A/N: I know, I'm horrible...I should be writing more for I Never Stopped Believing in You or To Survive, but I got the sudden idea for this and really really had to write it down. I promise I'll continue those soon. Hope everyone had a good President's Day! Anyway, enjoy and please review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Big Time Rush and (because there are some ideas stolen from Twilight) I don't own Twilight or Homestuck (yeah a few ideas taken from that too) or anything else you may recognize
James once again yawned which in turn made Logan and Kendall yawn. It was 2:00 in the morning and he still wasn't there. Logan began nodding off, his head starting to loll onto his chest until Kendall nudged him in his ribs. Considering they had a long day of dancing, singing, and being yelled at tomorrow, it wasn't in their best interest to be huddled together on Kendall's bed, waiting to find out where their missing friend had snuck off to. On all other nights they would've passed it off as Carlos just being Carlos...maybe planning some elaborate plan to surpirse them with, but in light of recent events, sneaking out of a two story window wasn't in his best interest. If the boys weren't suspicious of the 16 year old Latino before, they definitely were now. And they had to get to the bottom of it.
Over the past couple months Carlos had been acting stranger than usual. It wasn't that anything changed; he still ate corndogs whenever possible, still performed insane death defying stunts, still attempted to impress the Jennifers...things like that. It was more of the recent things that tipped the boys off that something wasn't right...
(-:-) EVENT ONE:
One month ago...
James and Carlos were at the top of the highest hill in Palmwoods Park. They had both just gotten new skateboards and were dying to try them out. James went first, gliding down the hill and turning a corner, stopping himself just in time to avoid hitting a green lightpost.
He climbed back up the hill to his bouncing friend.
"Be careful of the bend down there. There's a lightpost pretty close to it," he warned the smaller boy.
"Okay!" Carlos exclaimed and jumped on his board, eagerly racing down the hill.
James shook his head laughing, waiting for him to bound back up the hill so they could then race each other, until he heard a loud clanging sound. His eyes widened in fear and quickly ran down to his friend. When he arrived, the lightpost was bent in awkard shapes and was lying in the nearby grass. Fearing the worst, he expected to find Carlos in a similair condition if not worst, but instead, he was standing on the sidewalk, dusting his left arm off...as if nothing had happened. He was perfectly and utterly okay; not even any bruises.
Carlos smiled at him. "Hey James!" he greeted, bubbly as ever.
James stared at him, mouth forming a perfect O. Slowly, he walked over to the unharmed boy. "C-Carlos...?" he asked cautiously. "Are you okay?"
Carlos nodded, completely oblivious to what had just happened. "Yeah...fine..." He then looked out to the street, seeing his new skateboard in the path of a semi- truck, about to be crushed to bits.
"My skateboard!" he cried, and before James could even attempt to stop him, Carlos ran out to the street, grabbed it, and ran back; looking more like a blur than a running human.
Again, James' jaw dropped. Had that really just happened?
Carlos was smilling then frowned. "James...what's wrong?" he asked concerned.
"Well I dunno. You just ran faster than hell and somehow aren't in a coma or bleeding to death from hitting the pole," he gestured to the bent and broken light pole.
Carlos' eyes bugged out of his head and he suddenly turned pale.
"Care to explain?" James asked in a slight accusatory tone and crossed his arms.
"Uh..." Carlos was stumbling on his words and rubbed the back of his head, looking at his feet. "A-adrenaline...rush...hallucination..." he mumbled, not meeting James' eyes.
He then quickly snapped his head up, surprising James a bit, and said in a rushed way, "Y'know, I'm starved. Super duper hungry. Let's go. Corndogs on me!" He then ran to the nearest Corndog stand, still rather quickly, but at a more...human pace.
When James finally caught up to the small Latino, his back was to him and his phone was glued to his ear. James couldn't make out all the words, he was talking in a fast, hushed, secretive tone, but of what he could make out he heard Carlos mumbling,
"It was a mistake..." a pause where the receiver responded. "In light of recent events- " another pause that interrupted what Carlos was saying. "I've been careful! I-" another interrupting pause and then a defeated sigh. "I know. I know! It won't happen again..." pause. "They scare the hell out of me too, I know." did Carlos just swear? Yes, it wasn't that bad a word, but the smallest boy was always very adiment about never cursing...he wouldn't even say the word 'crap.' He saw the back of his head bob, giving an unseen nod to the recipient of the call and said. "Yes. It was stupid. I know...I'll be more careful." And with that he hung up.
James gave a slight cough, indicating his presence. Carlos jumped about a foot and spun on his heel, turning to face his taller friend. He quickly put on a smile, though the worry and fear was still in his dark eyes.
"H-hey James!" he greeted, his voice slightly shaking.
James narrowed his eyes. What was going on? "Hey...got us some corndogs yet?"
Carlos smiled wider, a genuine smile, clearly releaved. "I'll do that now."
(-:-) EVENT TWO:
Three weeks ago...
Kendall was getting annoyed with Carlos as they watched their movie...or, as Kendall watched the movie, really. The entire time, Carlos was non-stop texting...somebody. Every other minute, the buzz of his phone would sound, Carlos would answer, laugh a little or make some sort of noise, then the incessive clicking of his keyboard would follow. If the latino didn't stop texting soon, Kendall was going to reach over and make him stop.
Another couple minutes later, and the home phone rang. Kendall groaned. More noise? This was getting ridiculous. He paused the movie, looking at Carlos who of course was still absorbed with his god-damn phone.
"Logan! Answer it!" he called upstairs.
"What? Why can't you?" the burnette called down.
"Logan..." Kendall whined. He really usually wasn't one for whining or complaining, but he could care less right now.
Hearing an audible, loud groan meant for the blonde, Logan said, "Fine." Soon after, he was downstairs, appearing from the yellow swirly slide and going to the kitchen. "You two are so lazy," he muttered and answered the phone. After a couple minutes, he was walking over to couch a clear look of annoyance on his face. "Carlos. It's for you. It's your dad," he stated haughtily. Kendall smiled sheepishly back.
"Ooh! Thanks, Loges!" he threw his phone down and grabbed the other from Logan. "Hola Papi!" he said into the reciever excitedly, rushing out of the room and away.
Logan shook his head and went back upstairs to his room muttering, "Could've just answered yourself, but no..."
Kendall shook his head, smiling...and then Carlos' cell buzzed that insufferable buzz again. Deciding, it was important to know who the hell kept texting him and making his nerves fray, Kendall grabbed the phone and scrolled through the messages. They were all from different people; some from a guy named Ethan, some messages from another person named Star, some from a Teddy, and a couple from a Willow. Who were all these people? He looked at the numbers; all of them were a 206 area code. Strange...now becoming more concerned than anything, Kendall went through the messages with whoever Ethan was (he had the most messages) not just to see who they were, but to know what they possibly could be talking about...
Carlos to Ethan:
I'm surprised they haven't put up any blocks yet, cheater.
Ethan to Carlos:
Hey. Better for me. Less blocks, more thoughts, more A's. Ha
Carlos to Ethan:
Yeah yeah whatever...not everyone's a mind reader, stupid
Ethan to Carlos:
I don't READ minds! I HEAR thoughts! "Mind reader" is so stereotypical. Stupid normals...and I'm glad that my power's so rare. I'd just about lose it if I weren't the only one at school. Not only would I hear THEIR thoughts, but my OWN would be bouncing back too plus I'd still be hearing my own thoughts anyway...shudder.
Carlos to Ethan:
Haha would at least teach you a lesson hot shot.
Ethan to Carlos:
Yeah whatever. Point is,i don't need anymore lessons that I haven't learned from my father
Carlos to Ethan:
Well my parents didn't teach my ANYTHING about this stuff and I'm still better than you =P
Ethan to Carlos:
Jerk. And I wouldn't be so cocky, Garcia. You still screwed up. What happened with that anyway? Is it okay now? We can't have any normals not in OUR world know. Think what the Voltain would do to James. To you. To anyone who was even CLOSE to that area when it happened.
Carlos to Ethan:
I know. It was stupid. I don't know what I was thinking...but he hasn't mentioned anything about it since. I think he told Kendall and Logan though. But at least cut me SOME slack...16 years and this was my first slip up
Ethan to Carlos:
Woopee Doo. All the more reason to be careful. Yeah it was the first, but that was HUGE. Now they're gonna watch you like a hawk. Try to find something else for you to scew up on.
Kendall remembered James telling him and Logan about that. The light post, the insane running, the mysterious call...Kendall heard Carlos coming back and quickly closed out of the message window and tossed the phone back onto the pillow, acting like he hadn't just seen the strangest string of texts in the world.
Carlos walked back in hanging up the home phone and plopped back onto the couch next to Kendall, smiling. Kendall forced a smile and resumed the movie, though his mind was miles away from the images on the tv. He was so filled with questions...what did he mean by block? Hearing thoughts? What school? What did he mean by our world? Who was the Voltain and what would they do to James and Carlos? The tall blonde looked at his smaller friend who for once was staring at the tv screen. What was Carlos getting himself into?
(-:-) EVENT THREE:
Five days ago...
Logan pounded on the bathroom door. James was the one who was supposed to take forever in the bathroom not Carlos. There wasn't even any reason for him to be taking so long. It was almost midnight...
"Carlos!" Logan yelled to the door. "I just need to use the bathroom."
No response.
Logan groaned. Sometimes that boy was so stubborn...
After a couple more minutes, Carlos came out rubbing his eyes and yawning, which sounded somewhat...fake.
"It's all yours, Logie," he said and walked away to the stairs, his hands still over his eyes.
Logan watched him confused. It was like he was trying to hide his eyes...the burnette quickly relieved himself and then chased after the small boy who somehow, inexplicably was already at the door to the bedroom he shared with Kendall. How did he get up there so quickly? He should've been at least in the middle of the stairs by now. And the more Logan thought about it, the more he realized...he didn't even hear Carlos climb the stairs that usually creaked under every step.
Shaking his head, he went in strides to the slightly smaller boy and grabbed his arm just as he was gently closing the door, as to not wake Kendall.
Surprised, Carlos quickly lifted his head to Logan, who in turn took a step backwards, letting go of the Latino's arm. The latino's dark almost black eyes flashed a surpising neon green. In one fluid moment, Carlos looked away and shut the door before Logan could ask or say anything.
Logan leaned against the railing behind him, thinking of what he just saw...he then walked back down to the bathroom and began rummaging through the medicine cabinet, not exactly sure what he was looking for. Not finding anything that could explain why his eyes would flash such a strange bright color in the middle of the dark hallway, Logan sighed and sat on the floor mat, leaning against the side of the bathroom tub. Did he really just see that? I mean, after all, it was about midnight...maybe he was just seeing things...he shook his head and stared forward, thinking.
He saw something behind the sink...what was that? He reached forward and grabbed it, ripping off the tape holding it there while he did so. It was a container for contacts...he opened it and saw colored contacts...dark brown colored contacts. Exactly the shade and color of Carlos' eyes...
(-:-) (-:-) (-:-)
An hour and a half had passed, making it now 3:30 in the morning. By now, all three boys were falling asleep and soon enough, they were all falling mercy to the dark peacefulness of the sandman...
The next morning...
All three boys woke up in their own separate beds and to the sound of pots and pans being banged together.
"Wake up!" We have to go to rehearsal! Come on, guys!" Carlos yelled.
After about an hour, it took James a long time as usual, they were all downstairs and ready, Carlos bouncing in place.
"Let's go! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" he exclaimed. In the process of his jumping, the small boy's purple jakect sleeve rided up showing something white wrapped around his arm.
Kendall and James didn't notice; they were too busy smiling at the innocence of their young friend, but it didn't escape the medic of the four.
"Carlos, what is that?" Logan asked concerned. He stopped the boy from jumping and grasped the smaller of the two's arm.
Immediately, his face contorted and twisted in pain and he emitted a small gasp.
More carefully, Logan pushed his sleeve up revealing his entire arm wrapped in toilet paper, splotched with a few stains of red, and held together by some masking tape.
Carlos tried struggling and pulling his arm back, but the more he moved the faux-bandaged arm, the more it pained him and soon he was biting the inside of his cheeks to hold in his screams.
Kendall and James were by Logan's side in moments, just as concerned as he was.
Logan slowly unwrapped the makeshift bandages revealing a huge ugly bloody burn. The three boys gasped. What happened to their friend?
Looking a little pale and a bit green (he never was good with blood or seeing wounds) James shakily asked Carlos,
"W-what happened, Carlitos?"
Taking a couple deep breaths, Carlos raggedly responded, "N-nothing! I-I slipped...road rash...carpet...just stop! Stop it!" This time, Carlos was succesful in pulling his injured arm away, though he whimpered a little in the process, pulled his arm to his chest, cradling it, and left apartment 2J in a dash.
Kendall, Logan, and James were left staring at the door, all their mouths open.
All day, Carlos was distant to the other boys; avoiding them and their questions. Though it hurt them that Carlos was going to great lengths to distance himself so much from them, it gave them time and space to come up with some idea on how to figure out what was going on.
Carlos went to bed earlier than usual, 8:00 instead of 9:30, and from there they waited. Waited for when Carlos would secretly sneak out again.
At about 11:30 (made sense...Kendall usually went to bed at 11:00, giving Carlos the opportunity to sneak out while he slept) they saw him jump out the window and fall to the ground, landing perfectly without earning even a scratch and zoom as a blur off to wherever.
Though James had already seen it and had told the others about it, it still shocked him at his incredible, impossible speed...especially since this was much faster than before. They were all frozen with shock, but realizing he was getting away, they sprung into action and got in Mama Knight's car trying to follow their small friend.
All of them were beginning to lose faith that they'd find him until they found the person of interest standing at the corner of an old abandoned brick building surrounded by some old barbed fence with a sign that read 'No Trespassing.'
"What is he doing there?" James whispered, but he was responded with two shh's from Logan and Kendall.
But soon enough, his question was answered as Carlos looked around cautiously and stepped into the corner, disappearing.
Again, the boy's jaws were slack as they watched this. Had he really just walked through a wall? They realized that they were potentially losing him again and without anymore hesitation, climbed the rusted fence and ran to the wall he just disappeared into. What should they do now?
Kendall pursed his lips and carefully, slightly pausing, stuck his hand out to touch the blackened brick, but instead (like Carlos) his hand went inside the brick. Kendall jumped back shocked and stared at his hand, turning it back and forth directly in front of his eyes.
"Are you okay?" Logan asked just as shocked, taking his hand and feeling it for any breaks or abnormalities.
"Well doc?" Kendall asked dryly, attempting to crack a joke, but freaking out on the inside.
"You're...you're okay...nothing unusal...I'm-I'm pretty sure...at least," Logan said.
After waiting a couple more seconds, all of them were staring at the seemingly magic corner, still not sure exactly what to do. They now knew they could go through the brick, but for how far? What was on the other side?
Kendall had a look of determination and deciding they should get it done with sooner than later, he suddenly grabbed Logan's and Jame's arms and ran them all into the strange brick corner.
The three boys all fell to the ground, face down. They hadn't seen anything so far except for an exceptional amount of light and brightness.
Not wanting to mess his perfect hair up, James jumped to his feet crying, "We're dead! We're dead, Kendall you ass, you killed us!"
Kendall also stood to his feet, "James, we'll figure it out. Stop freaking out!" he exclaimed, shaking James by his shoulders.
During their mini freak out session, Logan stood up as well taking in a brief look of their surroundings.
"Guys. Guys...guuyyys..." he called, but they weren't listening.
So Logan hit both boys on the back of the head. "Guys, look."
Rubbing the backs of their heads, they both also looked and gasped in surprise.
They were standing on utterly green grass. On their right was a thick forest of tall, green trees with a small path protrouding out of it and on their left was a large parking lot filled with cars and buses that were white with a red stripe going through the middle of it and some gold scrawl on the red. The sky was gray, but still sunny and in front of them was an enormous, magnificent building; way bigger and much more fabulous than any college campus any of them, or more specifically Logan, had ever seen. If this place was alive it could probably buy and sell Griffin as much as it wanted to. There was a sign about 8 yards away from the entrance to the building and at the start of the feild declaring this place as 'Pandora School for the Powerfully Abled.'
"Powerfully abled?" Kendall asked no one in particular.
"No idea," Logan said, feeling obligated to answer for some reason.
The three boys felt a rush of air pass them, making them jump and they looked to their right seeing a boy in a leather jacket run past them surrounded by what appeared to be a bubble of air.
All around them were people that weren't...normal. There was a blonde girl with her long hair pulled back into a ponytail who was wearing a small red, gold, and white cheerleader outfit jumping and dancing around and then...duplicating herself to do flips and jumps. There was a small asian girl with black, pink, and purple hair pulled into two pontytails who just suddenly appeared out of nowhere and skipped to the main door of the school. There was a boy who flew down from a tree, a girl who stretched her arms to incredible lengths, a boy who changed to a girl or maybe a girl who changed from a boy to a girl. The list went on and on of the many different things Logan, James, and Kendall saw these people could do.
Suddenly they heard a whistling sound coming from the parking lot and they all directed their attention over to the source.
Sitting on the hood of a shiny red corvet was a long, lanky pale boy. He had blonde hair that ended just above the top of his ears, was sporting a boyish, slightly mischevious grin, had thick black rimmed glasses that sat just on the bridge of his nose and, as if the car wasn't enough proof that he was loaded, was wearing what was clearly very expensive clothing. Seemingly, out of nowhere Carlos ran over to the blonde smiling.
"New car?" he asked, joining the blonde on the hood.
The blonde rolled his eyes. "No, my very rich doctor father stole it and then gave it to me."
Now Carlos rolled his eyes. "It's nice. A bit flashy there, though, Cullen."
The two boys then got off the car and started walking to the entrance of the school at the sound of a bell. Now standing, they could see the blonde was fairly tall; maybe even almost a foot taller than James.
The blonde laughed once and said, "Since when have I been known to..." suddenly his voice trailed off and he stopped walking. Carlos also stopped and looked up to the tall boy.
"Ethan, what is it?" he asked with a concerned look.
But instead of responding, the tall boy, Ethan, instead turned around and looked directly at Kendall, James, and Logan, his head slightly tilted at an angle. The three boys audibly gulped as his peircing blue eyes stared at them. Carlos continued looking at Ethan then also turned and looked where he was staring. Immediately his mouth dropped and his look of joy was replaced with a look of horror and almost..betrayal.
