Do. Not. Own.
Posted way too early for chibiyugixyami in the hope that this'll take her mind of things

Prologue

"Mom!" Joe yelled as he stepped through the door of the fire-house. "I'm home!" – "Not thanks to Kevin…" he muttered in an afterthought.
His brother hadn't shown up at Horace Mantis Academy today, like he always did, to pick Joe up in his shiny, new, red, environment friendly-whatever car.
That alone was strange on itself. Kevin never skipped a chance to show off his beloved 'baby'.

What was strange too was that only Elvis lazily raised his head at Joe's entrance. Like he wanted to say: "Shut up, I'm in the middle of a really nice slumber and I'd like to continue without your screams for attention…" but found himself once again unable to do so.
Joe shot him a weird look before he walked up the stairs to see if he could find Kevin there –maybe fallen asleep– but he could swear the dog had something against him, or at least preferred people with curly hair, because he always happily ran over and licked face if Kevin or Frankie –Joe's other brother— walked through the door.

Joe shrugged and forced his mind to stay away from the 'our dog is weird' topic.
He walked into their room, which covered almost the entire upper floor. Though only 2/3 of it was used, since Kevin had never needed much space anyway and Stella had had the plans for his part ready before she had ever even seen the space.
And since his best friend was a very practical person, the space behind the three fire-poles had been left open for as long as Joe could remember.

He walked over to his brother's bed (which was fairly small compared to Joe's massive, king-sized bed) and threw back the blue covers. –Chinese silk, mind you. Kevin might not need much, but the things he did have, had to be perfect— but Kevin wasn't there.

Once again; how strange, Joe mused, his arm crossed and his eyes narrowed. Where could his older brother be?
He obviously wasn't on the roof or hidden somewhere in a corner, because the perfectly polished guitars (an acoustic, a slender red electric and a fairly larger white guitar) were still proudly and for once, silently hanging in their rack.

He was probably at the park; Joe concluded as another part of his brain continued with the half-formed plan in the back of his head about pairing up with Frankie to buy his brother the shiny blue guitar he wanted.
Kevin liked just sitting at the park, observing kids and ducks, or reading a book, maybe some other stuff that most people wouldn't necessarily do. Joe referred to those things as 'Kevin-things'. But he loved his brother for it, so it didn't matter.

Frankie was still at school, obviously, so that left the question of where mom was hanging out. Since dad was probably still at his work; the New-Jersey department for population registration.
Joe didn't know exactly what that name covered, but his father was helping people in danger, needed or wanted a new personality and he registered newborn life; A honourable job, or so he told his middle-son.

Joe snatched a bag of pretzels from underneath Kevin's bed and walked to the fire-poles, thinking of maybe going over to Stella's and helping her with some designs (she wanted to be a designer and Joe did have some bright stylistic ideas every now and then… Or he could function as a mannequin) or he might go to pick up Frankie, just in case Kevin had forgotten about him too.

"Oh, hi honey. Can you give me a hand with these?"

Joe turned around, putting the bag of pretzels on the kitchen-counter immediately when he saw his mom carrying a heavy looking load of groceries.

"Mom! One day you're going to give yourself a hernia!" He told the red-head, rushing over and taking over the groceries and easily putting them on the counter too, already making a start with putting them in the right closets, but his mom's hand stopped them.

"I'll do that. I'd much rather you got the rest of it…" –"there's more!"— "out of the car. Come to think of helping hands, where is your brother?"

Joe shrugged. "I don't know, he probably went to the park or something and forgot I had school, like everybody else that isn't in college."

His mom shot him a weird look. "But he said he was on his way to pick you up just minutes before I went shopping…"

Joe once again shrugged. "He probably got distracted on the way." He remarked and his mom completely agreed. Kevin's mind just wasn't that focussed sometimes, but nobody really noticed anymore, it was part of who the eldest of the three Lucas-brothers was.

"I probably should go pick up Frankie then." Joe said. "After I get your groceries."

His mom smiled, leaning back against the counter. "You're an angel, Joe."

"I know."

Frankie practically flew out of the car, making his backpack hit the door, twice. "Mind mom's car, Frankster." Joe automatically corrected his little brother, who muttered an apology and ran through the doors, only to be tackled by one excited blonde dog, who –once again— completely ignored Joe.

Joe rolled his eyes at the dog. The animal could be so weird sometimes.

"Mom!" he yelled for the second time that day. "We're home! Is Kevin back yet?"
The words made it sound like Joe was concerned, but he just really just felt like scolding his brother for forgetting him.

"No, he didn't. But he'll be back soon; he's always on time for dinner. I swear the kid has a build-in dinner-timer." His mom shouted back from somewhere in the back of the house.

Joe mentally agreed and reclaimed his bag of pretzels, before he walked upstairs. Stella would probably call in a few minutes, stressing about a fashion-disaster or just because she felt like it. It was one of the things that were part of Joe's daily routine and he loved it. He had to admit his feelings for the blonde girl had shifted a bit in the last couple of months. She was really pretty, even when she wasn't perfectly dolled up and styled.

Sandy had to yell 4 times before Joe finally broke off the conversation that evening for dinner. He did feel a little guilty, because he had a) annoyed his mom, though she understood and loved Joe's relationship with his best friend and b) he hadn't even started on his homework yet.

And when he slid downstairs, c) the empty chair of his brother, of whom he hadn't thought for hours, staring at him accusingly, was added to the list.

"Kevin's still not home, is he?" he stated, still standing by his fire-pole, looking at his mom with pleading eyes, willing her to give him an answer that would end Joe's worries.

His mom just shook her head.

Joe watched movie after movie that night, to get his mind of things and he even tried to call the Shoe, but he was probably out with his 'cooler' friends. Some rockstar dudes Joe didn't like very much.
And when he had watched through 'scream until you die screaming' – 'cry until you die crying' and all their sequels, he put his Ipod on full volume and fell asleep with swtichfoot blaring in his ears.

He woke up around two in the morning, with an aching neck and that feeling in his ears you get when you have your earphones in for too long a time.
At first, the flat haired Lucas boy didn't really get why he was sprawled out over the couch, when his bed was only feet away. But it all struck him soon enough.

With a sharp twist of his neck –ouch, damn, bad idea with an aching neck— he tried to look through the darkness in the room.
When his eyes decided they didn't want to work with him, he cautiously stood up from his snug, warm space on the couch and walked towards Kevin's bed.

His hand extended towards the sheets, grasping the soft blue material.

He pulled and the slick fabric soundlessly slid of the bed.

No Kevin.

===== At the same time, a few miles north =====

"Are you sure? Are you sure he has the right genes?" The taller of 2 dark figured asks the smaller. They are looming over the motionless body on the grey metal table, watching as its chest rises and falls, the eyes restlessly flickering behind closed lids, but too far gone for the 2 to even consider the risk of awakening. The small shadow has done its work well.

"Yes, I am sure. He's different, he has got the exact kind of mixed background we're looking for and all the symptoms you described; easily distracted, high intelligence, restless, vivid imagination, gets along with basically everyone…"

"The symptoms are not enough…" The tall figure starts, running his hand through the dark curls beneath him, feeling a shiver run through the body on the table. White light making its pale skin light up.
He and his smaller companion stand outside the light that falls upon the table, in the darkness. His partner is still wearing the black satin cloak that hides the face of whoever wears it. He can see it move slightly, indicating nodding.

"I know. That's why I got this." A hand with long fingers raises a little tube, filled with an unmistakable dark liquid.

"Perfect." The words are muttered, because the taller's thoughts are lost in the wicked happiness that he feels. Could it be that with this young man, it could actually work? "Test it and then, contact the Doctor."

"As you wish."

The smaller figure rushes past the table and the circle of light, but not before the light shines upon the wavy blonde hair that curls from the hood of the cloak.

The taller looks down once more, revelling in what is promised. "It has started."

Rawr! –Tacklepounces and noms everyone that's just lurkin'—