking his lips Jack took a breath, making Xander look up at him questioningly. Shaking his head Jack got off the bed and paced for a minute “I…” he paused and shook his head, which made Xander raise an eyebrow. He stopped pacing and looked at Xander “Me, Conner, Alexis and Mia started the band remember? … I’m goin’ to Chicago after I finish school… for good this time.” He said and watched Xander’s eyes widened.
The silence was only broken by the music playing in the background as the two cousins stared at each other. Finally Xander sat up “Seth won’t let you… you know how protective of you he is. Plus what about Evelyn, the girls, Camille, Jerry, Angel, and ya even Bobby? And why are you telling me this now?” Xan asked, shaking his head, and Jack looked at him.
“My classes are almost over, Xannie,… by my birthday I should be done. And I’ll talk to my ‘ma and the girls all the time… and my brothers, please! Come on…” he paused giving Xander a sad and pained look.
“Jerry has his family, Angel has the army, and Bobby? Bobby is all of the fucking place I doubt he’d even notice I was gone until he came back for fucking Christmas!” he snapped and a picture on his desk shattered “Fuck!” he groaned, rubbing his forehead.
Taking two large steps he picked up a picture; it was a picture of the family right before everything started… before Bobby went to jail and those fucking dreams started. “Guess that’s appropriate, huh?” he said in a low, sarcastic, voice; showing Xander the broken picture.
“This isn’t a family anymore… it hasn’t been for years. All it is, is a bunch of people coming and going as they please, never thinking about anyone besides themselves.” He muttered opening his side table draw and popping three pills.
Xander was staring at him from the bed, his eyes guarded, and Jack felt their minds touch and twin tears slipped down his face. “I can’t do it, Xannie, you can’t ask me to. Staying here with all this, all these ‘feelings’.” He spat the word.
“It’s not fair. Then I have Seth whose constantly saying we need to be fucking mated! ‘Ma who’s always sad and upset and I’m the reason! All I’ve done to this family is hurt everyone in it! I never should’ve stayed here… I was selfish and now… I dunno…” he muttered and sat on his computer chair.
He heard Xander sigh then felt his cousin pull him onto the bed. Snuggling into Xander’s arms Jack waited, knowing he had something to say. “So… when do we leave?” his cousin asked and Jack closed his eyes; relief flowing out of his body.
“I dunno, I’ll be 19 in March and our classes will be complete and hell, the band does need a manager and you kinda are the one to get us all the gigs and shit.” He said and it was true.
~~
About two years ago him, Conner, Mia, and Alexis started a small Rock/Alternative Rock band. Jack wrote all the songs and put the music together then him or Conner sung the songs while the other played guitar. Alexis did the drums and Mia played guitar as well as the keyboard, when they needed it.
Xander, when he found out, decided that he was gonna be in charge of getting gigs and getting their name out, ‘Spares’. The name was because they were kinda all spares; all of them kicked to the curb and disregarded by other teens as outcasts.
~~
Taking a long breath Jack sat up again and looked around the room silently. This was his home and he didn’t want to leave but being here was just… it hurt to much all the time. He turned his face slightly towards Xander, with guarder eyes.
“You know when I first got here I’d just left the other foster home where there were older guys. When I first saw Bobby, Jerry, and Angel I was fucking scared shitless… the first thing that entered my mind was ‘I wonder how much they’re gonna use me…’” he said and scoffed with a disgusted look on his face.
“How sick is that? You and Kerra found the Barlow’s right away and Seth found his ‘dad’ but me… 13 foster homes and he always found me. I always wondered why he never just took me back.” He paused and felt Xander sit up behind him and put his forehead against his back.
“Then I come here and Angel kept my secrets all the time, Jerry would teach me things that would blow my mind, and Bobby… he kept me safe, you know? When he left I hated him so much, and then he came back and everyone expected me to just… go back, but I couldn’t. With everything that happened between the time he was gone…” Jack muttered tilting his head and gazing at the wall.
“I dunno, it’s stupid isn’t it? Worrying about this, thinking about this? I mean if Seth asked Kerra to leave tomorrow, saying that they found us, she’d have her bags packed in five minutes. … You too?” he asked and Xander shrugged, looking uncomfortable.
“What’s wrong with me then? I knew I shouldn’t of gotten so close to them but I… I just couldn’t stop myself.” He said, shaking his head, the frustration in his voice making him flinch.
Standing abruptly Jack started to pace again, lighting a cigarette, “This is all Bobby’s fault!” he snapped at Xander, who raised an eyebrow.
“J, I’m pretty damn sure the guy doesn’t even know why you’re so mad at him. Bobby Mercer is the most oblivious and naïve person in the world when it comes to this shit. Why don’t you try talking to the guy…” Xander suggested.
Jack glared “’Talk’? you don’t ‘talk’ to Bobby! You say something to him and he blows up and hollers and throws things… of all the fucking people in the world? Why me?!” he asked, looking up at the ceiling.
Sitting back at his desk Jack opened another cheese burger and took a bite, throwing one to Xander. “I just wish this wasn’t so hard I mean I just don’t get it! Maybe it would just be better if I took off.
They could get back to their lives and not half to worry over me. I’m just a fucking burden to ‘em anyway.” He said looking at Xander. The pain in his mind and the tension in his body just seemed to be taking its toll on him.
They laid there for a long time, listening to music and talking about stupid things. When the front door slammed open then shut both Xander and Jack jumped then they heard Sofi yelling downstairs.
“ANGEL?! Angel, you come out here!! Angel!” they heard and Jack frowned before flicking his fingers, making his dresser move, then got up, Xander following him, and went downstairs.
Sofi was panting and yelling when they got down to the first floor and when she saw them she came storming over.
“Jack?! Where is he, huh?” she asked and Jack looked completely confused, “Sofi he’s not here, he was here before I left for school but he’s not here now.” He said and would have checked over the house but with the pills and the two joints he had… ya, not happening.
“He told me he’d be over at Jerry’s, then Camille told me that both Jerry and Angel were gonna be here with Bobby!” she said looking around. Suddenly she stopped and looked at him “You don’t think Bobby took them out somewhere, do you?! What if they got hurt and Angel got shot?!!” she panicked and Jack sighed.
Contrary to what Bobby believed Sofi really did love Angel with all her heart. Which is why she hated Bobby so much, because Angel would follow his oldest brother to the end of the world if Bobby asked him to.
This, in itself, caused a lot of fights and Sofi always caved in because she didn’t want Angel to leave her. So she started fights with Bobby all the time, knowing that Bobby always got Angel into shit… even if the older brother didn’t do it on purpose.
“Sofi! I’m sure he’s ok… Don’t worry-” he started but the front door opening cut him off. Angel, Jerry, and Bobby came through and Sofi went right to Angel yelling in a mix of Spanish and English, which in turn got Bobby yelling.
“My poor head!” he muttered and Xander laughed and leaned against his back, arms wrapping around Jack’s shoulders.
“This is so funny to watch, I swear no matter how many times I see it, it never gets old.” Xander said, which made Jack roll his eyes. “Oh, come on it’s like your very own soap opera!” Xan laughed, getting the attention of Jerry and Bobby.
“Go… I gotta start on that mountain of homework we got.” Jack said pushing Xander at the door. “Fine, fine, pushy, pushy!” he said, laughter in his voice.
Xander pulled on his coat and bookbag hugged Jack then left with a ‘bye’ over his shoulder at the others. Jack shook his head at the scene still going on before him; then he turned and walked back upstairs to finish his joint and do his homework.
~~~~~~~~Xander’s POV
Walking down the street Xander shook his head with a smirk as he thought about Jack and his home life. The older guys were so .. amusing to be around some times that Xander liked going over there just to watch them.
With school and everything that had been going on Xander sometimes forgot that Jack had to live with his ‘so-called mate’. School though… school took both his and Jack’s mind off of shit like that.
Science, Math, and Computer processing were his majors in school and he loved the classes, even if he hated the teacher. Being a ‘certified genius’ though was not all that great, especially if the teachers say that he should be doing ten times better. ‘Fuck them!’ he thought as he felt his lip curl in disgust.
Everything about his new ‘powers’ coming in and then the whole ‘mate’ thing, it wasn’t easy to deal with especially when no one knew that he was a Flyer. Jack hated even thinking about the fact that he was a Flyer, and hell Xander knew why, but he really liked it.
He loved his wings, which were a more sea blue color that tipped black, all four of their wings tipped black and all had green or blue in them.
Like their eyes; Xander and Jack had amazing deep, bright, blue eyes, thought Jack’s were more metallic while his were sparkling liquid; Seth and Kerra had the same thing except Seth had metallic green eyes while Kerra’s eyes, like his own, sparkled as if liquid. It showed that they were family and if people saw their wings there would be no doubt in anyone’s mind that they were blood family.
Walking by the park Xander’s head snapped up when he heard familiar voices. His mind went blank and he felt dizzy as his blood froze in his veins, though his legs kept walking.
Breathing in short puffs Xander saw one of the eight guys there glance up at look at him. The guy smiled before looking back down at what they were all looking at. At that moment Xander snapped and did the only thing he could think to do… he ran.
The boogiemen… they were here… and they’d seen him…
~~
There were more then one or even two boogiemen. See… there are some people who believe that Flyers and Swimmers were abominations and should be killed when it became apparent what they were. His biological parents were part of this ‘cult’… this ‘community’… and when Kerra and him got their wings they took them to one of the ‘meeting’s’.
Shuddering as he remembered that first time; the first time that he had his wings cut off. There was this huge table in the middle of the room and both him and Kerra had been tied down and had their wings cut off.
They both got their wings around the same time; him on his fourth birthday and Kerra on her sixth.
Seth, his father’s brother’s son, had been taken into the basement the year before so he knew what was coming but he wasn’t ready for what happened to him down there.
Then a few weeks later his younger cousin Jack was pushed into the basement, full of blood, and crying. Seth and Kerra were so busy trying to keep them alive that they weren’t really there for them emotionally so… Xander and Jack were there for each other.
In the basement they had developed a bond that was so powerful that they could actually feel each other; which wasn’t always a good thing.
When they had escaped that night and got split up it was hard and their bond faded, but Xander always knew that something was wrong… like Jack was always hurting. When they met again at the art show years ago the bond pulsed to life and he hadn’t been so happy in all those years that he’d been away from the basement.
~~
Running to his house he threw opened the door then shut it, locked it, and backed away from it like it was gonna bite him. Whimpering Xander felt his memories, memories that he’d tried to erase, flood his mind.
But this time he knew he couldn’t escape the memories because they were here… they had found him. ‘I can’t go back… I’ll die first… I won’t go back, I won’t!’ his mind chanted over and over again.
His body felt numb as he realized what exactly he had to do. His eyes glazed over and it was like he was a different person. Licking his dry lips Xander felt tears fall from his eyes as he walked to the basement.. he knew the only way out.
Going down to the basement he walked into the lab his dad had built for him when Xander said he wanted one. The lab helped him with all the works he had to do for school and at the same time he was able to create and make different things.
Most of the time when he was down here he liked to try and find a way to cure the HIV virus. With Flyer and Swimmer blood they were able to cure almost all cancers as well as most forms of mental retardation but no one knew how to get rid of Aids. Now though… now this lab wouldn’t be where he would try and make something to save a life, it would be where he was going to make something to take his life.
Mixing the chemicals he remembered being forced to watch as they made them. They always made them watch as they mixed the chemical’s it was like torture in itself sometimes, the waiting. That was why they did it though… to make them wait, they were forced to watch as they made the poisons that would slowly tear them inside out.
~~
Yellow opened your senses and made your mind powers open up to the point where you thought your head was going to explode. It was like your mind is split open and you could hear and feel everything that they did. He heard the rapes of his cousins and older sister in the other rooms; all the evil that was being down at that time he heard not only the victim but the attacker as well.
The yellow-green one paralyzed you… but at the same time it made your body over sensitive. You were frozen, awake, and over sensitive and they used to rape him, the others, and do things; break bones just for the fun of it. Sometimes they’d cut him; take a knife and trail it all over his body as tears ran down his face as he lay there helpless, unable to move or do anything.
The red one was worse.. it was like your body was on fire. They’d strap him down and watch as he screamed and begged for it to stop. The ‘fire’ seemed to spread all over his body then, when they got board watching, they either beat him or do something to make it worse.
It was the black one though… the black one killed you. There were other kids there sometimes too; ones who were in their own basements, locked in their own hell. Xander remembered the one boy they injected with the black needle. The boogiemen said they wanted to test it and see if it worked. At times Xander would pray to have them use it on him but that one day changed his life.
First they made the boy, Seth, Kerra, Jack, and him watch as they made it telling them what it was going to do. He remembered their reactions when they injected the boy.
They had looked so gleeful, like a child at Christmas, but they soon turned angry and hateful when the boy sighed, as if letting out all the pain, and closed his eyes. The boy looked so peaceful at that moment and Xander and Jack had become obsessed with the black chemical.
Yes, after their failed attempt they had created another that issued horrible pain while slowly eating your body but Xander just remembered that first one, and the look of peace on that boys face.
Both him and Jack memorized the way they made it and what they used… it was their light in the basement. But the new black chemical was one of the most horrible things to watch; and watch they were forced to time and time again.
~~
As the chemical was boiling Xander tried not to let his connection with Jack open, he didn’t want Jack to worry. Slowly the chemical was done and Xander whimpered as he filled up a syringe of the stuff. Tears dripped down his face when he thought about leaving Kerra, his parents, Seth, and Jackie… his baby cousin who he promised never to leave again.
Jack’s question from earlier filled his head. He didn’t want to leave them… leave any of them but at that moment he knew; knew that there was no other way out.
Knowing Kerra, now living on her own with Tommy, wouldn’t be home until dinner; and his parents wouldn’t be home until five o’clock, Xander slowly walked out of his lab. He looked up at the stairs then walked over to the wall to the side of it, where he would be able to see everything.
Lower lip trembling Xander pulled off his Good Charlotte hoodie and flicked his hand at the iPod stereo on the opposite wall. His iPod flew from the upstairs and inserted itself on the stereo.
The songs ‘Hold On’ by Good Charlotte, ‘A Silent Murder’ by Story of the Year, ‘Running Up That Hill’ by Placebo, ‘My Own Prison’ and ‘Inside Us All’ by Creed, ‘Tourniquet’ by Evanescence, ‘Savin’ Me’ and ‘Someday’ by Nickelback played softly throughout the room.
Xander slid down the wall, bringing his knees to his chest, as he thought about what he needed to do next. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the cameras and the sound system that his parents had.
He knew he couldn’t just turn off the visual but he knew that no one could know what he was going to say. For now, as long as he was alive, the sound would be disconnected.
Slowly he blew out a shuddery breath. Xander slowly stuck his arm out, once all the songs played over once. His cell phone whizzed into his hand and he dialed the number of the only person he really knew he had to say goodbye to.
End Chapter
Yes… I know most of you, if not all, would really like to kill me about now… especially since you aren't gonna know what happens until Friday. Anyway I’ve been telling people that 19-20 is when the ‘big event’ happens.. well.. I miscalculated it’s actually the next chapter.
*evil smirk* now all of you get to wait and stew! *crackles*
~shadow