So, both Madi and I lied. This story wasn't even supposed to be started until late August, possibly into early September. And yet, voila, chapter one of Lighthouse.

We sat down tonight, both on our respective computers, and got this thing out and edited in less than three hours. This is pretty much a record for us, considering that Madi was a huge-ass distraction with her ramblings about her amazing summer and whatnot while I had TK and Summer going on about their day, and all through this I managed to write nearly 3K for our opening chapter. Pretty damned nifty, if I do say so myself.

Remember that we both love reviews, they're what keep us wanting to write and edit more, even faster. ;) We don't own anything, except for things you don't recognize from the movies. In that case, we do own them and they belong to our sweet little overactive brains. Enough with the ramblings!

Enjoy! – Madi and Rory

Lighthouse

one

The back door to Nicky's slammed shut with a bang as Reid threw himself out of it. His heavy breathing frosted before him as he restrained himself from breaking every bottle in the alley. It wouldn't take much, just a switch of eye color and a flick of his wrist and everything would be in pieces. He could do it, no problem. Hell, he wanted more than anything to go psycho on everything around him, but he knew the second he used, Caleb would be out to kick his ass. Again.

Besides, one speech from the parentals was enough for one night. He didn't need Caleb all over his ass for using. He'd gotten more than enough of that earlier.

With an aggravated sigh, Reid kicked the closet thing to him. The empty crate went flying across the alley from him and came to a skidding halt against the wall. He hated this, knowing that everyone inside the bar was having a good time while he was rejected and throwing a tantrum like a four year old. He hated it, with a passion. He knew that inside Caleb would be dancing it up with Sarah, Pogue and Kate would be a corner doing their thing, and Tyler would be flirting with the new, shy looking waitress. It was the cycle of the sons, the same thing every damned night.

Normally, he'd have no problem messing with the hot waitress, Cary, or beating Aaron out of a few hundred at the tables. On any other night, Reid would be in the thick of things causing hell and having a blast doing it. But tonight was her anniversary, and he hated how no one else seemed to remember. Could they really not remember her? Could they not remember how she'd been taken from them too soon, how one day she'd been right there with him, taking Aaron's money and laughing at his sorry ass, and then the next, she was gone. Just like that, she'd been ripped away from them for good, and none of them had been able to do a damn thing about it.

Did they really not remember her?

He remembered her, perfectly. He could see her face, laughing at him as she blew out her fourteen candles on her birthday. The last birthday she'd ever have the happiness to celebrate. He could see her blue eyes sparkle at the sight of her new shiny red iPod, a gift from him, the last gift he'd be able to give her. By memory he could count the number of freckles on her pale face, twenty-three to be exact. He could see her, just as she had been right before she'd left him. Her face had been pale and he could see in her eyes how scared she'd been, how much she didn't want to leave. How scared she was to die.

She was fourteen, she wasn't supposed to die. Kids that young, they don't deserve to go.

But he couldn't do anything to save her. At the young age of sixteen, he'd had to watch his baby sister die before his eyes. He'd had to sit by her side in the hospital, watching helplessly as she slowly faded away from him into the dark abyss that had claimed her in the end. In the end, Reid had been able to do absolutely nothing to ease her pain, to make her unafraid, to save her. When Jack died, a part of Reid went with her. Along with the her death came his obsession with the Power.

He didn't understand how his family and friends could sit by and watch Jack die while they held such great power that could have saved her. What good was having such a powerful gift if they weren't willing to put it towards something worth while, like that of saving a life? What better way was there to waste a few measly months of their life as a result, than to save his baby sister? There wasn't one, Reid had tried everything.

Letting out another sigh, he dropped to sit on an overturned milk crate and dug into his pocket. He fingered the pack for a moment before withdrawing it and tugged a stick out with his mouth. He stuffed the beaten pack back into his lint filled hoodie pocket, and traded it for his Zippo. If Caleb wasn't inside a few hundred feet away, Reid wouldn't have bothered with the lighter. Lighting up, he took a long drag and leaned his head against the brick wall behind him, breathing out.

He couldn't believe they didn't remember. Hell, he hated them for forgetting her. But he didn't care so long as he never did. He couldn't forget her, because once he did, his last strand of humanity, the only thing that kept him from blowing himself apart on a Power overdose, was connected with her face flashing through his mind. He couldn't save her, but he sure as hell wasn't about to let her down.

Closing his eyes, he took another drag of his cig and listened to the music pounding through the door.

"Those can kill you, you know."

The voice startled Reid out of his thoughts and his eyes flew open. Standing a few feet away from him was a young girl, she couldn't be older than fifteen. He frowned at her, taking in her matted auburn hair, dirty face, and torn jeans. She didn't look like someone who would be hanging around a Spencer hotspot. In fact, Reid was sure he'd never seen the girl around before, even in town.

Her hand was pointed to the cigarette in his dangling fingers as she looked at him blankly. "They cause cancer," she muttered softly, eyeballing the smoking stick like it would come out and bite her.

Reid scoffed at her, taking another slow drag and blowing the smoke in the girl's direction. "And your point being?" He really didn't care that much, not tonight. Not when her face was so fresh in his mind, taunting him with images he'd rather forget.

She shrugged and turned to look at the empty parking lot of Nicky's in what Reid could name as fear. He frowned again, not understanding at all but not really caring. He really wanted to girl to hit the road and leave him in peace with his memories. This was her night, not this random chick's.

The girl faced Reid with empty eyes as she started backing slowly away. "What's the point of killing yourself? She's not waiting for you anymore, Reid."

Her tone wasn't harsh or cold, but instead seemed to be stating a fact. It was almost gentle, like she was trying to break the news with as little pain as possible. She didn't mean to inflict hurt upon him, in any way. She just wanted to show him before it was too late. His time was running out. Any moment now, if they hadn't already, they would notice her missing and come for her. It wouldn't take long for them to find her, not with him to help them. She had to warn Reid, and then get as far away from his as she possibly could. She had to buy him time.

Reid dropped his cig to the ground, stepping on it as he took a step towards the retreating girl. "What the hell did you just say?" He knew, deep down, exactly what she had said and what she had meant. The why behind it though had him confused. Who was this girl?

"I have to go," the girl stated, shaking her matted head as she continued backing away from him. An apologetic grimace was set on her face as she walked even further away from the confused Son. She paused for a moment, staring at him hard. "You won't have much time before they come," she warned. "When they do, do not fight them. They'll overpower you and in the end, all you'll do is get yourself hurt. Don't show them what you can do, ever. It doesn't matter what they threaten you with, do not show them your power. Once they know what you can do, they know how to kill you. Do not show them your power!"

Reid stood in shock as the girl fiercely warned him, against who he didn't know. He stood rooted to the spot in the dark alley, watching as the girl turned and fled. After a few moments of watching her go, he took off after her.

"Wait!" he yelled, sprinting after the mysterious girl as she weaved between the parked cars of Spencerites. She just ignored him and if it were possible, sped up even more. Reid let out a string of curses and flew after her. "For fuck's sake, I just wanna talk!"

Ella didn't stop running as she heard the boy follow behind her, the last thing she wanted him to do. By this time, they had to know she was gone and he would be hot on her trail, if not closing in on her at this very moment. She would not allow Reid to be caught along with her, not when she had escaped to warn him. "Stop following me!" she shouted, not turning around or decreasing in her speed any. She heard him swear again and continued sprinting down the dark road before taking a hard right into the dense forest, hoping maybe there she would be able to lose him.

Sadly, her powers did not include the ability to see in the dark and she soon found herself on the ground, mouth full of mud. SHIT. She managed to throw herself back into a standing position just in time for Reid to come barreling into her, tackling her to the hard ground again. She made a failed attempt to fight her way out of his grasp, but soon found he overpowered her easily. He flipped her on to her back roughly and pinned her arms above her head just as a stick cracked softly somewhere to the left of them. Ella heard it, clear as day but Reid apparently heard it over his loud yelling.

"Who the fuck are you!" he shouted, his face only a few inches away from Ella's own frightened one. Her green eyes were wide and stared almost dully back into Reid's infuriated ones.

She shook her head fervently, trying to wrestle her wrists out of his hands with little success. "You have to let me go!" she yelled, panic plainly showing through as another stick cracked, closer this time. "You have to run! Get as far away from me as you can!"

Reid looked down at the girl below him in utter confusion as she shouted for him to run again. "What do you want with me!" he asked loudly, managing to overtone her own shouts. "Who are you, and how the hell do you know about Jack?"

The girl just looked at him with wide eyes, head still shaking back at forth almost violently. "You need to run, Reid! Run!"

He tightened his grip on her wrists, making her twitch in slight pain though most of her attention was focused on the forest around them. She knew they were out there, waiting for the opportune moment. She needed a distraction, something that would bide Reid enough time to escape back to the others. Maybe, if all four of them were together, he would be safe for the time being. If they stayed together, protected him like she hoped they would, he would have a fighting chance against them. But he had to go back!

"What the hell are you talking about? Run from who?" he asked, his voice lowering to a dangerous tone as his anger turned to a glare of suspicion. "Who's coming for you?" His wide eyes searched hers, trying to find an answer somewhere in the depths of them but found none.

"They aren't coming for me, you idiot! They're coming for you!" she screamed, banging her head in frustration on the ground beneath her. Did this idiot boy not understand what she was saying? Did he not get that she was trying to save him!?

Just as he was about to open his mouth to yell more questions, Reid heard a distinct crack echo through the seemingly empty forest and he felt the girl freeze beneath him. He looked up slowly, searching around the dark trees surrounding them and saw nothing. Looking back at the girl, he saw the pure and unmasked fear in her eyes as she slowly turned her head to the side. She watched as a dark shadow appeared in the distance, making their way in a fast pace towards where she had Reid were laying.

In a last attempted, Ella looked up at Reid with a pleading look, to which he frowned. "Run," she whispered, tears slowly forming in her eyes which only made the boy frown deeper. "Run."

A million things were running through Reid's head as he heard footsteps running towards them, crackling the dead growth beneath them in a way that chilled him to the bone. Something was coming, and it definitely did not sound friendly. He hesitated all of three seconds before he was on his feet, the girl's hand enclosed in his as he ran. He didn't know who this girl was, who's side she was on, of where the hell she'd come from, but he was not going to leave her to whatever was coming towards them. He may be an asshole, but he sure as hell wasn't heartless.

The second the thing following them realized they were making a break for it, it's pace increased and Reid in turn sped up, dragging behind him a frightened girl who had tears streaming down her face. The light from the street was just in sight and he was almost convinced that they would make it to safety when she went down with a scream. Reid turned quickly and stopped, shocked to see the girl no where in sight, blowing leaves where she should have been.

"Oh fuck," he whispered, going to turn around and run but stopped dead at the sight before him just as everything faded to black, a girl's scream echoing in his mind just before everything was lost.

--

Tyler Simms took a small drink of the Pepsi Reid had gotten him before disappearing nearly an hour ago. He felt horrible, acting like nothing was wrong after everything that had happened. He knew Reid hated them all for their behavior, they're apparent memory loss at what tonight was. He knew Reid thought that they didn't care, that they didn't miss her or even remember her. Taking another sip of his soda, Tyler wished more than anything he could forget her face. It plagued him whenever he closed his eyes, her smiling face beaming at him through the black abyss of his mind, mocking him with the pain of her absence.

He slammed his glass onto the bar counter and turned swiftly, heading for where Pogue and Caleb sat with their respective girlfriends, silence hanging over their table. He fell into the only empty seat with a sigh and closed his eyes, trying to push Jack's face from his mind.

"Has anyone see Reid?" he asked, eyes still closed as he rubbed them tiredly with his hand, hoping it would help in ridding her face. It didn't.

Pogue and Caleb shared a silent look, noticing the tired stance of their friend and the loud absence of their other. Caleb shook his head, though Tyler couldn't see it. "Haven't seen him since we got here," he said, tightening his arm around Sarah, who shot him a sympathetic look. She knew what tonight was, what it meant to the boys and to Kate.

"He probably just went back to the dorms, man," Pogue added roughly as he stared intently at the clock on the wall. "You know how he gets, this time of year."

Everyone at the table, even Sarah, knew what Pogue meant by that statement. Everyone knew what time of year it was, what day it was, who's death they were trying to run away from. Everyone knew, but no one wanted to talk about it. It was the unspoken rule, no one spoke about Jack, ever. Even if everyone wanted to, you just didn't. There was no point in bringing up something that couldn't be fixed, couldn't be saved.

Sarah looked around the silent table helplessly, unsure what it was she could do. She didn't know Jack, and only knew what few things she had managed to learn from Kate as she cried herself to sleep the last three days. She knew how much they had loved her, how much they missed her and wanted her back. She felt to helpless, not knowing a way to help them or ease their pain.

"Let's get out of here," she announced, sending each of the group a small, comforting smile.

They all muttered their agreements and as one, stood up and headed for the door. It seemed like everyone in Nicky's stared as the Sons with Kate and Sarah made their way to the doors, each and every one of them knowing what tonight was. Every one knew who's anniversary it was, who had died, and most threw their sympathy to the group before turning back to their respective business.

Tyler called his goodnights to everyone, heading for his Hummer with depression looming over him like an angry cloud. He unlocked the doors with his fob and was about to climb in when he noticed Reid's shiny, gray Volvo still parked beside the Hummer.

Reviews are always niiice! ;) Madiii and Rorrry.