He didn't know if he was dreaming, or seeing things, or just plain insane, but there was no mistaking the figure before him.
It was Simon No-last-name. The last time Ralph had seen him was when he... well, Ralph would prefer to not go into that at this point in time.
"Ralph-"
"I'm sorry," Ralph said, swallowing. Somewhere along the line he'd become emotional. "I'm so sorry-"
"The beast. It's over in the United States of America. You need to collect them and stop it, Ralph! Contact them and stop it!"
He swore under his breath and dropped the pan, getting a disgusted look from a veteran waiter. Roger glared right back and stuck his hands right back into the burning hot water.
"Dressler! Get out here!"
Roger winced, dried off his hands on his shirt, and exited the kitchen, expecting the worst.
Standing in front of him was a tall, undeniably attractive blond boy. He looked remarkably like Ralph - like Ralph that didn't exist, like Ralph from The Island.
"Roger-" the boy started. Roger narrowed his eyes and he stopped. "It's back, Roger. The beast is back and it's killing kids. Simon-"
Oh lord, it was Ralph. Roger took a deep breath and pushed past Ralph and headed for the door. "Dressler!"
Roger ignored the yelling, red-faced man and plowed on, pushing through people until he made it outside. Once he was there he made a beeline for the park he frequented. Usually he spent the time tormenting small children, but this time he climbed a tree, sitting in the little seat made by a few branches.
"Roger!"
Fuck, totally-not-Ralph had followed him. Roger looked down to see the blond idiot looking up at him.
"Aren't you going to help me?"
"No."
"But everyone else - we're going to see everyone else about it! Maurice and Bill and the twins and... and Jack! If you don't come then you'll be missing out! Have you even seen any of those guys since the island-"
Before Ralph could continue his rants Roger slid down from the tree and grabbed the collar of Ralph's shirt and pulled the boy down to his level, noting with some irritation that he was still a full head shorter than the boy.
"The Island never happened," Roger said through gritted teeth. "You don't know me, and I'm going to go home now and you're not going to bother me."
"But Roger-"
Roger let go of Ralph and turned on his heel, stalking in a random direction. It wasn't the way home, but he'd rather lead Ralph around in circles and then spend the night in his tree. It was summer, after all - he'd just had his birthday.
"But don't you miss your friends?"
Roger answered over his shoulder, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. "I don't have friends. I never have. I'm Roger and that's how I am. You can talk about your silly little dream and the reunion that would probably make us want to kill each other, but whatever you're planning on doing, I'm not going to be a part of it."
"But Roger!"
Roger ignored him and kept walking. He heard Ralph's footsteps fade and was actually quite surprised when something knocked into him from the side.
"Hey, Roger. How's it going?"
Earlier that Day...
The girl slapped him and he grinned, rubbing his yet-again-sore face. He'd have to try harder if he wanted to get Gwendolyn Beckett. But it was nearing lunchtime, so he should probably get home and figure out his next plan of attack.
Did he just say attack? No, that was a bad choice of words. He wasn't planning on attacking Miss Beckett in any way but a romantic one, if you know what he means.
Unfortunately, his trip home was interrupted by someone who looked eerily familiar. Being Maurice, he flat-out said that. "Hey, do I know you? You look eerily familiar," Maurice said. The blond boy nodded.
"I'm Ralph-"
Ralph looked like he'd wanted to say more, but he was cut off by Maurice's spontaneous hug. "Hi!" Maurice said after stepping away from his old friend. He did consider Ralph is friend even though Maurice'd helped hunt the boy five years earlier. But, whatever. The past is the past, right?
Wrong.
"The beast is back."
"I thought the beast wasn't real," Maurice pointed out. "That's what you always said, anyway."
"I was wrong. Simon- he- he came to me and told me to collect all of you. You, Samneric, Bill, and Jack and Roger. We're going to the States."
Maurice grinned. "Awesome. Hold on and let me pack."
"I'm going to keep hugging you until you come with us," Maurice decided, clutching Roger tighter. Roger wriggled but couldn't break free.
"Damn," he muttered under his breath. "Fine. I'll hear you out."
Ralph swallowed and began to pace back and forth. To Roger's annoyance, Maurice still didn't let go of him. "See, Simon visited me-"
"Sorry to break it to you, but Simon's dead - Maurice," Roger said as Maurice planted a very sloppy kiss on his cheek. "What is your problem?"
"Don't question him or I'll get even more affectionate!" Maurice said, grinning roguishly. "And you can't even imagine how affectionate I can be. It's like a superpower. I'm Affection Man."
Roger rolled his eyes. "Go on. Not you, Maurice, Ralph."
Ralph nodded. "So, he said that the beast was back. And I think it is. So... will you come with me to get the rest? I've already rented a room for the night, we could all stay there. Roger, do you want to go get some stuff-"
"I'm fine," Roger snapped. He sure as hell didn't want to head back home. It was way too late, and he was pretty sure he was fired from the restaurant. He certainly didn't want to be the one to break that to his parents.
He planned on being well away from here before they found out.
As with every morning, Bill Boudreau woke to his little sister bouncing up and down on his bed, chanting 'Bill! Bill! Bill!'
"Anything exciting happen last night?" Bill asked. Alanna giggled and shook her head.
"No, it's night! We were all sleeping!"
Bill smirked and nodded. He yawned. "'Kay, buzz off. I've got to get dressed."
"Bye-bye Bill!" Alanna chirped. She bounced out of the room and rolled his eyes. When he'd come back from... that place he'd thought his parents had had her to replace him, and maybe they had. But that didn't stop him from liking her.
But, anyway. Today him, Michael, and Nicholas were going to track down that annoying Jude kid. Samuel was his name... or something like that. And they were going to use their brand-new motorcycles to scare him. Life was good.
Weirdly enough, Nicholas wasn't there when Bill showed up. Bill shrugged, parked his motorcycle, and leaned against a tree. He figured he probably looked extremely awesome, as always.
"Bi-ill!"
That couldn't be Maurice. Maurice lived on the other side of London - he'd kept tabs on everyone who'd been at... that place and, weirdly enough, they all lived in London now, albeit far apart from everyone. Bill hadn't seen anyone but Robert since the incident.
Bill turned to see who was calling for him and, sure enough, it was Maurice. Ralph and Roger followed him. Bill sighed. "Maurice?" he called. Maurice nodded.
"I come bearing friends! Ralph's surprisingly nice considering we tried to kill him! And we had to physically force Roger to come here!"
"How do you physically force Roger to do something?" Bill asked.
"I used the powers of affection!" Maurice said cheerfully. "Ralph. Fill him in."
"Let's go get some ice cream," Sam suggested. Eric nodded and followed his brother out the door to the ice cream parlor. As always, Mr. Tribble greeted them with a big smile and a half-priced cone. The Lark twins were some of Mr. Tribble's best customers and he never let them forget it.
They sat down, Sam with his chocolate cone and Eric with his vanilla. It was one of those nice, peaceful moments where you felt that nothing could go wrong. Unfortunately, something did go wrong.
Roger - Roger from that bad place - walked in.
Eric noticed him first and couldn't help but let a frightened squeak out. Sam turned his head and saw the sociopath. When he turned back to Eric his face was paper-white.
"What's wrong, boys?" Mr. Tribble asked, leaning on the counter. Eric swallowed.
"Nuh-nothing," he said. Roger walked a few steps nearer to them, and, to both of the twins' horror, Maurice and Bill wandered in, Maurice's arm slung around Bill's shoulders. Bill looked like he wanted to push Maurice into a pot of boiling water.
Lastly Ralph appeared. It was like they'd planned it so that it would be the most dramatic.
"Ralph needs to talk to you," Roger said, looking menacing as ever. Eric swallowed and the two followed Roger to the small table at which Maurice, Bill, and Ralph were sitting at. Roger gestured for them to sit.
"The beast is back," Ralph said. "And, yes, it's real. I-I'm collecting everybody that's important that was there so that we can fight it. We're going to go across to American on a..."
"Boat," Samneric said together.
"Okay, a boat. We just need Jack."
"This should be fun," Roger muttered under his breath.
Jack threw down the pencil, finally satisfied with the work. Ever since his voice had changed he'd given up on singing, and writing was almost as good. He'd dabbled in everything from poetry to musicals to novels, and at the moment he'd just finished the first draft of a short story.
His mother poked her head into the room. "Jack, you've got some friends that want to see you!"
Jack nodded, resisting the urge to edit his new masterpiece just yet. He should probably get some clothes on, he figured, grabbing a shirt and slipping it over his head.
Before he could get some pants on - Jack found he always wrote better wearing only his underwear - Maurice burst through the door. He stopped, stared and started to laugh.
Jack felt slightly self-conscious.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just expected you to have pants on," Maurice said, snorting. "Come one up guys, he's just not wearing any pants."
"Why isn't he wearing any pants?" someone that sounded eerily like someone he should probably know the name of asked. "I always knew he was weird, but no pants? It's at least three in the afternoon."
Jack flushed and waited for everyone else to get to his room. Ralph, Roger, Samneric... some guy he felt that he really should know...
Hold on, what were they doing in his room?
"What's going on?" Jack asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Ralph, it's all yours," the guy he really felt he should know said.
"First off, who are you?" Jack asked the guy that he really felt he should know.
The guy rolled his eyes. "I'm Bill."
"Who?"
"I was on the island too, idiot."
"Oh, sorry Bill. Go on."
Ralph explained everything quickly, and by the end Jack was nodding slowly, biting his thumbnail. "You actually expect me to believe that bullshit."
"Watch out-" Roger tried to warn him, but before the smallest boy could finish, Maurice tackled Jack into his bed.
"It is I, Affection Man, here to save the day!"
"Get off of me."
"Not until you say you'll come with us. And I'm not afraid to kiss you."
"He means it," Roger interjected.
Jack sighed. "Fine. Whatever you want."
Um... this is just going to be updated whenever. Cx I just felt like another 'after the island' fic, I guess. I have no idea where I'm going with this, but I think it'll be fun.
And I also don't know how long it'll be. So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :D See you next time!
Review for Affection Man? :D