Further On Up the Road
By: A.M. Rosso
Table of Contents
Summary
3
Sam Winchester, Jem Hardchester, Jeff Hardy, Murphy McManus
4
Dean Winchester, Matthew Dean Hardchester, Matt Hardy, Conner McManus
11
Fathers
18
Tobias, Althea, Hammond, Raven
22
What Happened
29
Healing
41
Epilogue
45
Summary:
After getting into a quarrel with their older brothers at the University; Sam, Jem, Murphy, and Jeff mysteriously go missing for two years. After being rescued by strangers they are brought back. Things get really crazy when the younger siblings start to act out of character, seem very distant towards their older brothers, everyone else and only taking comfort from each other and the Lovelock twins, Akatsuki and Alestair. The older brothers sort of know what happened to their younger siblings, but can they make it better or worse? Will their fathers find out what happened to the youngest members of their families in the last two years or will they lose them forever? Why can't Sam, Jeff, Jem, and Murphy remember? Warning: Contains vulgar language, graphic torture, rape, and molestation, so if you aren't mature or don't like reading stuff like this then either skip over and be confused or don't read it at all. Author's note: The main characters are teens, you can pick the age. A/N: I don't own Boondock Saints, Supernatural, the Hardy Boyz, Johnny Cash, or the planet names Magical Starsign (if I forgot to mention anything or one that doesn't belong to me you already know I don't own them)
Sam, Jem, Jeff, Murphy
Jem Hardchester continued to toss and turn on her bed, her nightmare horrifying her more and more as the dream continued. And then finally, after what felt like forever she jolted awake gasping for air. Jem felt a presence in the room and she immediately tensed not knowing why. She let out a whimper and curled up in a ball covering her head with her arms. "Jem it's okay, it's only me." A familiar voice said. She decided to risk poking her head out from under her arms and saw that it was only Jeff. "What…?" She started to ask. "You were having another nightmare." Jeff explained wearily. "Why did you let me fall asleep?!" She asked below a whisper so she didn't wake the others. "Same reason why you let Murphy and Sam fall asleep. You need it." Jeff countered. It was true, she did need sleep. If they were going to continue to deal with this on their own they still had to get some sleep, even if it meant reliving the same nightmare over and over again, having no idea what it meant.
She looked up at Jeff and asked, "Did you get any sleep?" "Yeah, not much, but enough to get by." He answered honestly. Jem smiled sadly at Jeff and broke down and started to cry softly. Knowing she was crying over the nightmare and the fact that they had to keep this a secret from their brothers Jeff had wrapped his arms around Jem and rocked her back and forth trying to calm her down. Excepting Jeff's embrace she buried her face into his chest and continued to sob. Jeff continued to hold her even when she the sobbing subsided. Jeff and Jem had stayed that way until both of them heard a whimper of distress. Jeff turned his head to see who had made the noise knowing it was either going to be Sam or Murphy. It was Murphy who had made the sound, trapped in a hellish nightmare like Jem not to long ago, and both Jem and Jeff were at his bed in an instant trying to wake the distressed Irishman. "Murphy. Murphy! Wake up it's only a dream! Murphy!" Jem shouted. Murphy's eyes shot open fear clear on his face. He was awake, but the dream still held onto him like a vise. He curled in on himself and began to cry out in all the languages he knew, " Prosze nie wiecej. Le do thoil nach bhfuil nios mo. Si prega di non piu. Pozhaluysta ne boleye. S'il vous plait ne. Bitte nicht mehr. Por favor no mas." ('Please, no more') "Murph, it's okay, it's over. It's just a dream." Jeff tried to calm Murphy down, but was getting no where. Mostly because Murphy was refusing to speak English and instead decided to speak in Polish, Irish, Italian, Russian, French, German, and Spanish.
"Murphy, it's okay, you're okay. It's over." Jeff continued to try and comfort Murphy without touching him because he knew that would only make it worse. Flashback… Murphy had woken up from another one of his nightmares and Jeff, Sam, and Jem desperately needed him to snap out of it. So Jeff tried to shake him, but when Murphy woke up he became combative and fought with Jeff until Jeff was able to restrain him, but that didn't solve the problem it only made it worse. "Níle do thoilnach bhfuil!Beidh méa bheith go maith, geallaim! Beidh méa bheith go maith." Murphy sobbed. "Jem what'd he say?" Sam asked helping Jeff to restrain Murphy. "Oh, Murph." She said sadly at what he said. "What?" Jeff asked starting to regret touching Murphy. "He said, 'No, please don't! I'll be good I promise. I'll be good'. Sam, call Alestair tell him what's going on, Jeff, just let him go, I'll talk to him."End of began rocking himself back and forth muttering 'I'm sorries' to no one, but Jeff and Jem knew better. They knew that he was saying sorry to his twin, who wasn't there. "Przykro mi, bracie. Ta me Ta bron orainn, dearthair. Mi dispiace, fratello. Prosti, brat. Je suis de sole, monfrere. Es tut mir leid, Bruder. Lo siento, hermano." Murphy continued his mantra of apologizes for no reason in every tongue he knew and continued the self-gratification behavior. Tears began to leak from his eyes as he sobbed hysterically.
Jeff always hated it when Murphy would slip into hysterias like this; where he would mutter apologize to his brother in several different tongues, it always made it difficult to try to calm the older boy down for he would jump from language to language never sticking to one and only Jem and Conner understood what he was saying, but most of the time even Jem couldn't coax Murphy into calming down. Jem didn't like it anymore than Jeff because she knew it was a habit Murphy had slipped into over these past two years. It was a strange habit, but none of them really seemed to mind because they didn't know why this had become one of the many habits Murphy had. He's only done it once in public, but Conner didn't seem to notice and if he did it didn't seem like he cared. "Why do they still hold a grudge against us?" Jem wondered to herself. Ever since they had come back from the University their brothers always looked at them differently. She had wondered if it was because of the fight or if it was because they had been missing for two years and had no memory of what happened to them. They all blamed themselves for magically disappearing, but they wouldn't blame each other so they all held guilt in their hearts.
"Looks like we're going to have to talk to Alestair later on today." Jem thought grimly. It wasn't that she hated talking to Alestair; she just hated having to try to remember what happened. She looked at Murphy and wished she could take his pain away because she hated seeing her friend who is normally so strong, so vulnerable, so pained, so broken, and all Jem could do was try to coax him out of whatever Hell he was in. Sam had woken up to the sound of Murphy's crying and Jeff trying to calm him down. He looked over and saw that Jem was up as well and by the way her eyes looked she had been crying not to long ago. He also noticed that Murphy had backed himself up against the headboard of his bed, his hands fisted in his hair, and he had obviously changed his mantra from 'I'm sorry, brother' to 'I'll be good, I promise. No more'. Sam looked down at his hands completely lost.
No one knew much had been taken away from them these past few years. No one knew that all four of them were beaten to Hell and broken. No one knew that Murphy was abused sexually as well as physically. No one knew they didn't trust anyone but themselves. No one knew, not even themselves, or so it was assumed. Sam's thoughts on trying to remember were ended quickly by the sound of something hitting wood. He looked up again and saw that Murphy was banging his head against the headboard as hard as he could. It wasn't until Jem had gasped that Sam's concern had grown, had increased a considerable amount. He got out of his bed to see why Jem had gasped and immediately regretted in doing so when he saw the blood.
Sam's breath started to quicken and he started backing up until he hit a wall remembering the message Dean had left him years ago before he started the Apocalypse… 'Listen to me you blood sucking freak. Dad always said I'd either have to save you or kill you. Well, I'm giving you fair warning, I'm done trying to save you. You're a monster, Sam. A vampire. You're not you anymore and there's no going back.' It was getting harder and harder to breathe. "I'm sorry, Dean. 'M sorry." Sam whimpered. Suddenly he heard someone talking to him telling him to calm down. It took awhile for his brain to register that Jeff was the one talking to him and telling him to breathe and the fact that he was now sitting on the ground. After a while Sam's small anxiety attack had stopped and he collapsed into Jeff's arms from exhaustion. Jeff sat with Sam and knew he would stay there for the rest of the night because he didn't want to wake Sam up. Jeff looked over by Jem and Murphy and saw Jem continuing to comfort Murphy. He was very proud of Jem because she was able to get through to Murphy and gradually calm him down and later coax him into seeing Akatsuki because he was the University's physician and was the only man that Murphy would allow to touch him and Jem was now the only woman who was allowed to touch him.
Couple of minutes ago… Jem watched in horror as Murphy began to bang his head against the headboard violently. She started to panic because Murphy had never went as far as hurting himself when his dreams tormented him and she looked at Jeff in complete panic mentally asking 'What do we do Jeff?' Jeff was as equally perplexed as Jem and it wasn't until blood started to show up on the headboard that Jem let out a gasp. "Murphy, stop it." Jeff said sternly. From behind Jeff and Jem heard someone's breathe quickening followed by a thump against the wall. Knowing it was Sam, Jem said to Jeff, "Go try to calm Sam down. I'll try to get Murphy to calm down." "And if you can't?" He asked. "I'll get Akatsuki." She answered hoping she wouldn't have to. "Alright." Jeff replied walking over to Sam and telling him that he was okay. "Murphy, stop it! Please Murphy stop! Goddamnit Murphy stop it!" Jem shouted, her voice breaking towards the end. She tried to break through to her friend, but was getting no where.
Then without even thinking Jem grabbed Murphy and held him close to her chest, bracing herself for any attacks that Murphy might dish out, but none came. Instead Murphy clung to Jem like she was a life preserver. "Pozhaluysta, pomogitemne." Murphy sobbed into Jem's chest in Russian. "Murphy, ta se ceartgo leor, ta se os a chionn. Nifeidir leo gortaitear tu nios mo." She said in Irish. (Murphy: Please help me. Jem: Murphy its okay. They can't hurt you anymore). "Sdelat' ikh ostanovit, pozhaluysta Dzhem." Murphy pleaded with Jem. "Ciii, juz dobrze. Es ist okay. C'est fini. Se acabo." (Murphy: Make them stop, please Jem. Jem: Shh, it's okay. It's okay. It's over. It's over.). The words seemed to calm him down a bit, but not enough to where he was willing to speak English, but at least he was sticking to one language. "Merfi, my dolzhny imet' Akatsuki vzglyanut' na vashu golova." Jem said in Russian trying to talk Murphy into letting Akatsuki check out his head wound. "Net! Net bolinitsy!" Murphy shouted refusing to go to any hospital for any reason. "Eto verno; chto my ne sobirayemsya vbol'nitsuy khorosho? YA pozvonyu Akatsuki I on vstretit naszdes' vse vporyadke?" She explained to him. (That's right; we're not going to the hospital, okay? I'm gonna call Akatsuki and he will meet us here okay?)
"Khorosho." (Okay) He replied in agreement. "Khorosho." Jem repeated looking for her cell. She saw it was on her nightstand and knew that moving wasn't an option because Murphy still clung to Jem like she would disappear if he let go, so she used her telekinesis to bring her cell phone to her, dialed Akatsuki's number, and held the phone to her ear. "Hello?" A tired voice asked. "Hey Akatsuki, it's Jem. I'm sorry to have wakened you and Alestair up, but Murphy had another one of his episodes and this one got pretty aggressive, he pounded his head against the headboard of his bed and his head is bleeding. I don't know how bad it is and Murphy isn't speaking English." She explained. "Jem, it's Alestair, is Murphy speaking in one language or is he jumping from language to language?" "So far he's just been speaking Russian ever since I was able to get him to calm down, but I don't know how long he's going to speak Russian." She answered the fear for her friend clear in her voice. "So Raven didn't make an appearance tonight?" Alestair asked. "Who are you talking about? There's no one named Raven." Jem said. "Give me that, okay, Jem, it's Akatsuki again, I need you to try and stop the bleeding, alright? Find a cloth and keep pressure on it until Alestair and I get there okay?" "Okay." She answered hanging up her phone. She looked around the room and tried to find a cloth to cover Murphy's bleeding head. Spotting one of her bandanas she used her telekinesis again to bring it towards them. "Prosti Merfi, no eto budent bol'no kak suka." She said. (Sorry Murphy, but this is going to hurt like a bitch)
When Murphy didn't answer her at first she worried a bit. "Merfi?" She asked. She pressed the bandana to Murphy's head and heard the hiss of pain on her chest. "Izvinite. Izvinite." She apologized still keeping the pressure on his head. "Jem, what's going on?" Jeff asked still holding Sam in his arms. "Akatsuki and Alestair are going to come down and take a look at Murphy's head. How's Sam?" "He's sleeping so that's good. How's Murphy holding up?" He asked. "He's just speaking Russian, and he's still hasn't tried to hurt me." Jem answered. "Need any help?" Jeff asked Jem. "No, I'm good, stay with Sam. I think he needs all the comfort he can get even if he says he doesn't want it." Jem replied. "Okay."
There was a knock on their door and both Jem and Jeff froze and held Sam and Murphy closer to them; The Lovelock twins are fast but not this fast. "W-who is it?" Jem asked shakily. "It's just us, Jem. It's Akatsuki and Alestair, it's okay." Akatsuki said knowing she would probably freak out over the fact that they got here as quickly as they did. "Come in." Jeff said visibly calm. The door opened and the Lovelock twins entered the room very slowly. "Hey, Jem. Hey, Jeff." Akatsuki greeted. "Hey." Jeff and Jem said in unison. Akatsuki approached Jem and Murphy slowly and carefully so he wouldn't scare Murphy anymore then he already was. "Hey, Murphy. How you feeling?" Akatsuki asked. When Murphy heard Akatsuki speak to him he tensed up instantly and his grip on Jem increased. "Merfi, eto normal'no. Eto tol'ko Akatsuki." Jem soothed. "Akatsuki?" Murphy asked his voice a bit shaky. "Yep, I heard you hit you're head pretty hard tonight, can I look at it?" Akatsuki asked softly sounding like he was talking to a scared animal… that statement might not have been too far off.
After a small nod from Murphy, Akatsuki had Jem remove her hand and her now blood-soaked bandana away from Murphy's head so he could judge how bad the wound is. "It doesn't look like he cracked his skull, just broke the skin. Is he still awake?" Akatsuki asked looking at Jem. "I don't know why? Does he need to be awake?" Jem asked as she lifted Murphy's face up so she could see his face. His eyes were at half mast and he could barely hold his head up on his own. Akatsuki looked in Murphy's eyes and then look at Jem. "He's got a minor concussion so I wouldn't let him sleep for long which shouldn't be hard, but I'll numb the back of his head so that he won't feel anything." Akatsuki explained. "Murphy, Murphy, hey. Murph, you with us?" Jem tried to speak to Murphy in English. "Aye." Was Murphy's tired reply. First word he's said in English all night. Murphy was gradually growing more and more tired, eyelids becoming as heavy as lead. He didn't want to sleep; he refused to sleep, sleeping meant having the same dream over and over again. He didn't know what it meant, but it scared him. Nope, no sleeping for Murphy. He felt something sharp poke the back of his head and flinched as he felt a cool liquid pour into his head.
Murphy made a grunt of protest, and tried to move away from what he assumed was a needle until he felt something vibrating on his face and heard what sounded like singing, but his thoughts were becoming clouded by Jem's voice and the drug. His last conscious thought was that he needed to learn that song so he could put her to sleep as well. After a couple of minutes Akatsuki finished stitching up the back of Murphy's head. "Alright. That should do it. Now, Jem, Jeff, I need you two to wake Murphy every two hours to see if his condition worsens, okay?" Akatsuki asked. "Alright. Thank you, sir." Jeff said. "We will let you know if his condition worsens." Jem added. The Lovelock twins hardly saw Jem's alter ego, Althea, because Jem's usually not pushed in a situation where Althea can make an appearance like Jeff and Hammond, Murphy and Raven, or Sam and Tobias. And to add to it the four of them don't know these alter egos exists.
Anytime they have a really bad episode or tried to think back to two years their other personality would shield them from whatever made them surface. Tonight neither of them were having a bad day or night, but seeing what Murphy was doing to himself was the probable trigger in the end. The Lovelocks watched as Jem and Jeff, or in this case Althea and Hammond, as they both took care of Sam and Murphy; Althea laid Murphy down on his bed lying beside him carding her fingers through his hair anytime he made any noise of distress. Hammond picked Sam up and laid him down on his bed and sat at the side watching over him like a hawk. The twins looked at each other and then headed to their patients' older brothers' room to tell them what happened tonight.
(Return)
Dean, Matthew Dean, Matt, and Conner
Matt and Matthew Dean heard their younger siblings and could tell they were in distress, but made no indication that they were going to go and comfort them. How could they? Anytime any of them tried to touch them to offer some form of comfort they either flinch away or they become combative and then end up making a run for it and hiding. Of course, none of them had it as bad as Conner did with Murphy. Anytime Conner laid a hand on Murphy, he would fight against Conner and whenever Romeo got involved in trying to help Conner calm Murphy down it would only rile him up further until Murphy would just submit and have that glassy and unfocused look in his eyes. Then after a couple of minutes it was like Murphy's personality would completely change. One minute he'd be talking like everyone else and then suddenly he'd be talking in the third person and saying his name was Raven. Then he'd act like he didn't know what the hell you were talking about. Jem, Sam, and Jeff would act the same way; more Jeff and Sam then Jem.
Jeff would say his name was Hammond the Protector of Jeff, Jem, Murphy, and Sam, Sam would say his name was Tobias, but that was all Tobias and that was it, he seemed somewhat awkward, and on a blue moon when Jem's alter ego, personality, or what ever the hell they were going to call it showed up, her name was Althea the Healer. When they asked who or what she was the healer of she's just say that she was the healer of Jem, Jeff, Murphy and Sam, and Murphy's alter personality was Raven, but that was all everyone knew about Raven, except Althea who was always able to coax him into talking to her and she would later give them the information later. All Althea would get out of Raven was that he was Murphy's protector against those who he deemed as a threat. He'd also willingly protect Althea or Jem because it was becoming dead obvious that Murphy had a thing for Jem or maybe it was Raven had a thing for Althea.
It obviously started when Murphy, Jeff, Sam, and Jem came back after they had been missing for two years. The last thing they said to them was to get lost. It tore them all up, but it pretty much killed Conner and Matthew Dean because of how close a bond they had with their siblings. It affected Dean and Matt as well, but not as bad as it had with the others because Jem and Murphy had always been in Matthew Dean and Conner's lives. They were hardly ever seen without the other. Where there was one, the other was bond to be nearby and it wasn't until it had hit the one year mark that Matt and Dean truly began to worry.
Flashback…Two years ago. It had been a year since their younger siblings stormed out of that door and they had yet to return. Conner and Matthew Dean were sitting in their living quarter as usual deeply depressed and missing their siblings. Many people had come and gone trying to help the two distressed teens. Even Dean and Matt had tried to lighten their spirits. "Guys, don't worry, I'll bet the four of them are just hiding out in the woods trying to give us a scare." Matt reasoned. "Yeah, this isn't the first time Sammy's run away from home, he'll keep them safe." Dean added. "Jem's never ran away from home. She's never run away from anything. Something's wrong I know it is." Matthew Dean stated. "Aye, same for Murph. Neither of 'em 'ave ever been far away from us for dis long. Someting's wrong. We need to know what it tis." Conner stated in a flat voice. That discussion was about two month ago and now after a year of their siblings being gone Matt and Dean sit with Conner and Matthew Dean, equally as depressed that their sibling is not here. End of flashback…
Conner remembered the day that Murphy and them were found… Flashback… All four men stared out the window in complete misery wishing that they could see their younger siblings again. Then something strange happened. There was a knock on the door and one of their friends, Shawn, who they nicknamed "Bulkhead", entered the room with a huge grin on his face. Matthew Dean saw Bulkhead's reflection and snarled, "What's got you in a chipper mood?" "They were found. Jem, Murphy, Sam, Jeff. They were found!" Bulkhead said happily. "What? How? When?" Dean asked completely thrown by the news. All four of them began talking at once asking if they could see them. If only Bulkhead had waited to actually see the condition the four younger teens were in, maybe he wouldn't have said, "Yeah, they're downstairs."
The older siblings dashed down the hall, Matt and Matthew Dean running fast than Dean and Conner. They had braced themselves for any type of situation, all but this one. Murphy, Jeff, Sam, and Jem were bloody, bruised, and extremely combative with everyone around them. To anyone else these four would have been deemed as a threat and taken out, but since the older siblings were there they knew that they would be able to help. Conner, Dean, and Matt looked over by Matthew Dean not knowing what to do. Matthew Dean felt like everyone was staring at him and he didn't like that, he knew he had to get Jem to stop fighting with everyone, but he didn't know how he was going to do that without hurting her. Then a thought had dawned on him, he should have done what he failed to do two years ago, talk to her. "Jemantha Neroamee Hardchester!"
Okay, so it was more shouting at her, but it was talking to her nonetheless. It didn't do any good, if anything it made her and the other three more combative. "Jem, Jem, it's me, it's Matthew Dean. Remember?" He tried again. "No you're not. You can say you're him all you want, but you're not him and you never will be!" Jem growled at Matthew Dean, she stopped fighting for a moment. "Jem look at me." Matthew Dean tried. "Just stop being him! You can be anyone else, just don't be him! Just stop it! Damn you! Damn all of you!" Jem snapped. "Jem just calm down, okay? No one is trying to hurt you." He said cautiously advancing towards hers. Jem didn't seem to notice Matthew Dean until he accidentally tripped over his own feet and collided into her. The position Jem was in made her lash out at everything in sight. "Get off me! Get the hell off me, you bastard! Get the hell off!" She screamed thrashing wildly trying to break free.
Matthew instantly detangled himself from his little sister, but the damage was already done. Jem was on her side fighting unseen forces whimpering in pain. Matthew Dean looked to see how Matt, Dean, and Conner did with their siblings. Jeff had taken a defensive stance and prevented Conner getting anywhere near his twin brother, who at the time was being held back by Sam, Murphy was threatening to beat people's faces in and it wasn't until he had heard Jem's whimper he stopped and approached Jem's now still form. "Hammond, Althea's awake." Murphy said. "What are you talking about?" Dean asked. Sam let go of Murphy who then walked over to Jem. "Althea?" Murphy asked the now conscious girl. "Raven?" She asked. The four would have probably talked more, but while they were distracted Bulkhead, The Lovelock Twins, and another one of their friends, who they nicknamed 'Budweiser' were able to successful sedate Jem, Sam, Murphy and Jeff. What the hell? End of Flashback…
"What do you hear?" Dean asked Matt and Matthew Dean. He didn't exactly like associating with supernatural beings or trusting them, but if he had a way he could still keep an eye on his brother without him knowing he'd use it. "Murphy, he sounds pretty hysterical." Matt answered. "How bad?" Conner asked at the mention of his twin. "I don't know what he's saying, but unless my Russian is failing me I'm pretty sure he's apologizing to you." Matthew Dean said looking at Conner. "Oh, Murph." Conner said sadly. "What's Sam doing?" Dean asked. "So far he's only sleeping; Jeff, Murphy, and Jem are awake. Sounds like Jeff and Jem are trying to calm your brother down." Matt said. "Sam just woke up. What the hell?" Matthew Dean asked. "What?" Dean asked. "Do you hear that banging noise, Matt?" Matthew Dean asked. "Yeah." He replied. "What? What banging noise?" Dean asked in worry.
"It's Murphy, it sounds like he's banging his head against something. Jem and Jeff are getting panicky. But I don't know why… oh, shit." Matt started. "What?" Conner asked in worry. "Now it could be anyone's, but I'm not the only one smelling this right?" Matt asked looking at Matthew Dean. "Smell what?" Conner asked. "No I smell it too." He replied. "Smell what?!" Conner yelled. "Blood. Lots of it." Matthew Dean said. "It's Murphy's." Matt said. "No there has to be a mistake." Conner said starting to panic. "It will always amaze me how your sister doesn't try to drink anyone's blood." Matt said to Matthew Dean. "WHAT?!" Conner yelled. "You didn't know?" Matt asked. "Know? Know what?" Conner asked getting more and more confused. "Jem and Matthew Dean are vampire werewolf hybrids, Matt's a vampire, and Jeff's a werewolf." Dean said. "What?" Conner asked. "Conner look, we're not like other vampires and werewolves…" Matt tried to explain. "Stay the fuck away from me!" Conner snarled at Matt. "Dude we're not going to hurt you." Matthew Dean tried. "Dude, you've been with us for how long? We thought you knew…" Matt added. "I said stay away!" Conner said pulling out his gun. "Damnit Dean, this is why we can't have nice things!" Matthew Dean shouted. "What?" Dean asked. Matthew Dean, Matt, and Dean pull out their guns. "Conner, put the gun down! Put it down!" Dean yelled. "Put the gun down, Conner!" Matt yelled.
Suddenly there was a knock on their door. Everyone stops dead in their tracks. "Who is it?" Dean asked. "It's Akatsuki and Alestair. May we come in?" Alestair asked. Everyone lowered their weapons and Matt went to go and open the door. "Hey, guys." Alestair said. "Hey, guys." Akatsuki repeated. "Hey." Matthew Dean greeted. Everyone else kind of nodded their heads as a way of acknowledgement. "He found out didn't he?" Alestair asked. "Find what out? Dat me brother is currently sharin' a room wit' two monsters?!" Conner snapped. "He's okay. Cracked his head open, but other than that…" Akatsuki started. "What?! How?!" Conner demanded. "Well, based on what Jem told us she said that Murphy had another episode and it got pretty violent. He ended up banging his head against the headboard on his bed." Akatsuki explained. "How bad was it?" Conner asked through clenched teeth. "Nothing a few stitches couldn't cure." Akatsuki explained. "But?" Dean asked sensing something was off.
"Well, we don't know for sure if Raven or Tobias made an appearance, but Althea and Hammond defiantly showed up tonight." Alestair said. "What did they say?" Matt asked. "Well, it was after I had treated Murphy I told them to wake Murphy every two hours to see if his condition worsened and Jeff had said "Alright. Thank you, sir." And I forget what Jem said, but it sounded more like something that Althea would say." "Is that it?" Dean asked. "Yeah. Althea and Hammond are pretty tightlipped about what happened to Sam, Jeff, Jem, and Murphy these past two years, Tobias speaks little to none, and don't even get me started on Raven." Alestair said. "Okay, I'll bite. How does Raven act when it's brought up?" Matthew asked. "He gets pretty violent with Alestair when it's one-on-one, but he's pretty well behaved in group." Akatsuki said. "Why is that?" Dean asked. "Because Raven doesn't want to hurt Althea. I've notice that both Althea and Tobias act like the conscience and voice of the group. They make sure that Raven doesn't try to hurt me or my brother." Alestair said. "How?" Dean asked. "Usually with Raven, she uses the fact that Murphy has a very strict moral compass and that breaking any of his rules would destroy him." Akatsuki explained.
"What is Hammond to the group?" Matt asked. "If he feels that Sam, Jem, or Murphy are in any danger he puts himself between whatever it is that he deems dangerous to them. Including us." Akatsuki answered. "And dey still don't remember wha' happen to 'em?" Conner asked finally calming down a bit. "They're all still suppressing the memories and it comes to them in nightmares. It's because of the nightmares they usually don't sleep a whole lot, but they have this subconscious feeling that they need to prove themselves to you and gain your approval again." Alestair said. "So they really think we still hate them?" Matthew asked. "Sadly yes." Akatsuki said. "Well, it's kind of hard to prove you still care when they don't let you anywhere near them." Dean snarled at The Lovelocks.
"Dean, you have to remember that they were brutally tortured mentally and emotionally. And Conner, you know that Murphy was raped repeatedly and given yours and Murphy's religion, and I'm not trying to sound disrespectful because Jem will probably kick my ass if I do, homosexuality is not something the Church accepts. So maybe in his mind being violated the way he was is preventing him from speaking to you about what happened or even remembering." Alestair explained. "What's preventing the others from remembering what happened to them?" Dean asked. "If we had to guess we'd say it was the repetitive blows to the head, but unless one of them tells us what happened or even remembers that's all it will be, a guess." Akatsuki said. "Do your fathers know about their sons' and daughter's conditions?" Alestair questions.
"No, and we don't plan on telling them. Well, not now at least." Dean said. "I don't see why they shouldn't know." Matt said. "Aye." Conner agreed with Matt. "Have you met my father? He loves Jem, but if he hears that his daughter got the hell beat out of her he'll only push her more and she was already fucked up to begin with. If our dad pushes her anymore it'll be the Bake Sale all over again." Matthew Dean said. "What do you mean?" Dean asked. "Two years ago, before our huge fight, their was a bake sale going on and our father, Bobby, and myself tried to get Jem to do it because even though we've excepted the fact that she was a tomboy we still wanted to see if she had any femininity in her, so we continually badgered her about it. At one point I actually told her she would never get a man if she didn't know how to cook. Yeah, I'm a great brother. Anyway, she must have taken that to heart because for two nights straight she didn't sleep at all. She was as shaky as a leaf and just on edge. Well, that's the story my dad goes with. He wouldn't let her sleep until she baked something properly. What was worse was I didn't even know. So when we went to Bobby's house and I woke up to find Jem staring at me with wide eyes, I was more than a little confused.
I looked at her and I'm not going to lie I was kind of pissed off at her for waking me up so I snarled at her, 'Jem, it's 4 in the morning why are you up so early?' She had this confused look on her face, but the confusion quickly turned into anger and she started berating herself saying shit like, 'Up so early? I haven't been to bed yet. I haven't had any sleep whatsoever! I can't do it Matty, I tried but I can't. All these ingredients and stuff that I don't know about like big spoons and whisks. And these direction are so confusing. And how do you fold an egg?! I tried it twelve times, it's witchcraft!' So, I'm watching her and I ask her, 'Jem are you okay?' Then she stops her little ranting and just bursts into tears and looks at me and says to me, 'Matty, I did something wrong.' And I asked her, 'What did you do Jem?' She looks at me and says, 'I burnt the cake. I tried Matty, I really tried.' What gave away the fact that she was sleep deprived was that she referred to me as 'Matty' and she hasn't called me that since she was ten in human years, her mood swings since she wasn't having her period, she was worried about getting in trouble for burning the cake she was baking, and well, she stated that she hadn't gotten any sleep. And when I finally got a good look at her and she was wearing one of her Celtic dresses that she only wore when she had to, so that sent out some red flags." "What happened after that?" Dean asked.
"Well, Jem's crying finally woke our dad and Bobby up and they walked into our room and found Jem now hugging me sobbing. My dad takes one look at her and just very pissed off asks, 'What the hell is her problem?' Hearing his voice made her grasp on me increase as well as her crying. I just send him a look that's kind of like, 'Really?' and I say to him, 'Jem tried baking a cake, and long story short she burnt it.' He looks at me and asks, 'That's what she's crying about? Burning a cake?' And I see Jem look at Dad and snarl, 'I tried baking the stupid cake you wanted me to make. Couldn't leave me alone could you? Did anyone bother to ask me if I even wanted to do this? No they didn't. No one ever ask me what I want.' Bobby notices the sudden change in Jem's behavior and slowly approached her and asked her what was going on and her expression softened and she says to him, 'I can't do this, Bobby. You, Dad, and Matthew were right, I'm not feminine and I'm just going to die alone.' And Bobby's just like, 'Jem, you and I both know that that's not true.' She totally denies it and after arguing with her for ten minutes she falls asleep. So yeah, I don't want my dad finding out." Matthew Dean said.
Fathers
Mr. Winchester, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Hardchester, and Mr. McManus sat with Akatsuki, Alestair, and Abraham, the University's headmaster, in Abraham's office. This came to be when the Lovelocks had come back from Matt's, Dean's, Matthew Dean's, and Conner's room deciding to ask Abraham if they should tell the fathers what had happened to their youngest child. Two hours ago… Abraham was in his office correcting papers when he heard a knock on the door. "Door's open." He said looking up to see who it was. Both Lovelocks walked into the room and stopped just a few feet away from Abram's, Abraham's name for short, desk. "Sir, can we talk to you about something?" Alestair asked. "What is it?" Abram asked. "Well, you know about Jem's, Murphy's, Jeff's, and Sam's condition right now, right?" Alestair asked. "Actually I need to talk to you guys about Jem's behavior in class. A lot of her teachers have reported her getting into fights with other students just for touching her. She's single- handedly hospitalized three students and two teachers and with Murphy, Sam, and Jeff they've managed to hospitalize twelve other students and three teachers. Please tell me that what your about to tell me will explain their behavior." Abram said.
"Actually it does, sir. And the students and teachers I've treated some what know why they did what they did. And we're going to be more honest with you then we were with them, you remember when Jem and the other were missing? Well, we're convinced that they were kidnapped and tortured for two years nonstop. They had managed to escape and where picked up by some stranger who found them barely conscious by the road. The people who dropped them off told Veles 'Lucky' Porter and Volos 'Face' Porter that when they asked them if there was someone they could call Jem kept saying 'Zippy, Bipsy, Scooter, Sly, (911)-850-6542, Tell… Pretty Girl call.' When Simone, Simon, Victor, and Edward got on scene the strangers were trying to stop the bleeding while trying to wake Jem, Jeff, Sam, and Murphy up so Zippy, Bipsy, Scooter, and Sly, who are paramedics as you know help stop the bleeding and then got them loaded up into two ambulance trucks the Reso twins had Murphy and Jem and Grutter and Chesterton, or Victor and Edward had Jeff and Sam. When they had gotten to the University it was then that Jem, Murphy, Jeff, and Sam had woken up and the rest you should know." Akatsuki explained.
"How bad?" Abram asked. "They had a lot of broken bones, lacerations, bruises, burns, and some internal bleeding, Jem alone had a broken leg, arm, four ribs, internal bleeding in her stomach, a black eye, her right leg was burnt pretty bad, and welts from a belt tattooed her back. The boys were equally as banged up as her, but one of them was raped." Akatsuki stated. "Who Jem?" Abram asked. "No, it was Murphy." Alestair spoke up this time. "How could you tell?" Abram asked. Akatsuki explained in gruesome details how he knew that Murphy was raped and the other weren't and the extent of the foursome's injuries and the other personalities. It was then that it was decided that the fathers should know about what happened to their children. End of Flashback…
"Abram do you mind telling us what this is all about?" Mr. Hardchester asked. "It's about your kids." Abraham said. "Oh, damnit, what'd Jem and Matthew do this time?" Mr. Hardchester asked. "No, you misunderstand me, Mr. Hardchester; I'm not talking about Matthew Dean. I'm talking about Jem, Jeff, Sam, and Murphy." "What's wrong with Jeff?" Mr. Hardy asked. "What happened?" Mr. Winchester asked. Mr. McManus continued to stare at Abraham with unreadable eyes. "As I'm sure you know, Jem, Sam, Jeff, and Murphy had gone missing two years ago…" Abraham started. "No, both Matthew and Jem failed to bring this to my attention." Mr. Hardchester said. "So did Sam and Dean." Mr. Winchester added. "Matt's called to my attention." Mr. Hardy said. Abraham looked at Mr. McManus for some form of a 'yes' or 'no'. He only nodded his head and said, "Aye, Conner tol' me. He seemed to leave someting out, dough." "Okay, well, they were kidnapped and tortured for two years, by who we don't know, but Mr. Winchester, Mr. Hardchester, Dean and Matthew Dean didn't tell you for their own reasons. And Jem and Sam didn't tell you because they don't remember." Akatsuki explained.
"Why don't they remember?" Mr. Hardy asked. "They took severe blows to the head; from the looks of things I'd say a pipe. Now, luckily it didn't cause any severe brain damage; they're only suffering from some amnesia and traumatic brain injury. So far only Murphy and Sam have had one seizure, Jem and Jeff are still at risk. Especially Jem since she didn't take her anti-seizure medication for two years, it's a miracle that she's still alive." Alestair explain. He told the fathers everything he and Akatsuki knew about what happened to their children based on tests they ran, which wasn't much, but didn't tell them about Murphy being raped. John Winchester, Gilbert Hardy, Noah McManus, and Gilbert John Hardchester had rage and despair on their faces. "Is that all?" Gilbert John asked containing his anger. "No, I wish it was, but it ain't. You see, one of your boys was raped while they were missing… repeatedly." Alestair said worried about how the fathers would react. John and Gilbert get concerned and continuously asked if it was their boy who was raped.
"It twas Murphy wasn't it?" Noah asked. Alestair and Akatsuki stared at each other in complete confusion. "How did he know? Did Conner tell him?" Akatsuki and Alestair thought to themselves. "It 'tis Murphy isn't it? Conner tol' me Murphy was hurt, but he hadn't told me it was dis bad." Noah said. "Yeah, it was Murphy. I'm sorry, sir." Akatsuki said. "Why? You had noting to do wit' it." Noah stated. "It is a habit; I don't usually deal with fathers who can remain calm even after hearing what my brother and I have told you. I've been Jem's doctor ever since the Hardchesters moved to the University so I'm relatively used to just about every reaction he and Matthew Dean pull when Jem is injured and in a critical state." Akatsuki explained. "So in other words you're used to Dean and myself as well?" John asked. "Yes, it's more of Mr. McManus that I'm concerned about." Akatsuki said worry laced in his voice. Noah must have detected Akatsuki's uneasiness. "And why is dat?" He asked.
"Sir, you and your boys are vigilantes. As are Mr. Hardchester, Matthew Dean, and Jemantha. I've seen the gears in those boys' heads turning. They're not going to just sit around and let the cops figure out who did this to their siblings. Believe you me when we say this; they will not stop until they find out who did this and make them pay." Alestair explained. "The only problem with that is most of the men who did this to them are dead. There was a body count of twelve bodies all found dead and mutilated, but the others must have managed to escape because Jeff can hold off about twenty people single-handedly, Jem can hold off about eighty, and together they can hold off hundreds of thousands of people. But I looked over their toxic levels and they were practically drugged up to their eyeballs with varies tranquillizers and muscle-relaxers. Oh, shit. I gotta go and take this; Althea, Raven, Hammond, and Tobias just surfaced." Akatsuki said "If you're going I have to go to." Alestair said. "Whoa, wait, who are Althea, Hammond, Raven, and Tobias?" John asked. Akatsuki and Alestair look at each other before sighing. "Follow us." Akatsuki said walking out.
Alestair, Winchester, Hardy, Hardchester, and McManus follow Akatsuki down the hall in silence. "This has something to do with our children doesn't it?" John asked breaking the silence. "Why the hell do they have to be so observant?" Alestair thought to himself "Yes, it does. This is the other reason why they don't remember; for some reason or another they have developed a second personality. The second personality is a defense mechanism to protect them from remembering. However, some of the personalities act very different from your children; Murphy for example…" Alestair started. "Wat about Murphy?" Noah asked. "Your sons are generally kind people and would never hurt anyone who didn't deserve it, correct?" Akatsuki asked. "Aye." Noah said knowing he wouldn't like what he was going to hear about Murphy. "Well, sir, Murphy's alternate personality's name is Raven and he's not called that just because of his hair. Raven pretty much represents Murphy's dark side, the side that is extremely aggressive, but has a protective streak over Althea, Jem's personality." Alestair explained.
"What is Jem's personality?" Gilbert John asked. "Both Jeff and Jem are like the group's leaders, always looking out for Sam and Murphy. Jem is the healer and Jeff is the protector." Akatsuki added. "You never explained to us why they have their names." John stated. "You mean their alter egos?" Alestair asked. "Yes." He replied. "Jem's alternate personality's name is Althea meaning 'Healer' or 'Wholesome', Jeff's alter ego's name is Hammond which literally means 'protector', Sam's other personality's name is Tobias which we're pretty sure means either 'innocence' or 'awkward', and we've already talked about Murphy and Raven." Alestair explained. "And these personalities are the problem preventing them from remembering?" Gilbert asked. "Yes that is correct." Alestair said. "We might be able to get them to talk to us. We might be able to get through to our kids." John offered. "We don't know how their personalities will react to you and Raven is already hostile towards Akatsuki and I, the only reason we're still here is because of Althea and Tobias. Those two try their best to keep Hammond and Raven from trying to kill us, but Jem and Sam will only get so far until Jeff and Murphy lash out at them." Alestair explained. "I really hope it's nothing too serious and that Raven is just being overprotective of Althea." Akatsuki thought to himself as they walked down the hall.
Tobias, Althea, Hammond, and Raven
As the group continued to walk down the hallway it was becoming pretty clear to Akatsuki and Alestair that the chances of this being a normal 'Raven's being too over protective of Althea' persistently to diminished. They continued listening for what they were dealing with, but only Gilbert John and the Lovelocks could hear from as far as they were. "John, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's Latin, right?" Alestair asked sending a telepathic message to Gilbert John. He listened to the voices that were speaking far away from normal hearing range for humans. "Vos es populatio vestri tempus, mortalem spumae puteus 'nunquam dabit in!" (You're wasting your time, mortal scum we'll never give in!) Gilbert John heard what sounded like Jem. Gilbert John looked up at the twins and nodded.
The fathers that were human noticed the twins and Hardchester's behavior. All three stopped and tensed up. The Twins and Hardchester sensed the others tense up and in turn stopped as well. The moment in itself was slightly awkward, and John only made the situation tenser when he drew out his gun. "Hey! Hey! Hey! There's no need for that!" The Twins yelled. "What the hell did you just do?" He asked refusing to put down his gun. "Well, we didn't want to sound crazy because why would you believe anything we say then?" Alestair asked. "They were asking me if that was Latin they were hearing. You guys can't hear it because you're humans." Hardchester explained.
"So you're telling us you're all vampires?" John asked. "No… well… yeah… in a sense, but my brother and I aren't vampires, we're vampire werewolf hybrids." Alestair stated. "And I'm just supposed to believe you?" John asked. "Look, John, you, Hardy, and McManus can believe what you want, but we're telling you the truth." Akatsuki said. He knew that as soon as John found out that him, his brother, Jem, and Matthew Dean were vampire werewolf hybrids and that Matt, Jeff, and Jem and Matthew Dean's father were either a vampire or a werewolf he'd kill them, but Akatsuki and Alestair were more terrified of what Jem and Murphy would do to them for lying, or more so Althea and Raven. So they did what they thought was best and that was being honest about who they were. "And what about you?" John said pointing the gun at Gilbert John. "I'm a vampire, and before you try to rip us a new one, we don't attack humans, hell Jem use to make sure we didn't."
The conversation was cut short when Badwila Falcons, a werewolf, and Tacito Orazio, a vampire, came running towards them. "Alestair! Akatsuki! They're at it again!" Badwila shouted. They finally approached the group of men. "Raven and Althea are having another episode." Tacito said. "What? How is that possible, they were fine a couple of hours ago." Alestair stated. "Yeah, a couple of hours ago, you boob. Are they with anyone else?" Akatsuki asked. "Uh, yeah, they're with Hammond, Tobias, and their older brothers…" Badwila started. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hammond and Tobias surfaced as well?" Alestair asked. "Yeah, Tobias and Hammond are trying to talk Althea down and Conner's trying to restrain Raven…" Tacito began when he hard Murphy shout, "Otpusti menya! Pozhaluysta, ya budu Khorosho, ya obeshchayu! Pozhaluysta, otpustite menya!" (Let go of me! Please I'll be good I promise! Please let me go!) "Come on, we'd better go help them. Murphy's probably got no idea what's going on and is freaking out." Alestair said. He stopped the minute he heard John's gun cock. "You three are not going anywhere near my boys nor their boys." John stated sternly.
"Oh, my God, are you seriously doing this right now?" Akatsuki asked. "Dude, it's not like Matt and Jeff are any less innocent as Jem. Matt's a vampire and Jeff's a werewolf." Badwila stated. "You idiot! We weren't suppose to tell them!" Alestair said smacking Badwila upside the head. "I knew." Gilbert piped up. "What?" Everyone said looking at him. "I know that Matt's a vampire and Jeff's a werewolf. Matt told me a year after Jeff had been missing." He stated. "So you're sons are of the supernatural and you don't find that odd?" John asked. "Oh, yeah, 'cause Sam and Dean weren't part of the supernatural." Alestair said. "What do you mean?" John asked. "John, Sam used to be psychic and had limited telekinesis. And then Dean became a temporary vampire." Alestair said. "The Hardchesters and the Hardy Boyz wouldn't hurt anybody unless they were defending themselves." Akatsuki explained. "Now, they have proved to us time and time again that we can depend on them, now we need to return that favor." Alestair declared.
"I've got my eyes on you all." John said looking at the Twins, Hardchester, and the two students that had shown up moments ago. And then finally after what had felt like an eternity John put away his gun. "Alright, now that that's settled. Let's go figure out what triggered Althea, Raven, Tobias, and Hammond to resurface." Akatsuki said. "Alright." Everyone said in unison. With that said the group, minus the students, continued walking down the hallway getting closer and closer to Jem, Sam, Jeff, and Murphy. When they approached the siblings it was a very enraging sight; it looked as though Dean and Matthew Dean were beating the hell out of their younger siblings, while Conner and Matt held Murphy and Jeff back and made them watch. "Get your hands off Tobias!" Hammond (Jeff) ordered. "Can it, Hardy." Dean snarled. What happened next pretty much terrified just about everyone, both Althea and Tobias grabbed Dean and Matthew Dean by their throats, and threw them on the ground.
Once said 'brothers' were on the ground Althea had all but leapt up onto Matthew Dean, drew out her claws from inside her knuckles, and just began to rip and tear his face apart. Whereas Sam just began to beat Dean's face in until he couldn't recognize his face. None of the fathers knew what to do. Althea had approached Matt and grabbing him by his hair threw him against the wall and shouted, "What have you done with their brothers?!" "Nothing." He replied coldly. "Tell me now or I swear I will do far more worse to you then what I did to the men who tortured and tormented these four." She threatened. Akatsuki and Alestair stood shocked, hoping that Althea would elaborate, but she didn't. "What could you possibly do, Althea? You're a doctor, a healer, and you took an oath. You can't hurt me." 'Matt' teased. "Yeah, but in the words of Dr. Keller, 'First I need a patient'." Althea snarled. She stabbed 'Matt' in the stomach once. "Where are their brothers?!" She snarled again. At this point, Hammond, who had been released the minute Althea slammed Matt against the wall, grabbed 'Conner' and slammed him against the wall. "Where are they?" Hammond asked after Althea, his voice spewing venom.
"We're all here, my darlings." 'Conner' replied in a manner familiar only to the four teens. Everyone in the room noticed how Tobias, Althea, Hammond, and Raven tensed at the words. Their masks had cracked and fear was written on their faces, but it was replaced quickly with a deadly rage that no one ever thought possible existed except for the Devil himself. Something inside the four teens snapped at that moment. Hammond got out of Raven's way and let him deal with the man posing as his brother. Althea did the same for Hammond as she approached her 'brother' and continued to claw viciously at the man's abdomen. Hammond had shapeshifted into a werewolf and tore Jeff's 'brother' apart. Raven and Tobias took out their knife from their pockets and continued to stab 'Conner' and 'Dean'.
Everyone watched in shock as they saw the alter egos kill who they thought were Sam's, Jem's, Jeff's, and Murphy's older brother. Once again, none of the fathers knew what to do. Several times John tried to get involved, but the Lovelock twins always stopped him, telling him they had to be doing this for a reason. It wasn't until three of the now blood soaked teens stood up and Hammond shifted back to another blood soaked teen and stood up as well did the Lovelocks let go of John. The eldest Winchester ran and dropped to his knees in front of his 'son'. "What the hell did you do that for?!" John demanded. None of them answered; instead one by one they bowed their heads.
Raven was the first to speak, "And Shepards we shall be. For Thee, my Lord, for Thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand. That our feet may swiftly carry out Thy command. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee. And teeming with souls shall it ever be. In nominee Patris, et fili, Spiritus Sancti." Hammond and Tobias were the next to speak reciting the "Hail Mary". Althea was the last and final person to speak, "God our Father, Your power brings us to birth, Your providence guides our lives, and by Your command we return to dust. Lord, those who die still live in Your presence, their lives change but do not end. We pray in hope for our families, relatives and friends, and for all the dead known to You alone. In company with Christ, who died and now lives, may they rejoice in Your kingdom, where all our tears are wiped away. Unite us together again in one family, to sing Your praise forever and ever. Amen."
The four teens then dropped on their knees and said in unison, "O Lord, Jesus Christ, Redeemer and Savior, forgive my sins, just as You forgave Peter's denial and those who crucified You. Count not my transgressions, but, rather, my tears of repentance. Remember not my iniquities, but, more especially, my sorrow for the offenses I have committed against You. I long to be true to Your Word, and pray that You will love me and come to make Your dwelling place within me. I promise to give You praise and glory in love and in service all the days of my life. Amen." And just as they finished the prayer they passed out on the floor. "Hey, what's going on? We heard shouting and… what the hell happened here?" Matthew asked looking at the bloody remains. "Dean?" John asked in disbelief. "Yeah. Dad, what happened here?" Dean asked. "Well, to put things in simpler form; their alter egos showed up, these guys posed as you guys, somehow Raven, Hammond, Tobias, and Althea knew, killed them, they each said a prayer, then they said a prayer at the same time, passed out, and here we are." Alestair explained. "What'd they do that for?" John asked. "Something Murphy and Jem would do. Sam and Jeff were showing their respects." Akatsuki explained.
"Jem!" Matthew shouted running over to his unconscious sister. "Sammy!" Dean shouted after. "Jeff!" "Murph!" Each brother approached their younger sibling. "Oh, my God. Jem, what happened to you?" Matthew Dean whispered as he looked at his blood covered sibling. Jem's eyes slowly fluttered opened. "Matt?" She asked her older brother. "Jem, you with us?" He asked gently. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. What did I do?" Jem asked in a high pitched whine when she saw the bodies and her friends. Her nose started to bleed from the overexcitement which made Jem freak out even more. "Shh. Jem, it's okay. You didn't do anything wrong; you, Sam, Jeff, and Murphy were just trying to protect each other." Matthew soothed. "B-but I killed you. A-Althea killed you, I-I saw her do it." Jem replied obviously shaken up. "That's because those were the men that hurt you, my Darling." A voice replied. "Murph?" Conner asked looking down at his twin. "No. I'm sorry Conner, but Murphy's sleeping right now. My name is Raven. I'm your brother's "alter ego" as Alestair has labeled and I'm the side that knows what happened to him." Raven explained. "They don't remember because they wouldn't remember until all the men who hurt them paid." Althea added sitting up.
"Are Hammond and Tobias awake, Althea?" Raven asked, too weak to get up. "Yes, Raven, we're awake. Aren't we, Tobias?" Tobias nodded his head. "We're sorry for not telling you, Lovelocks, but their wounds were still fresh and they weren't in any condition to tell you what happened to them. Not without them living their lives in fear all the time. I know that they're tough, but even the toughest people have their breaking points. Like Jem and the bake sale, Matthew. Or when Sam got a faulty message that he thought was from you, when really it was from an angel who doesn't exist." Tobias said. "Tobias, how come you've never talked with us as much as you're talking with everyone now?" Alestair asked clinically. "You wanted one of us to tell you what had happened to Jem, Sam, Jeff, and Murphy. And anytime you tried to change the subject we all knew you would just revert back to trying to get us to tell you about what had happened. So we made a plan." Tobias explained. "What kind of plan, Tobias?" Akatsuki asked. "Raven and I have been kind of lying to you in a sense." He answered looking at Alestair. "What do you mean you and Raven have been lying to me?" Alestair asked now sitting next to Dean and Tobias. With the help of the older brothers and Alestair all four teens were leaning against the hallway wall. "Now, what's this about a plan you guys had and what do you mean by Zachariah doesn't exist?" Dean asked.
Althea looked over at the teens she was sitting next to and then at the people in front of them. "Well, for starters, Zachariah and Balthazar are not angels. A human cannot turn into an angel. Zachariah was a prophet and Balthazar was one of the Three Magi. Secondly, we knew that it was either tell you then and completely damage their psyche, or tell you when we knew they were gone. And by 'they' we mean the men who tortured them. Our plan had originally started when Alestair Lovelock was assigned our psychiatrist. We knew that in order to make sure you were not fully focusing on what happened, was to make you think that Raven was a complete hothead and that he would murder you if you so much as looked at him wrong and Tobias acted like he was shy and awkward, so he pretty much was himself unless you piss him off. Hammond and I just refused to speak about it, but we actually did kind of tell you what happened to them. We were just very cryptic about it. I know Tobias said it before, but I will say it again, we are sorry we did not tell you what we knew, but we were just looking out for them like you guys." Althea said looking at the older siblings. "You guys seem to know a lot more than a regular alter ego." Dean stated. "That's because they're not." Akatsuki said. "What?" Dean asked. "Of course why didn't we see this earlier? It was so obvious! No wonder the names sounded so familiar to us!" Alestair said happily. "What?" Dean asked still confused.
"Althea Vonavel, Tobias Taali, Hammond Lyik, and Raven Laria were the very first vampires and werewolves to ever live on Shadra Althea and Raven were husband and wife and Hammond and Tobias were friends with them. So more vampires and werewolves came to live here and in the rest of the Baklava Solar System, but the mortals just couldn't leave us alone. So they came and took the four who had lived here the longest; Althea, Tobias, Hammond, and Raven. We never saw them again, until now anyway." Alestair explained. "How did you get into their bodies anyway?" Akatsuki asked. "We had asked for their permission. Their body, their rules, ya know? Once we explained who we were they said agreed to it, but it took a while to get them to say yes. And before you ask Winchesters, yes we can get out of their bodies, but we need something to inhabit. It can be something as simple as a virtual world if need be." Hammond explained. "Alright, we'll put you guys in a virtual world, but will they remember?" Akatsuki asked indicating the four teens. Althea gave a nod, and Raven said, "They will remember everything, but it would be wise if you let them know that you do not hate them. We know that you don't, but they think you still do."
"Will there be any damage done to them mentally after you leave their bodies?" Dean asked. "No, all they will remember is what happened to them and when they go back. They will not remember what we have done here while we inhabited their bodies, so you will have to fill in some of the gaps for them." Althea explained. "Also, they won't wake up the minute you have us leave their bodies. They'll wake up in maybe two days after we leave and they will be very clingy with you guys for the first couple of weeks most of the time, so don't get surprised if they want or need one or both of you to stay with them." Hammond added. "Oh, and before we forget, don't separate them, they've been each other's safety net for two years so until they're ready, keep them together." Tobias added. "Okay, let's get going." Akatsuki said. And with that the group went into alternate universe room, said good-bye to the four legends, put them in one of the universes, and took the four teens to the infirmary wing of the University so they could rest.
What Happened?
Two days after Althea, Tobias, Hammond, and Raven left; Jem, Sam, Jeff, and Murphy finally woke up in complete panic, but their fathers and brothers were there to let them know that they were still loved. Older siblings had asked their younger siblings if they remembered anything that happened to them the last two year. Each teen had reacted the same way, but Sam and Jeff hadn't reacted as badly as Jem and Murphy who like everyone else cried, but the crying soon turned into heart wrenching sobs. Murphy once again apologizing to his brother in all the tongues he knew and Jem, who was being held by Matthew Dean, began slapping and hitting her brother's chest telling him to stop pretending to be her brother and that he and the others weren't real. Alestair was about to step in and give Jem a sedative to calm her down until Akatsuki stopped him. "Drugging her won't solve anything. It'll only make it worse." He warned.
Only a couple of hours later did all four teens get riled up, Murphy cowering away from Conner while Sam and Jeff begged Conner to hurt them instead while Jem made threats at Conner, like everyone around them was out to get Murphy. The fathers left the room completely lost as to how to deal with their youngest. After a while Jem, Sam, Jeff, and Murphy wore themselves out and fell back asleep, leaving the older brothers to brew over what they had said earlier. Each brother still had their younger sibling in their arms lying against them. For a while no one spoke because really, what could be said? What could any of those four have said to one another that could help jumpstart the healing process? Fortunately for them Matthew Dean was the first speak, "This is all our fault. We did this to them." "No, it isn't. We didn't know that they were going to be taken and tortured for two years." Dean said not quite ready to fully accept the truth just yet. "No, but we might as well have taken them and beat them ourselves." Matt said, knowing where Matthew Dean was coming from. Dean shook his head.
"Dean, you heard them. They were pleading with Conner to take them instead of Murphy and Jem was pretty much threatening to kill Conner if he hurt Murphy. We all know that Murphy was raped, but how many times did it occur?" Matthew Dean stated. Conner sat silently, not getting involved in the "This was all our fault, but we're going to deny it" campaign. It didn't take a genius to figure it out; if they hadn't picked a fight with their younger siblings they wouldn't be here for the reason they're here, so in a sense it was their fault. "Don't ya four worry. We're going ta make it up to ya guys. I swear on it." Conner vowed in his head to the four younger teens. "Okay, here's what's going to go down; when they wake up, if they aren't aggressive and violent like today then we'll see about acting like big brothers for once and hope that they aren't gone forever. Got it?" Matthew Dean said. "Fine." They agreed.
Sam, Jem, Jeff, and Murphy had woken up the second time today, clinging to their brothers the entire time like Hammond had said they would. It was at this time the older brothers tried to get some food in their younger siblings since they hadn't eaten in a while, and this would be the easiest time for them to sneak food down their younger siblings' throats. Matthew Dean was able to get Jem to drink some synthetic blood and a small bit of rabbit and some fruit, Dean was able to get Sam to drink some water and saltines, Matt was able to get Jeff to down some water as well, and a bit of rabbit, and Conner was able to get Murphy to drink some water and half a piece of toast. Once the four younger teens finished eating they fell asleep again against their brothers. When the older boys were sure that the teens were in a deep sleep they inwardly sighed. A couple of minutes later the fathers walked in. "How're they doing?" John asked Dean. "They're getting better. It's not much, but it's something." Dean replied. Someone knocked on the door. "Hey, Matt. Hey, Matthew." The voice said. "Hey, Angel." Matt said. He didn't use Angel's codename since he only remembered half of the Scrapping Shadrians', a group of vampire-werewolf hybrids, codenames. "Hey, Zorro." Matthew Dean answered as well.
Many people considered Angel DeShaney to be odd because just from touching a person's skin he could see what happened to that person on the sidelines and was able to touch another person and have them see what he was seeing, but Matthew Dean and Jem loved Angel as they did all the Scrapping Shadrians and hybrids. "I assume you all know what happened to Jem, Sam, Jeff, and Murphy, yes?" He asked. "Yes, Akatsuki told us." Gilbert John answered. "I was informed by Silverfox's older brother that I needed to show you guys what happened to them." Angel explained. "Why? Who's Silverfox?" John asked. "In order for you to truly be able to help them, you need to know all that happened to them. I am merely following orders, you do not have to see what happened to your loved one, but in order to help them it would be advised." Angel explained. "We'll do it." Matthew Dean answered for his father and himself. "Same here." Matt replied. "If it'll help Sammy, then we'll do it." Dean answered. "Aye, we're in." Conner said. "Alright, but I will warn you that all emotions you've ever had will surface on this day and you will feel uncomfortable, but you will understand better and will be able to help them more." Angel explained. "Angel, these are our little brothers and sister, their youngest sons and daughter. None of us are backing down. Show us what happened to them." Matthew Dean said. Angel nodded his understanding and lightly touched each of the four younger teen's arms and mentally took the fathers and older teens to two years before any of this happened.
In Sam's, Jem's, Jeff's, and Murphy's brains… Each person looked around and saw that they were no longer in the infirmary wing of the University, but outside. "Why are we here?" John asked. "Get lost!" They heard four familiar voices shout. It was at that moment older siblings know what this was. This was the argument they had with Sam, Jem, Jeff, and Murphy before they were gone and those were the last words they had said to them before they went missing. "Can they see us?" Dean asked Angel. "No, we are merely observers, they cannot hear us, and they cannot see us." Angel explained as the younger siblings stormed off past them. Without saying anything everyone followed after them. They had walked for miles and miles on end never fully reaching them, but always about a mile back. When the group had finally caught up with them Jem was already letting her emotions show, she cried because in her mind Matthew Dean didn't want her around anymore. The boys wanted to blow some steam and vent, but decided against it knowing that it would just upset Jem more. "I'm sorry guys; you must think I'm a total wimp." Jem said sadly. "No, we don't think that, Jem. I think you're the only girl we know that can easily hang upside-down, blindfolded, and still assemble and disassemble any gun." Sam said smirking. Jem smiled a sad smile back, but it was a smile, nonetheless.
"How're you guys holding up?" Jem asked minutes later. "Okay, we're still pretty pissed off, but when we get back maybe when all of us have cooled down we can talk about this like level headed people." Jeff replied. Sam looked up at the sky to determine what time it was. "Hey, guys, it's getting late, should we be heading back?" He asked. "Yeah, don't want to worry the mother hen." Jem said jokingly. The three boys laughed at her joke, got up, and headed for home, which in this case was the University. Once again the group followed after the four in the direction they were going, but the group was behind the four about six miles because let's face it, John, Gilbert, and Noah are getting older. As they continued to catch up with the younger teens, everything around them began to change and turned into what appeared to be a warehouse. Twelve men stood around the four teen, who had been taken moments ago, sneering one of them said, "Oh, look, it's one of the Hardchesters, Jem. The female, the weak one, the rebel." Jem spat blood in his face. "What the hell just happened?" Dean asked. "Blood spit, it's something Jem uses to knock back enemies and you don't want to be on the receiving end of it because that feels like an eighty pound medicine ball hit you." Matthew Dean explained. "You bitch! I'll make you pay for that!" The man Jem spat on said.
He smacked her hard across the face. A hand print imprinted itself on her cheek. "You hit like a nine year-old girl." Jem sneered. Matthew Dean smirked. Even when Jem was at the mercy of complete strangers she still had the balls to talk shit about them. "What do you want?" Sam had piped up. All the men there looked at Sam and gasped in amazement, "We did it. We've caught a Winchester. And it's the Winchester we wanted." "The master will be very pleased with us; we've caught one of the Angels, the Saints, the Hardys, and the Winchesters." "Who are the Angels and Saints?" John asked. "That's the name Jem and I have been given by the media. We're the Angels of Death to criminals. So are Conner and Murphy, both of us are seen as vigilantes, but our job is an actual profession around here." Matthew Dean explained. "What are we going to do with them?" One of the men asked. "Break them, make them our slaves, kill them, doesn't really matter much to me." The leader said. "We'll break 'em to the point they'll wish they were dead." One of the other men stated. "You do realize we can hear ya, right?" Murphy asked.
The men stare at the four teens and back at each other. The leader approached Jem and grabbed her by her hair. She yelped in pain and Matthew's instincts shouted for him to get involved, but he couldn't, this was the past and he wasn't seen, all he could do is watch. "I think we'll use this crossbreed slut for pleasure, I hear that she's still a virgin and since virgins are the tightest thing it'll feel good." The leader said already cupping one of Jem's breasts brushing past her nipple. Jem tensed under the man's hand, her breath quickened, and her body reacted. The leader's hand traveled down to Jem's pants and slid in past her boy shorts. The three boys became angered by what the leader was doing to Jem and what he was going to do her. "No! Take me! You leave her alone! You can use me!" Murphy shouted instantly refusing to see or let anything bad happen to Jem. "Oh, Murph." Conner said when he realized that Jem was originally supposed to be the one who was raped, and that Murphy took her place. "Why?" The leader asked who was still on Jem. "I'm not gonna le' ya destroy her. You take me instead." Murphy said looking at Jem. "No, take me!" Jeff shouted not wanting Murphy to get hurt. "No, me!" Sam piped up. "No, don't take any of them! You have me, I'm not letting you ruin their lives because you're horny." Jem said as tears leaked from her eyes.
The leader smirked at the four teens who just said they'd either take or stay in their place. "No, I'm going to take the Saint up on that offer, you have no experience." The leader said getting off of Jem and advancing towards Murphy. "No, you keep your hands off of him, you hear! I'll kill you, you bastard!" Jem threatened, but not moving at all. The leader continued to advance towards Murphy, grabbed him by wrist and practically dragged Murphy to the back of the warehouse. A couple of other men followed soon after and the room was filled with Murphy's screams of agony. While this was happening Sam and Jeff crawled over by Jem to cover her up and while Jeff put himself between the men and Jem, Sam helped Jem pull both her boy shorts and jeans back up. Jem clung to Sam and her breathing began to pick up again. "Jem, I need you to calm down." Sam said gently. "No, this is my fault, it should be me in there not, Murphy! Conner's gonna kill me for letting this happen to his brother!" Jem replied. "Jem, this isn't your fault." Sam said. "Yes it is." Jem responded. Guilt rushed into Sam's heart as he heard Murphy scream another time. "No, it's all our faults, if we hadn't have picked a fight with our brothers we wouldn't be here." Sam argued. The sound of bone hitting flesh echoed through the room. "You think you're better than me, you little bitch?!" A voice shouted from the room. The screams soon stopped as did Jeff's, Sam's, and whatever part that was still alive from Jem's heart.
The leader walked back out of the room with Murphy, clothes were ripped, Murphy was sweating from his eyes, and he reeked of blood. It wasn't until Murphy was thrown at the teens that they notice he wasn't very responsive either. The young Irishman lay on the ground completely catatonic and shaking. The men all left the teens with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a medical kit. "Murphy? Murphy, can you hear me?" Jem asked lightly shaking the teen. There was no response. "Jem, you've worked in every job field known to man, right?" Sam asked staring at the back of Murphy's jeans. "Take out prostitution and you've hit the nail on the head. Why?" Jem asked. "Do you know what it means when someone is bleeding from the anus?" Sam asked not taking his eyes off Murphy. "Usually means that there's some sort of tearing. Why do you… Jeff, get me the med kit now!" Jem ordered when realization set in. Jeff got up and grabbed it and handed it to Jem. Praying to God that the men who took them at least gave them medical supplies to treat each other.
The men were nice enough to leave medical supplies in the kit along with a box of latex gloves. "Okay, if either of you have a soft stomach at the sight of blood or whatever, you need to suck it up and deal with it because I'm gonna need both of you to help me. Jeff, hand me those latex gloves, Sam, I need you to help me take Murphy's pants and boxers off and then I need you to hold him still and talk to him. Keep him calm. I very much doubt he's gonna want anyone touching him, let alone in the area I'm going to be touching, so as I said before; I need you to hold him still and keep him calm. Jeff is there a flashlight in there by chance?" Jem asked after giving Sam his job. "Yeah, will you be able to see how bad the tear is?" Jeff asked Jem. "Jeff, I've been a surgeon since I was eight, this isn't a coin toss, and I need you to hand me any tools I ask for. You guys know your roles?" Jem asked. Both boys nodded. "Let's get to it then." Jem thought to herself. The observers stood in amazement. "She's been a surgeon since she was eight years old?" Dean asked. "Jem's not stupid, she learns quickly." Matthew Dean replied.
The teens went right to work; Sam and Jem easing Murphy out of his pants and boxers and Jeff waiting for Jem to order tools, but of course if it was going to be this simple, then the four teens would have been able to get out of there under a year, but it became very obvious that life has a tremendous sense of humor. Because life didn't think that it was stressful enough for Jem, Sam, and Jeff to treat Murphy's injuries, it thought that making Murphy freak out to the treatment would do it. The proof being that the minute Murphy's boxers were off, Murphy had begun to panic, his breathing picking up. "Murphy, Murphy. It's okay, Jem's not going to hurt you. She just needs to see if you're injured." Sam said. Okay, so he sort have lied to Murphy, but he didn't full out lie to him. Jem would never even dream about hurting Murphy and she was seeing how bad the tear in Murphy's anus was, not that he was going to tell Murphy about that last part. For once in Jem's life she actually cursed her usually outstanding eyesight and smell. It wasn't that her vision and nose were poor, if only that were the problem; it was that she could see and smell the combination of the crimson blood of Murphy and the leader's semen on the young Irishman. A little part of Jem broke right then and there because she felt like she was responsible for this happening to Murphy, but she would deal with her guilt later, right now she had to tend to Murphy's wounds and take the role of the protector because she wasn't going to allow Murphy and the others to get hurt.
Angel spared Conner the rest of the examination and fast forward to a little over a month. Each teen was attached to some device of some sort, in some sort isolated room, or just hooked up to something in general. One of the teens was wrapped up in a clear latex-like sheet with egg-shaped metal object over their head. Now, given that the chest was sticking out a bit more than a normal guy, it wasn't that hard to deduce that it was Jem and she was crying, another one was strapped down onto a table with a cloth covering their face and the men poured water over the cloth making the teen struggle, the blond hair that stuck out of the rag said that this was Jeff, another teen, Sam, was trapped inside what looked like an isolation tank and looked like he was on the verge of having an anxiety attack, and then there was Murphy, who wasn't in the room. Conner assumed he was being raped again, but for once he was happy he was wrong because Murphy wasn't being raped, but a different kind of torture was being done to him. Murphy was blindfolded, tied to a chair and the leaders held a gun, not pointed to Murphy's head, but close enough to hear the blanks. Everyone's blood boiled at the sight of the four teens.
"Wha' are dey doin' to 'em?" Conner asked. He knew that they were being tortured, that much was a given, but he didn't understand what forms of torture were being dished out. Understanding what he was asking Matthew Dean said, "They're torturing Jem, Sam, and Murphy psychologically, depriving Sam and Jem of their senses and torturing Murphy by mock execution. They're torturing Jeff both physically and psychologically by waterboarding him. Now, normally short-term sessions of sensory deprivation are described as relaxing and conductive to meditation, but extended or forced sensory deprivation can result in extreme anxiety, hallucinations, bizarre thoughts, and depression. A mock execution is a stratagem in which the victim, in this case, Murphy, is deliberately, but falsely made to feel that his execution or that of another person is imminent or is taking place. It may be staged for an audience or a subject who is made to believe that he is being led to his own execution. This might involve blindfolding the subjects, making them recount last wishes, making them dig their own grave, holding an unloaded gun to their head and pulling the trigger, shooting near, but not at the victim, like in Murphy's case, firing blanks. And then finally we have the waterboarding, now in case you haven't pieced this together already; waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over cloth covering the face and breathing passages of an immobilized captive, causing the individual to experience the sensation of drowning. Waterboarding can cause extreme pain, dry drowning, damage to lungs, brain damage from oxygen deprivation, other physical injuries including broken bones due to struggling against restraints, lasting psychological damage, and death. Adverse physical consequences can manifest themselves months after the event, while psychological effects can last for years. The term water board torture appears in press reports as early as 1976. The captive's face is usually covered with cloth or some other thin material, and the subject is immobilized on his/her back. Interrogators pour water onto the face over the breathing passages, causing an almost immediate gag reflex and creating the sensation for the captive that he is drowning."
"And you know this how?" Dean asked a bit concerned. "Dude, you're not the only one to be brutally tortured. I know half the stuff I know because it's either happened to Jem or me, we've used on others to get information, or both. As a form of training our father would deprive us of our senses of smell, sight, and hearing." Matthew Dean explained. "Wouldn't Jem be use to the sensory deprivation then and any other form of torture they dish out?" John asked. "Jem has not been tortured with everything, only certain things. These men had stalked Jem for days; it was sheer luck that they got Sam, Jeff, and Murphy. And Jem knew how long her father would deprive her of her senses, she doesn't know with these men." Angel explained. "That explains so much and yet so little." Gilbert John said. "What don't you get?" Matthew Dean asked. "Jem knows how long I deprive her of her senses, so why did she nearly go catatonic?" Gilbert John asked his son. "She can't help but feel like she's where she was two years ago." Angel answered the eldest Hardchester. "How do you know all this, see all this?" Dean asked curiously. "Angel can understand what's happened to a person just by touching them, the last time they were all catatonic from one of their episodes Angel tried to coax Jem into telling him what happened, but it was Althea who was showing him everything that happened. I didn't believe that Jem had another conscious in her head; I thought it was just a personality." Matthew Dean explained. "So he needs the person's consent to see into their minds?" Dean asked.
"Not really. He's an empath like Jem, and when Jem isn't around to help with the victims, whether it is because she was catatonic from an episode or she was too out of it to focus, DeShaney here would take over. They're both like Rogue from the X-Men; only in DeShaney's case he feels their emotions." Matthew Dean explained. "So when did these other people's conscious get in their heads?" Matt inquired. "At the end of year one. I will show you." Angel replied. The group fast forwarded to the end of the year with all the younger teens huddled close together; Jem seeming to be holding the three boys close, especailly Murphy who was shaking. Their clothes already torn, bloody, and grimy, their hair a mess, and faces full of blood, dirt, and sweat. They looked horrible. They watch as Jem looks up and talks out loud to nobody. "No, you stay the Hell away from us… I don't care! I've already failed to protect Murphy, Jeff, and Sam from these bastards; I'm not adding you to the list of thing I couldn't protect them from!"
"Can you help Jem and I watch out for Sam and Murphy?" Jeff asked the air. "Who are you talking to?" Sam asked in a childish manner. "Althea and Hammond, they'll willing to help us get out of here if we help them." "How?" Sam asked the air too. "Fine, but I swear, any of you go against mine or their moral beliefs or try to take over I will not hesitate to end you, got it?" Jem asked, more like told the air. Three clouds of white smoke came out of no where and entered the boys' mouths, while blue flames quickly consumed Jem, never burning her. Both flames and smoke were gone as were the four teens. Angel decided now would be an okay time to the fathers and older siblings that the younger members of their family were avenged.
The four teens, or more so Althea, Hammond, Raven, and Tobias; devised a plan in order to escape from this hellhole. More men showed up this time, most of them were armed, but none of it seemed to phase the teens. As one of the men made a move to pierce Jem's heart, Murphy came and grabbed the man's hand. "So, bitch boy thinks he can stand up to us now, huh? Get the Boss." The man said. "You poor clueless son of a bitch. When we're done with you, we'll make sure you never hurt a single soul every again." Murphy, Raven really, replied in Shadrian. "W-Who are you?" The man asked, even though he had a feeling he knew the answer. "We are your worst nightmare, you cowardly bastards." Jem, or Althea answered in same language as Raven. "You're dead, all four of you. You're dead, we killed you!" The man protested in fear. "No, you didn't. You thought you did, but you're new at this killing vampires and werewolves thing, aren't you?" Hammond answered in Razenian. "You're a werewolf, she's a crossbreed, and the other two are humans, how can you be vampires and werewolves?" Another man asked cockily.
"True, but see, we know you know that we are not the four teens you kidnapped. It's their bodies yes, but they're all sleeping right now, which gives us enough time to avenge the crimes you have committed against them. Hammond, Tobias, Raven, shall we begin?" Althea asked. The three boys nodded. "Althea! The doors!" Tobias shouted. Althea raised Jem's arm and shut all the doors. "Sorry, but you're not going to escape us that easily." Althea replied darkly. At that moment the four got up and killed everyone in the room, they then made their way upstairs, tying up the Boss and killing the rest, not knowing four had gotten away before they got up there. "Please…" The Boss started. Hammond laughed coldly. Matt felt a shiver run down his back at this thing controlling his little brother. "Please what? Please don't hurt me? Even though I raped you're friend please don't kill me?" Hammond snarled. Connor flinched at Jeff, well, Hammond's words. "Woman, please you can stop all…" The Boss had started, but was silence when Althea smacked him across the face. "What about the teens? These children whose bodies we temporarily inhabit, when they were crying, begging you for you to stop, when they were screaming in agonizing pain, what did you do? What did you do?! Look at me." She snarled at him. The Boss looked away from her. "Wrong choice, buddy." Matthew Dean said, knowing what would happen next.
The action only sent Althea into a deadly rage. "You bastard, you look at me and you tell me what you did!" She shouted as she punched the Boss across the face. "Nothing. I did nothing." The Boss replied in pain. Anger surged through Tobias, who stabbed The Boss repeatedly. The action frightens the others slightly, never seeing Tobias act in this manner. "Tobias stop! This isn't what we were taught!" Hammond said restraining Tobias. "Let me go Hammond, he must pay!" Tobias argued thrashing against the smaller man. "Tobias, Dean wouldn't want this, Sam wouldn't want this, if you don't stop you'll be breaking the deal and Althea will have to force you to leave this body and then kill you. Don't put her through that, Tobias. She had to watch you and Raven die once, she can't do it again." Hammond said. Listening to reason and knowing he'd hurt Althea if he continued, he stopped.
Raven approached the dead and now mutilated body and said the McManus family prayer knowing Murphy would have said it if he was here. "It's over. For now." Althea said. "What do you mean, Althea?" Raven asked curiously. "Four of the men have already escaped, no doubt to another hideout, waiting to strike again. We can't let them remember any of this until this is over." Althea stated. "How are we going to do that, my dear?" Hammond asked. "We temporarily erase it from their conscious, we can't erase it from their subconscious though, that would be going against the deal, and we can't have that." Althea explained. "Are they going to be alright?" Tobias asked, concern replacing his anger from moments ago. "The horrors they've experienced for the past two years will come to them in nightmares. Raven, the bodies you and I inhabit for now will have the worst reaction with people and will be confused as to why Sam and Jeff are the only ones they allow near them. We will stay with them until all of the men who hurt them pay. We'll have to lie to whoever is assigned their case until we find the men and make them pay for their crimes. Agreed?" Althea asked. The three boys nodded. "Let's get out of here, the sooner we get them home, the sooner the men will come, and the sooner we can end them and leave their bodies." Tobias said. "Sam wake up?" Raven asked as the four teens limped out of the building to the side of the road. Tobias made a move to answer, but they all passed out at the side of the road.
"About three hours later a couple of strangers saw them laying at the side of the road, and you should know what happened from here." DeShaney said. "Damnit!" Matthew Dean yelled wanting to punch something. "Matthew, calm down…" Gilbert John started. "Calm down? Calm down?! Are you kidding me?!
Did you not see what those sick bastards did to them?! Don't you care? We did this to them! We sent them away! We pretty much handed them over to these guys." Matthew Dean said, his voice growing more and more quiet with each sentence. "Ni raibh se do locht, dearthair." A voice spoke in Gaelic. (It wasn't your fault, brother.) "Jem? How on Earth are you in here?" Matthew Dean asked. "You've been hopping from mind to mind. Merely seeing what their subconscious minds remembered. This last bit is what Jem remembers." The image of Jem replied. "Then how do we help them?" Dean asked. "Honey, you don't need me to tell you that, you four already know. Angel, I think it's time for them to depart, their waking up." The image said before simmering out of existence.
Back in the Infirmary… The older siblings and fathers woke with a start. "Matty?" Jem asked in a childish manner. Given that she and the others were vulnerable at the moment it made them easy to read and know what was wrong, or in Matt's and Matthew Dean's case, allowed them to read Murphy, Jeff, Sam, and Jem's mind. "They hate us.""They've seen how weak we truly are!" "They won't want us anymore." "They hate us." The younger teens thought. Shaking their heads, Conner, Matt, Dean, and Matthew Dean hugged their younger siblings tightly. "We don't hate you guys, Jem." Matthew Dean replied tearfully. "We let this happen to the four of you, we failed as older brothers." Dean added, finally allowing the truth to set in. "No." Murphy replied shaking his head against his twin's chest. "What?" Dean asked curiously. "Net, ne vasha vina. Nikogda ne vasha vina." Jem replied in Russian. "What did she say?" John asked. "She said, 'No, not your fault. Never your fault'. Jem, it was our fault. We picked a fight with you guys and if we didn't then you would have been taken." Matthew Dean said.
"And if we'd had fought harder Murphy wouldn't have been raped and we wouldn't be afraid around our own family." Jem countered. "You guys did the best you could." Matt explained knowing what they meant. "Our best wasn't good enough." Jem stated her voice breaking. "You guys were going against a swarm of creatures, vampire, werewolves, and humans, you couldn't take them all." Dean said trying to ease the guilt. "That's no excuse, Dean. We should have been able to defend ourselves, or at least I should have." Sam argued. "We all should have been able to defend ourselves, Sam; we all take the blame, not one person." Jeff said. "This is going to take a while." Matthew Dean thought to himself.
Healing
"Guys you can't blame yourselves for what happened back there." Matt explained. "Matt, you and the others saw in our minds what happened back there. I let Murphy get raped because I was thinking about myself…" "No, Jem, je me mets entre les hommes et parceque je savais qu'ils allaiet te faire de mal. J'ai fait mon choix et je ne vous blame pas." Murphy replied finally speaking. (No, Jem. I put myself between those men and you because I knew they were going to hurt you. I made my choice and I do not blame you.) "Yes, but Murphy, if I'd have fought harder against that man…" Jem tried to argue. "He would 'ave had other men join in and possibly get ya pregnant and ya'd be a teen ma. Not ta mention STD." Murphy countered. "Yes, but you also ran the risk of getting STD's and infected." Jem responded. "Well as far as we know I didn't contract anyting and da only infections I had were in me wounds from beatins." Murphy answered. "You still scared me Murphy. I worried. I worried about you and Sam and Jeff, I thought you were going to die and I would be alone. Every time they raped you Murphy and every time they beat Sam, when one or the both of you would pass out from the pain I was afraid it would be the last time. That you had died! Whenever you passed out, Jeff, along with them I begged. I begged Death to come and claim me, but he never did." Jem said beginning to sob.
Matthew Dean knew that crying always helped Jem heal with anything tremendously painful. So he let cry her heart out. He held her tightly as sobs racked through her body, but they never tampered, they only grew into howls, muffled in her brother's now tear-soaked shirt. Murphy gently pulled away from his twin, the need to help Matthew Dean comfort Jem was strong. "Shh, Jem, it's okay." He said running his fingers through her hair. "I could have lost you guys. I don't want to lose you. You're the only one who saw everything along with me." Jem said in between sobs. At this point the three younger boys' eyes started tearing up because they all held that same fear Jem had. They were afraid of lose each other. "We're sorry, Jem." Jeff said. Jem and the other three hugged each other, and as their knees buckled sunk to the floor hanging onto each other as they did and as they sobbed apologizes to one another for causing such worry and fear. The older brothers, the fathers, and the Lovelock twins watched the display before them.
After a while Jem, Sam, Jeff, and Murphy calmed down and fell asleep on the floor due to exhaustion. "Should we move them?" Matt asked. "Jem will wake up no doubt, and so will the others. Given what happened to them, I wouldn't be surprised if the four still had to share a room. Any touch will probably wake them and spook them." Matthew Dean stated. "I don't want them to wake up in more pain then they are already in." Dean said. "Okay, we'll wake them and have them moved to a bed. If they want to be near each other, we'll let them." Matthew Dean said. "Or we could take four mattresses, put them on the floor, and let them sleep on the mattresses on the floor." Dean said thinking ahead, knowing moving his not so little brother and Matthew Dean's not so little sister would take work, especially if they were uncooperative. "Good idea." Conner said knowing where Dean was coming from.
Dean lightly tapped Sam shoulder causing the entire group to jump at attention. "Wha?" Jem asked sleepily. "Come on, we're just moving over to a more comfortable spot, it's okay. Sam, Jeff, and Murphy will be right with you." Matthew Dean answered as he and Dean gently dragged Jem and Sam to the mattresses while Jeff and Murphy were carried. Every now and then Murphy would whimper in fear or search for Sam, Jem, Jeff, or all three. It broke Conner's heart to hear those noises coming out of his brother, and every time Murphy made a noise Conner would calm him down by telling him it was alright and that he was safe in their native tongue.
Once the four teens were on the mattresses they huddled together like they had those two years. Akatsuki walked up to the group and place a large blanket over their bodies, each teen showing their own content. "This is the only time they seem to be at peace." Gilbert John said gazing down at his daughter. "Only for a while, they'll sleep for three, four hours, one or two of them, most likely Murphy and Sam will fall into a nightmare waking the others. At that point let us deal with it, I know you guys have been taking care of us all your lives and you want to make amends with us, but you have to be patient. It's only a miracle that Sam and Murphy aren't afraid of me or Jeff." Jem stated. "We were with them when this happened. What they should have done was 'divide and conquer'. Pit Sam and Murphy against you and me, promising the winners that they would go free after the other two were dead." Jeff said looking at Jem.
"I thought you guys were asleep." Matt said. "We were until you guys started talking just now." Jem said as she and Jeff sat up. Jeff looked over at Conner. "What are you shaking your head 'no' for?" He asked. "Murph wouldn't kill Jem. We have a rule; no women, no children. She's a woman, sorta." Conner answered. "What are you two doing up?" Dean asked. "The torture that happened to us never ended, not even at night." Jeff replied. "We were always paranoid, thinking they would came back and kill one of us in the night. So, we would take turns sleeping at night, but soon it was Jeff and I stayed awake most of the nights because Sam and Murphy are humans and they need sleep, whereas it's not required for Jeff or me, but it is necessary if we want to function correctly. That form of torture, 'sleep deprivation' was all on us and our paranoia." Jem said.
A whimper was heard from Sam and Murphy tossed and turned on the mattress. "I got Murphy, you got Sam?" Jeff asked. "Yep." Jem agreed. The older siblings and fathers watched as Jeff and Jem sprung into action. "Sam, Sam, it's just a dream. It's just a dream, Sam. You're safe." Jem said softly as she rubbed her hand up and down Sam's arm. "Murphy? Hey, man, it's me, it's Jeff. You're safe. They can't hurt you anymore." Jeff replied, but made no move to touch him. Both Sam and Murphy jolted awake, each slamming Jem and Jeff into the mattresses. "It's okay, guys. It's okay. Sam, Murphy, it's okay, it's just us! It's okay." Jem replied quickly. "Shit, you guys okay?" Sam asked letting Jem go. Murphy followed in suit. "Sorry." Murphy muttered. "You got nothing to be sorry about, Murphy. We know what you've been through." Jeff replied. Jem visibly shuddered and instantly hugged herself. "Jem? Something going on that you're not telling us about?" Gilbert John asked. "No." She answered all too quickly. "Jem, what did you do?" Matthew Dean asked. Jem immediately became transfixed on the floor and sighed. "You know how I can feel what other people feel when I touch them sometimes?" She asked the group. "Yeah why… Jem, you didn't." Jeff said.
The look on Jem's face answered his question. "Jemantha Neroamee Hardchester!" Gilbert John said suddenly causing Jem to flinch. "Dad." Matthew Dean said through clenched teeth. "Jem, what would posses you to do that? Who told you that was okay? Huh?" Her father asked ignoring Matthew Dean's warning. "I did! It was my fault Murphy was being raped, okay?! My fault! I wasn't going to let Murphy suffer alone. They wouldn't let Murphy and I trade places, but I could feel what Murphy felt…" Jem started. "So you punished yourself by also experiencing what happened to Murphy?" Alestair asked. "Yes. It was my fault. I failed as a protector and guardian the moment we were captured." Jem stated sadly. "Jem, you did the best you could." Matthew Dean said. "Wasn't good enough. I should have got the men to focus on me and me alone…" Jem started. "Jem, you can't hold all the blame, I'm a well trained hunter, Murphy's been in enough fights to hold his own, and Jeff is skilled as you. We all dropped the ball on this." Sam stated. "Sam, I've fought vampires, werewolves, and humans alike, this should have been nothing more than a cake walk." "Wait, if what you say is true then how come we never saw it?' Dean asked curiously. "I'm an empath just like Angel; therefore I know how to resist the temptation to pour my soul out. I was supposed to take this to my grave, but I failed at that to, didn't I?" Jem asked laughing humorlessly.
"Jem, you didn't have to do that, what those men did to you was enough." Dean said feeling sorry for Jem. "No, Dean, you don't understand. Anyone can beat me as long as they want and as hard as they want and I won't care, but if you truly want to break me, you truly want me to go insane… You force me to hear someone else's torture or you make me watch. You make sure this person put themselves between me and them so the guilt will destroy me and at that point I will do anything to relieve that person of pain. Matthew, you of all people should know this." Jem said her voice growing soft. Matthew Dean did understand why Jem had done what she had because she had done the same for him when they were kidnapped and tortured for five months. They would beat Matthew Dean whenever Jemantha refused to what they said and vice versa, Jem had blamed herself whenever Matthew got hurt because of her so when he would pass out from the pain she would experience the pain by herself as punishment, when they were found she wasn't in a good place, but it wasn't as bad as the place she was in right now.
"Yeah, Jem I do understand. I know why you did it too; you felt that if you couldn't protect Murphy from those men you'd do the next best thing, make sure he didn't suffer alone, and you didn't want the others to worry so you kept this bottled up like all hybrids would do taking it to your grave. Your little secret. Am I right, Jem?" Matthew Dean asked. Tears began to form in Jem's eyes and as she nodded her head the tears spilled from her eyes. With this new piece of information Murphy looked at Jem for a moment before hugging her and telling her he wished she'd never gone through that alone. "And the healing process has begun." Alestair and Akatsuki thought to themselves.
Epilogue
Five months later… "So how do you guys like it here?" Jem asked. "We love it here, Jem, thank you guys so much for helping us; we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you." Tobias replied. "I don't think we'd be here if it wasn't for you guys either. So I guess we owe you a 'thank you' as well as a 'you're welcome'. Thanks." Jeff answered back. "So how are you guys holding up?" Raven asked curiously. "We're still a little skittish around people, but it's a lot better than before where it was we couldn't be near new people without going into 'combat mode'. The nightmares come and go too, but they're not as bad or intense as the use to either, but enough about the past, we heard from some of your friends that you and Raven are pregnant. This true or are we going to have to punch some virtual people's heads off?" Jem asked jokingly. "Yes, it's true. It's our fourth and fifth child." Althea said. "OMG! Congrats you two! Raven way to go!" Jem squealed in pure delight.
"How far along are ya guys?" Murphy asked. "Five months." Raven said proudly. "Wait, you said fourth and fifth. You guys are having twins?" Jem asked. "Yes, one boy and one girl." Althea said. "Do you already have names picked out?" Jeff asked. "Our son's name is Samuel and our daughter's name is Jemantha. If that's okay with you." Raven said. "You guys, you helped us get out of a really bad place and even stuck with us for a while after we left that place when you could have left us, it is more than okay for you to name your children after us." Sam said. "It would be an honor." Jem added. A light flashed over the four teens. "That's the warning bell. It was fun talking with you guys in the flesh for once. We'll have to meet up again sometime." Jeff said. "How about next weekend?" Althea asked. "Alright we'll check and see. We're comin' will you chill out!" Jem yelled at the sky as the light flashed over them again. "See ya guys real soon. Don't be strangers." Althea said hugging Jem. "Just try and keep us away." Jem replied hugging her back. The boys and men settle for a handshake for a few seconds, but they turned into bro hugs. Stepping back Jem and the three boys stood back and tapped the transporter button on their shirts and brought back into reality.
Sam, Jem, Jeff, and Murphy stepped out of the pods looked at their brothers. "How was the visit?" Dean asked. "It was awesome. Hey are we free this week end?" Sam asked. "As far as we know, yeah why?" Matt asked. "We were going to visit the Althea, Raven, Tobias, and Hammond." Jem explained. "Sure. We'll run it by Abraham and see if it's okay with him." Matthew Dean said. "Hey, do you guys want to actually meet them? They've been dying to meet you." Jeff said. "Sure we'll go with you guys next time you go see them." Matt said. "Now, come on, it's time ta eat and there won't be anyting left if we stay here gabbing away." Conner said knowing everyone would wait. "Okay, race you to the dinner table, guys." Jem said as she started to run to the cafeteria laughing. "Hey, no fair! You got a head start!" Jeff yelled following after Jem. The other two boys followed after Jem and Jeff joining in the chorus of laughter.
The older siblings smiled when they heard their siblings laugh because it had been a long time since they heard them laugh as purely and carefree as they did now. They knew the younger siblings still had a long way to go, but they also knew that one day what happened to them two years ago will be nothing more than a distant memory.
"Where the road is dark and the seed is sowed
Where the gun is cocked and the bullet's cold
Where the miles are marked in the blood and gold
I'll meet you further on up the road."-Johnny Cash Further On Up The Road
