Ruins
A/N: This chapter doesn't have any Suite Life characters in it, but there will be in the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own SLOZAC or any characters, blah blah blah, nor do I own any characters. I do however own the fictional characters that come up in the story.
Chapter I:
"Just concentrate, honey. You can do it." A woman told a young boy. They were sitting in a small room which appeared to be a kitchen. On the table in the centre of the room where the mother and child were sitting was a glass of water.
"No, I can't. I tried a millions times already." The boy replied, playing with his fingers.
"And you never will unless you keep trying. Come on, just try one more time. After that you can stop. Okay?" The black-haired female told the child.
"Fine, Mom." The boy then stared at the glass, expecting something to happen. Several moments passed and nothing happened. After a minute the water began to bubble and evaporate. "I did it! I did it!"
"See, I told you. All you have to do is put your mind to it. Now you can go watch TV and we'll practice again tomorrow." The mother smiled. She picked up the glass of water as the blond boy ran out of the room.
The doorbell rang and the ringing rang throughout the whole house. In the hallway, a man walked towards the door and opened it to see who was there. In the doorway stood three people; one female and two males. They were wearing black suits.
"Diane! It's them, get the kids out of here! Now!!" He bellowed down the hallway. As he finished his sentence the woman who arrived with the two other men lifted her hand in front her and flicked it. The man was thrown back by an invisible force. His back slammed onto the stairs behind him, knocking him unconscious.
Just then, the young boy's mother emerged from the hallway heading deeper into the house with a teenager who looked just like her.
"Hello, Diane. It's been a while. Nice husband you got there," The woman nodded her head in the direction of the unconscious man on the stairs, "Too bad he doesn't know how to put up a fight."
"Justin, listen to me. Get your brothers and get the hell out of here. Go anywhere but here." The woman, Diane, whispered to her oldest son.
"Mom, I-" He began to argue but his mother cut him off.
"Do it! Now!" She told him, not looking away from the 'guests'. The boy slowly backed away, heading deeper into the house. "What do you want Jasmine?" Diane spoke up, so the three at the door could hear her.
"You know what I want." Jasmine replied. Looking from the man on the stairs to Diane.
"I'm not going to let you take my children. Even if I have to die to make sure they stay safe, away from you." Diane hissed.
"You're my sister, Diane. I'm not going to kill you."
"No, you were. But my sister died. She died when she killed our parents. You may look like her, talk like her and even walk like her, but you're not her. I've only got one sibling. And there's a good chance he's not going to survive after what you did." Diane glared at Jasmine, the anger evident in her eyes.
"He had it coming. Now enough talk. I came here for something, and I have every intention of getting it." Jasmine shot back. Slowly walking towards the other woman, she nodded towards the two men at the door and one headed upstairs and the other dragged Diane's husband out of the house and out of view.
On the other side of the house were the children. One was the boy from earlier, and the other the teen.. The third was most likely their brother. They were stuffing several items into bags.
"Hurry up! We don't have long!" The tallest, presumably the oldest, told the younger two. They finished packing after a few moments.
"Why are we doing this?" The second eldest asked the eldest.
"'Cause I said so. Are you done packing?" Both the other two nodded at the question. "Good. Come with me, and stay close."
Together the three of them headed out toward a garden through a door in the room they were in previously, which would lead them onto the street. The man that arrived with Jasmine was walking out of the house, dragging a body that lay still. Unconscious, or possibly even dead.
"Dad!" The second oldest of the three kids screamed. The man heard him and looked at the kids. He then turned and started making his way towards them.
"Shit! Run, both of you! Go to Grandma's and don't get caught!" The oldest yelled to his younger brothers. Just then the man threw what appeared to be a glowing orange light at the children. He missed Justin by inches. It hit the door that led to the garden the boys emerged from, leaving a mark on the door.
Justin's hands glowed bright blue and he aimed a hand at the man approaching him. And soon after a burst of water out of his hand, hitting the man on the face. It took a moment for the man to realize what had happened. He then noticed two kids running away from his location. Ignoring the teenager, he threw another glowing orange light at the two children, hitting one right in the back.
"No!!" Justin roared. He saw the light hit his brother on the back and he fell to the floor. Out of rage, he began pelting the man with water, attracting his attention again. He managed to knock him out after a minute.
Just then, Jasmine appeared. She saw Justin racing towards his brother and she also saw her colleague lying on the ground. She was now heading in the direction where Justin ran, intending to catch him.
"Jeff! Jeff! Wake up!" The youngest boy screamed at his brother's body lying on the pavement next to him. Justin had finally reached where they were. "Justin, he won't wake up! That thing hit him!"
"Jeff!" Justin tried shaking him, but the boy just lay still. He was breathing, but just barely.
"Aww, how cute." Jasmine appeared behind them, approaching at a slow pace. Justin and his youngest brother began to back away, fearing what the lady would do. "Now, now. I'm not going to hurt if you just listen to what I say."
"Why should we?! You killed our parents!" The young boy screamed at the woman. His brother nudged him, wanting him to be quiet.
"They're not dead. They're just sleeping." Jasmine shot back. "Besides, I-" She stopped speaking when a loud explosion was heard. She turned her head in the direction the explosion came from. The Bennett's house was on fire, smoke was billowing from the windows and doors. Burnt pieces of the house were all over the place and a man lay on the floor near the inferno, with burn marks all over him.
People were exiting their houses to see what the explosion was. Before you knew it, the street held a crowd and there were sirens blasting all around the area.
Looking back to where the three children were, Jasmine saw two of them carrying the third unconscious one away. Before they could get far, she flicked her hand in their direction knocking them to the ground, preventing their escape. Luckily, everyone had their eyes on the blazing house to notice what the woman had done with a mere action.
She briskly walked to three kids, trying to grab hold on to them, but the teenager held out his hand and a puddle of water appeared under Jasmine's feet, making her lose balance and fall. Once again, no-one noticed the four people.
By look on the female's face, she was outraged. With one more wave of her hand, she lifted Jeff off the ground and into the air in front of her. If anyone saw what was going on, they'd think the boy was just simply standing.
"You either do as I say, or I'll kill him." Jasmine hissed. She knew the boys wouldn't do anything rash, and that they'd have to listen to her.
"You're bluffing. You wouldn't. Or you would've killed us all already." Justin spoke, his voice shaking. It was obvious this woman had killed before, and she wouldn't hesitate do it once more . But then again, his words made sense.
"True. You're right, I wouldn't kill him. But there are things in this world that are worse than death." She smirked.
Justin and his brother had no idea what to do. They could escape and leave their brother in hands of a devil, or stay and possibly be tortured as well. After a minute's thinking, Justin had made his mind up.
With one final raise of his hand, he aimed a surge of water at Jasmine. Hoping that she'd lose her hold on Jeff, he'd be able to get away. But that wasn't the case, she still held her grip, tight as ever. Knowing he wouldn't be able to free his brother, Justin and James, broke into a run and sprinted off.
By the time Jasmine registered what had happened, it was too late, the boys were out of sight. Knowing she could do no more, she, along with Jeff, left the scene.
The two men who had come with Jasmine were nowhere to be seen. Neither were Diane and her husband.
"Justin! Justin, wake up!" I woke up immediately. I saw a figure standing by the side of my bed. After looking closely in the dark room, I realized it was my brother, James. A quick glance at the clock beside my bed told me it was 05:43. "You okay?" He asked after I leaned my head against my headboard, trying to concentrate on slowing my breathing.
"Yeah," I replied slowly, feeling drowsy. "I'm perfectly fine. Why wouldn't I be?" I lied. I had these nightmares every once in a while for five years now. I had them night after night at first, but now they got less constant.
"'Was 'bout him again." James stated. He easily saw through the lie of mine. It was the one thing I hated about him. He'd always spot every lie of mine. It was annoying when I wanted to get away with a few things, but he never told anyone that I did. Just kept to himself. He wouldn't tell anything to Sally and Rob, our guardians.
"So what if it was?" I shot back as a reply. I really didn't want to have this conversation with him, but he was a persistent little brat. "It's not like you can do anything about it."
"You'd stop having them if you didn't blame yourself." He sat on the edge of my bed.
I was fully awake now and I was so desperate to not have this talk. But it was useless to avoid it. It'd have to happen sooner or later. I just would've preferred later.
"He's still out there, James. And I haven't done anything to find him. I'm just sitting here with people I know won't hurt me while he's out there being tortured for… for fun for all we know!" I raised my voice as I spoke, but I didn't care. I just hated doing nothing to find my other brother. He was out there with that wretched thing that is sadly my aunt. He's probably thinking that we're doing everything we can to find him. Or he could be dead. No. No, I wouldn't allow myself to think that. As long as there's a chance that he's still alive, I won't even think about thinking that he's dead. I just wanted to find him, help him, but I didn't know how to do that. I didn't have the slightest idea of where to look for him.
"You're not the only person who feels exactly the same, Jus! I want to help find my brother too! You're not the only one! I've been dying to find him! We could probably find him the next day if you could just for once, just once, stop blaming yourself! If you carry on doing that you're wasting time. Time you could use to do something to find him. Just sitting around and blaming yourself for everything that went wrong isn't gonna do anyone any good." he finished.
"You think it's that easy? If I could forget about that easily I would! But everyday I wake up I realize something's missing. And every time I see you I think of him. It just isn't that easy." Tears clouded my vision and then ran down my cheeks as I blinked. I tried to stop crying, it was embarrassing to cry in front of my brother, but I just couldn't.
"I-I'm sorry. I shou-" He began to apologize but I cut him off.
"No, don't be. I shouldn't have exploded like that. And you're right." I said, wiping my tears away. "I should get ready for the move today." There was no point in going back to sleep. James just nodded. He got up and headed for the door and left the room.
Moving houses was a pain. Mostly because you have to leave everyone you know behind. Your girlfriend and friends. And I couldn't even see them again. I was moving all the way to Boston so I'd be really far from them all. But dwelling on all that was just useless. I'd make new friends in Boston and I'd simply forget everyone I know here.
But what I really was worried about was Jeff. I just hoped I'd be able to find him. Alive.
A/N: Please review. It'll make the next chapter come quicker. Be it compliments or criticism, just review please.